The Life and Death of “The Gallant Pelham”

In Glorious Courage, Sarah Kay Bierle, author of Decisions at Chancellorsville, Blue, Gray & Crimson, and other works on the Civil War, examines the short, but extraordinary life of Confederate artilleryman John Pelham. Her goal was “to know who this artillery officer was without the legends. (pp. xi-xii).

Bierle took several years to research and write this book, sifting through sources, including some newly discovered, as well as earlier accounts, research hampered by the virtual lack of letters by Pelham. In the end, her research, and her extensive knowledge of the battlefields on which he fought, produced this work, which explores both his achievements and his flaws, setting Pelham in his "place in history as he lived it, not varnished with the perspectives shoved upon him by later generations." (p. iv).

Bierle notes that strange things can happen in historical memory and historiography, and so for decades Pelham’s image has been molded to fit the “Lost Cause” narrative, idealized as the young, handsome, gallant martyr to the Southern cause. The hero of many a battlefield, became, in a sense, a poster boy for the mythic “Gallant South”, the account of his life being filed with many unsubstantiated stories exalting him.

Opening with a look at Pelham’s background in Alabama, Bierle gives us an account of his time at West Point, his decision to resign shortly before graduation, and his commitment to Confederate service.

While commanding the horse artillery of J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry, most notably at Antietam and Fredericksburg, Pelham proved a good artilleryman, competent and brave, and an excellent leader, who, drew the attention of, and praise from such notables as Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, and Robert E. Lee.

Pelham ‘s death, in a reckless charge at Kelly's Ford in March 1863, virtually at the high point of Confederate success in the war, cemented him a place among the most celebrated military martyrs of the cause.

Bierle is not hostile to Pelham. She rightly shows that he was an outstanding commander of horse artillery, which brought him many accolades. As a person, we see him as a “remarkable young man, who made difficult choices, and followed his principles” (p.145). But she also points out that postwar his reputation and personality were romanticized by the proponents of the “Lost Cause,” including veterans, family, friends, and acquaintances, and most notably the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Glorious Courage shows us Pelham not only as a remarkably able young officer but as a human being with flaws, who deserves his place in history as he lived it, not through the myths imposed upon him by later generations. A good read.

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Our Reviewer: David Marshall has been a high school American history teacher in the Miami-Dade School district for more than three decades. A life-long Civil War enthusiast, David is president of the Miami Civil War Round Table Book Club. In addition to numerous reviews in Civil War News and other publications, he has given presentations to Civil War Round Tables on Joshua Chamberlain, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the common soldier. His previous reviews here include, The Sixth Wisconsin and the Long Civil War, Gettysburg: The Tide Turns, The Second Manassas Campaign, and Fighting for Philadelphia: Forts Mercer and Mifflin, the Battle of Whitemarsh, and the Road to Valley Forge, Exceptionalism in Crisis, The 14th New York State Militia in the Civil War, Volume 1, From Camp David Douglas to Vicksburg, Gettysburg In Color, Sacred Ground, 1863-1938: Volume 3, The Boy Generals: George Custer, Wesley Merritt, and the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, from the Shenandoah Valley to the Surrender at Appomattox, and Conflict and Controversy in the Confederate High Command.

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Note: Glorious Courage: John Pelham in the Civil War is also available in e-editions.

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