John Pelham (September 7, 1838 – March 17, 1863) was a Confederate cavalry soldier under J. E. B. Stuart during the American Civil War. Robert E. Lee called Pelham "The Gallant Pelham" for his use of light artillery at the Battle of Fredericksburg to delay U.S. soldiers.

Early life

thumb|left|Pelham at the age of sixteen.

Pelham was the third of seven children, with five brothers and a sister Betty, born to Dr. Atkinson and Martha Pelham (née McGehee along Cane Creek near Alexandria, Alabama. He grew up on the family's plantation and learned to raise horses at a young age.

In 1856, Sampson Willis Harris secured an appointment for Pelham to the United States Military Academy at the request of A. J. Walker.

Civil War

thumb|upright|left|Pelham in 1860.

In 1860, rumblings of Southern secession were affecting Pelham, and he expressed concerns that he would not be able to graduate in letters he wrote home.

In 1861, with graduation approaching and war breaking out, Pelham wrote to Jefferson Davis inquiring whether he should leave West Point. Ultimately, Pelham resigned from West Point just a few weeks before his planned graduation to accept a commission in the militia of his home state of Alabama. He soon went to Virginia, where he joined the army of Joseph E. Johnston as a lieutenant in the artillery. Pelham's well-drilled and disciplined battery caught the eye of J.E.B. Stuart, who provided horses for the men and transformed the battery into "horse artillery", more mobile than conventional artillery.

Pelham was involved in every significant military engagement of Stuart's cavalry from the First Battle of Bull Run to Kelly's Ford, more than 60 encounters. He is noted as the Chief of Stuart's Artillery in the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) and Battle of Fredericksburg. At Sharpsburg, Pelham's guns, positioned on a rise known as Nicodemus Hill, repeatedly harassed the flanks of oncoming Union lines, causing numerous casualties and breaking up battle formations.

At Fredericksburg, Pelham's guns, positioned well in advance of the main Confederate lines, held up the entire flank of the Union Army of the Potomac for several hours, enabling the Confederates to repel a series of strong attacks. General Robert E. Lee commended Pelham in his official report for "unflinching courage" while under direct fire from multiple Union batteries. However, there were still plans to relocate it to a Confederate history park.

In 1907, one of his spurs was among the artifacts melted down to create the Pokahuntas Bell for the Jamestown Exposition.

The John Pelham Historical Association preserves an archive of his papers and memorabilia. In 1955, the Alabama Hall of Fame honored Pelham, inducting him into the honorific organization. The cities of Pelham, Alabama and Pelham, North Carolina, and Pelham, Georgia are named in his honor. In 2004, against protests by some citizens, the state of Georgia designated the section of State Highway 300 that passes through Pelham as the John Pelham Memorial Parkway.

The United States Field Artillery named artillery camps for him, such as the former Camp Pelham, which housed artillery battalions of first the 1st Cavalry Division and then later the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea.

In the 1970s, The County of Culpeper, Virginia, built Lake Pelham to memorialize Pelham. In October 2022, the lake was renamed Lake Culpeper.

During and after the war, Pelham's 1858 photograph, taken in the Mathew Brady studio, was well known by white Southerners still honoring the purposes of the Confederacy. While many copies were made, the original was long thought lost. It was held by Pelham's sister, Betty, and kept by her descendants at home in a fireproof safe. In 2010, Pelham's great-great grand-nephew consigned the piece for auction. It sold for $41,825.

In March 2013, the city of Jacksonville, Alabama celebrated Pelham with a weekend of living history campsites and a sesquicentennial recreation of Pelham's funeral procession to City Cemetery.

See also

Notes

References

  • Brewer, Wilson. Alabama, Her History, Resources, War Record, and Public Men: From 1540 to 1872. Montgomery, AL: Barrett & Brown, 1872. .
  • Hassler, William W. Colonel John Pelham: Lee's Boy Artillerist. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995. .
  • Thomas, Emory M. Bold Dragoon: The Life of J.E.B. Stuart. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986. .
  • U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion : A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.

Further reading

  • Maxwell, Jerry H. The Perfect Lion: The Life and Death of Confederate Artillerist John Pelham. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2011. .
  • Matteson, John, A Worse Place Than Hell: How the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg Changed a Nation. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2021. .
  • Alabama Hall of Fame
  • John Pelham Historical Association