Stuart’s Horse Artillery – John Pelham

John Pelham

John Pelham Quotes

Last Updated April 30, 2010

With quotations by Pelham first followed by others in alphabetical order of the person making the quote.  The first note is the location where I found the quote and the second is the footnote in that work which contains more background information on the quote.

“War is not glorious as novelists would have us believe.  It is only when we are in the heat and flush of battle that it is fascinating and interesting.  It is only then that we enjoy it.  When we forget ourselves and revel in the destruction we are dealing around us. I am now ashamed of the feelings I had in those hours of danger.”  Ours is a just war, a holy cause.” John Pelham

after his initial experience Pelham confessed this to his father

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York:  Simon and Schuster, 2008. pg70

SOR Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.  Wilmington, NC:  Broadfoot Publishing, 1994 , v 44

“pleased us extremely, a mere youth apparently, beardless and slender almost to a fault, but quick & energetic in his movements & with an eagle eye that shows his spirit.” Helen Bernard Dec 2 1862

Helen Bernard’s description of dinner guests Rooney Lee, Stuart, and John Pelham

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York:  Simon and Schuster, 2008. pg186

Light, Rebecca Campbell, ed. War at our Doors:  The civil War Diaries and Letters of the Bernard Sisters of Virginia.  Fredericksburg, VA:  American History Company, 1998 pg52

“General Stuart loved him like a younger brother, and could not bear for him to be away from him.”

William W. Blackford

Blackford addressing the relationship of Stuart and Pelham

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York:  Simon and Schuster, 2008. Pg 210

Blackford, W.W. War Years with Jeb Stuart.  New York:  Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1947 pg201

“artillery pet” Kyd Douglas

Douglas refers to Maj John Pelham as Stuart’s “artillery pet”

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York:  Simon and Schuster, 2008. Pg 154

Douglas, Henry Kyd.  I Rode with Stonewall. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1940 pg196

“the pet of Jeb Stuart & of all who knew him.” Kyd Douglas Aug 19 1862

Kyd Douglas recalling Pelham

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York:  Simon and Schuster, 2008. Pg 209

H. Kyd Douglas-A.C. Hamlin, Aug 19 1862, Hamlin Papers, HU

“I grieve over the loss of Major Pelham.  He had been stricken down in the midst of his career of usefulness and honour.” Robert E. Lee

Lee in a letter to his wife grieving the loss of Pelham

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York:  Simon and Schuster, 2008. Pg 209

Dowdey, Clifford, and Louis H. Manarin, eds. The Wartime Papers of R.E. Lee. Boston: Little, Brown, 1961 pg 414

“It is glorious to see such courage in one so young.” Robert E. Lee

Lee witnessing Pelham’s action at the Battle of Fredericksburg

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York:  Simon and Schuster, 2008. Pg 191

Confederate Veteran vol 274

“It is glorious to see courage in one so young.”

Robert E. Lee Dec 1862

Lee upon observing Pelham in action at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Robertson, James I.  Stonewall Jackson The Man, The Soldier, The Legend. New York:  Macmillan Publishing Co, 1997 pg 657

“Nothing has happened in the progress of the war which I have felt more keenly than his death.”

Channing Price March 30 1863

Price in a letter to his mother grieving the loss of Pelham

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York:  Simon and Schuster, 2008. Pg 209

Channing Price – Mother, March 30, 1863, Price Papers UNC

“His record is complete, and it is spotless, it is noble.  His family was the very best.  His character pure his disposition as sweet & innocent as our own Little Flora’s.  you have no idea how I will feel to know that if a boy, I will have an heir named John Pelham.”

J.E.B. Stuart

April 8 1863

Stuart in a letter to his wife after Pelham’s death

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York:  Simon and Schuster, 2008. Pg 210

JEBS-My Darling One, April 8, 1863, Stuart Papers

“though remarkably youthful in appearance there are Generals as young with less claim to that distinction, and no veteran in age has ever shown more coolness and better judgment in the sphere of his duty.”

J.E.B. Stuart Nov 11 1862

Stuart recommending Pelham for promotion

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York:  Simon and Schuster, 2008. Pg 201

JEBS-S. Cooper, Nov 11 1862

“He was brave as Caesar and gentle as a girl…I never knew a better friend, a braver soldier.” Pierce Young

Pierce Young recalls John Pelham after his death

Wert, Jeffry D. Cavalryman of the Lost Cause. New York:  Simon and Schuster, 2008.  Pg 209

Holland, Lynwood M. Pierce M.B. Young:  The Warwick of the South. Athens:  University of Georgia Press, 1964 pg71