page_title: John Pelham (officer)
section_title: Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: John Pelham (officer) / Civil War
caption_attribution_description: Major John Pelham (1838-1863), Confederate Army artillery officer in the American Civil War
context_page_description: John Pelham was an artillery officer who served with the Confederate cavalry under J.E.B. Stuart during the American Civil War. Dubbed "The Gallant Pelham" for his innovative usage of light artillery as a mobile arm of the cavalry while wreaking havoc on American soldiers during the Civil War.
context_section_description: Already in 1860, rumblings of Southern secession were affecting Pelham, his concerns that he would not be able to graduate expressed in letters he wrote home.
  In 1861, with graduation approaching and war breaking out, Pelham wrote to the new leader of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, inquiring as to whether he should leave West Point.  Ultimately, Pelham resigned from West Point, just a few weeks before his planned graduation, in order 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 major 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. Pelham was, at the time, commanding only two guns that were in service, but with those batteries for a time was able to enfilade the entire advancing Federal lines of battle.
  At the Battle of Kelly's Ford on March 17, 1863, Pelham participated in a cavalry charge, his artillery not being engaged. Not long afterward, he was struck in the head by a fragment of an exploding Federal artillery shell. He was carried six miles (10 km)  from the battlefield to Culpeper Courthouse, and died the following morning without having regained consciousness.
caption: Pelham in 1860.
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