THE CIVIL WAR: THE TRUE STORY BOOK 1

MAJOR JOHN PELHAM: CONFEDERATE HERO

General Lee Called Him "the Gallant Pelham"—Records Prove His Bravery.

Editor of the Times-Dispatch: From Richmond, Va., Times-Dispatch, March 29, 1908.]

Sir,—There appeared in the Times-Dispatch of February 16th over my signature a few words of tribute to Major James Breathed, of the Stuart Horse Artillery, Army of Northern Virginia. The Times-Dispatch very kindly gave me space in their widely circulated paper and published the above mentioned tribute. I come before you again asking that I be granted the same courtesy, that I may place upon the grave of the gallant Major John Pelham (the organizer and first captain of the celebrated Stuart Horse Artillery) a few forget-me-nots and sprigs of laurel, that those who did not have the great privilege of knowing the gallant boy-major may read in a measure of what manner of man he was and how he was esteemed by all of those whom he came in contact with, from the immortal R. E. Lee to the most humble private in the ranks. Pelham and Breathed were in the same battery; kindred spirits indeed; loyal to the cause of the South; terrible hard fighters, with a stubbornness that would not yield; an aggressiveness that was irresistible. The gallant Pelham (as he was called by General R. E. Lee) was born in Calhoun county, Ala., near Alexandria, September 7, 1838. His father, Dr. Atkinson Pelham, came to the county from Kentucky in 1837, and was for many years a prominent physician. His mother was a Miss McGehee, whose family came from Person county, N. C, to Calhoun county about 1832.

John Pelham was appointed to the United States Military Academy from Alabama July 1, 1856, aged seventeen years and nine months, through the influence of the representative of his district, the Hon. S. W. Harris, at the request of Hon. A. J. Walker. His standing in the class was low, but his commission was passed on, and he would have received it had he remained ​a week longer. But his love for the South, and especially for his State, called him home; consequently he crossed the line in April, disguised as one of General Scott's couriers. Repairing at once to Montgomery, Ala., he reported for duty, and was commissioned first lieutenant of artillery, regular army, and ordered to take charge of the ordnance at Lynchburg, Va. He was only there a few days when he was ordered to Albertus's (afterwards Imboden's) Battery, at Winchester, Va. He handled a section of this battery in such a masterly manner at First Manassas July 21, 1861, as to attract the attention of Brigadier-General T. J. Jackson (Stonewall) and J. E. B. Stuart. When General J. E. B. Stuart conceived the idea of organizing a battery of horse artillery to operate in conjunction with his cavalry, his eyes naturally turned towards the young artillery officer that had displayed so much gallantry and knowledge in the handling of his pieces at Manassas. In November, 1861, the battery of Stuart's Horse Artillery, consisting of eight guns, was organized, and the young officer, a mere boy in appearance, Lieutenant John Pelham, was commission its first captain. This battery under his leadership and command became famous and was second to none in the Confederate States Army. The battery became as celebrated as the name of its commander. I do not know a spot among the hills and dales of the Confederacy that has not heard of the Pelham-Breathed Battery, Stuart's Horse Artillery. Its deeds of valor has been written of by poet and historian; even the men who opposed it on the Federal side sing its praises in no unmeasured tributes. The official records of the war are replete with the daring of this gallant officer and his men. He handled, in addition to his own battery, the artillery of General T. J. Jackson, at Fredericksburg, Va.; was with him at Second Manassas, where he was given discretionary power to place his battery where his judgment dictated. No such privilege had ever been given any other of General T. J. Jackson's subordinates. He was with him at Mechanicsville, Va., receiving praise and thanks from the great commander for the skilful handling of his guns against the superior forces of the enemy's artillery, holding in check with one Napoleon gun two of the enemy's full six-gun batteries. We find him again with him at Sharpsburg, Maryland., where shell and minie ball ​rained like hail around us, but he never quailed, but kept his battery in position, returning shot for shot with the enemy's artillery until his battery became so crippled that General J. E. B. Stuart's quartermaster had to supply horses to remove the battery from the field. He and his celebrated battery flashed like a meteor from battlefield to battlefield; always in the advance, fighting on the skirmish line until it seemed at times that nothing but Providence would save that devoted band of heroes from capture or certain death, but just as the overly confident Federals were certain of the prize, Pelham's ringing voice would be heard, "Limber! rear! Gallop!" and away we would go, laughing at the disappointment of the enemy. I could enumerate many instances of this character, but lack of space forbids. General R. E. Lee commended him for promotion as Lieutenant-Colonel of Artillery only a few days prior to his death. General Pendleton, General R. E. Lee's Chief of Artillery, had vainly tried to persuade General J. E. B. Stuart to allow him to be transferred to the infantry-artillery c jrps, but without any success. The successful resistance whicli General Stuart was enabled to oppose the Federal Cavalry was in a great measure due to the skilful handling of his artillery. Two spirits more congenial than Stuart and Pelham never met on the field of battle. Stuart's fondness for artillery was a craze with him. Pelham's skill in its management amounted to genius. Stuart, Pelham and the peerless Breathed imparted to the horse artillery an independency of action and a celerity of moment which characterized it to the end of the war, and which was nowhere equalled or imitated. But in the Providence of God he was not allowed to remain with us very long. No one knows what his record would have been if he had lived until the close of the struggle—brilliant, matchless, no doubt; an example for the whole world to have followed. But this was not to be. On March 17, 1863, he fell while leading the Third Virginia Cavalry in a charge against the enemy's cavalry (Averill's), who had crossed the Rappahannock River at Kelly's Ford, and was making for Culpeper Courthouse. Fitz Lee's brigade was resisting the advance of Averill's forces, consisting of 2,100 men, successfully. The Horse Artillery, then under command of Captain James Breathed (Pelham having been promoted Major), ​arrived on the scene and at once opened on the enemy's cavalry and Martin's Independent Horse Battery of New York, six guns.