![]() ![]() Stonewall Jackson said of him in his report on the battle, "It is really extraordinary to find such nerve and genius in a mere boy. 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. He particularly distinguished himself 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. 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. Civil WarĪlready 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 1856, local Congressman Sampson Willis Harris secured an appointment for Pelham to the United States Military Academy at West Point (N.Y.), at the request of A. On one occasion, he rode a neighbor's milk cow until it ran dry, prompting a lecture to only ride bulls in the future, if he were feeling adventurous. He grew up on the family's 1,000-acre (400 ha) plantation, and learned to raise horses at a young age. Atkinson and Martha Pelham (née McGehee ) at his grandparents' home along Cane Creek near Alexandria, Alabama. Pelham was the third of seven children, with five brothers and a sister Betty, born to Dr. ![]()
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