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 cities of Pelham, Alabama and Pelham, North Carolina, and Pelham, Georgia are named in his honor. In 1955, the Alabama Hall of Fame honored Pelham, inducting him into the honorific organization. The John Pelham Historical Association preserves his archive of papers and memorabilia. In 1907, one of his spurs was among the artifacts melted down to create the Pokahuntas Bell for the Jamestown Exposition. In 1901, a portrait of Pelham was hung with other Confederate officers in Alexandria, Virginia, and General Joseph Wheeler gave the speech on the ascension of his portrait, referring to him as the "Gallant Pelham". However, there were still plans to relocate it to a Confederate history park. A stone obelisk monument honoring Pelham, which contained an inscription on the base referring to him as “gallant” and beloved and which had stood in the grassy median of a busy avenue in Anniston, Alabama since 1905, was removed late at night on September 27, 2020. Pelham's body was returned home and buried at City Cemetery in Jacksonville, Alabama where a statue erected downtown in 1909 commemorates the fallen Confederate officer. The Confederate Senate approved Lee's recommendation that Pelham receive a posthumous promotion to lieutenant colonel. Wikisource has original text related to this article: He was carried six miles (10 km) from the battlefield to Culpeper Courthouse, and died the following morning without having regained consciousness.Īn 1889 illustration of Pelham's death at Kelly's Ford. Not long afterward, he was struck in the head by a fragment of an exploding Federal artillery shell. 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.Īt the Battle of Kelly's Ford on March 17, 1863, Pelham participated in a cavalry charge, his artillery not being engaged. Lee commended Pelham in his official report for "unflinching courage" while under direct fire from multiple Union batteries. 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.Īt 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.
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He is noted as the Chief of Stuart's Artillery in the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) and Battle of Fredericksburg. 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. Stuart, who provided horses for the men and transformed the battery into " horse artillery", more mobile than conventional artillery. Pelham's well-drilled and disciplined battery caught the eye of J.E.B. Johnston as a lieutenant in the artillery.
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He soon went to Virginia, where he joined the army of Joseph E. 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. 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.
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Letter From John Pelham to Jefferson DavisĪlready 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.