“Stonewall” Jackson once remarked that “with a Pelham on each flank, I could whip the world.” Likewise, Robert E. Lee affectionately referred to the “Gallant Pelham” in his official reports. Even with such praise, John Pelham is perhaps one of the most misunderstood officers from the Army of Northern Virginia. In no small part, this is a function of sources: precious few documents produced by Pelham survive today. Instead, much of what is known about Pelham is based on the faulty and unreliable recollections of his contemporaries. Veteran author and historian Sarah Kay Bierle mines those sources (as well as an abundance of original military records) with a careful and discerning eye, bringing her old subject to new life.
John Pelham was born in Benton County, Alabama, in 1838. The third son of Dr. Atkinson and Martha Pelham, John was not destined to follow in his father’s footsteps as a medical professional. Instead, he accepted an appointment as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy, becoming a member of the famed West Point Class of ‘61. Bierle observes that after Alabama’s secession, Pelham struggled with his decision to leave West Point. Ultimately, the cadet chose to resign just weeks before his graduation and went to war with the Army of Northern Virginia.
Pelham was baptized by fire at the battle of First Manassas, after which his reputation rose like a rocket. Drawing the eye of Confederate officials, Pelham became instrumental in forming J.E.B. Stuart’s Horse Artillery. Experimenting with the horse artillery tactics of the Napoleonic Era, Pelham participated in almost every major action involving Stuart’s cavalry.
Winning praise from several Confederate officers on the Peninsula, at Second Manassas, and at Fredericksburg, Pelham was seen as a rising star in the Confederate Army. His actions during the Loudoun Valley Campaign earned similar praise. Bierle argues that the “campaign mark[ed] the height of Pelham’s success as a horse artillery commander” (107).
Pelham’s life was cut tragically short when he was killed in action at the Battle of Kelly’s Ford in March 1863. His death had a profound impact on both Lee and J.E.B. Stuart, who regarded him as irreplaceable. “Pelham’s death,” Bierle writes, “acquired meaning far beyond the personal grief of his family, his commander, and his comrades” (144). Briefly surveying the existing historiography, Bierle succeeds in demonstrating how the real Pelham assumed an almost mythical status among the architects and exponents of the Lost Cause.
The latest entry in Savas Beatie’s enormously successful Emerging Civil War series, Glorious Courage provides a fresh interpretation of John Pelham. The author’s main narrative and three appendices bring admirable balance to a subject long cloaked in nostalgia.
Riley Sullivan teaches U.S. history at San Jacinto College.
