The Gallant Pelham

Spotsylvania County · dedicated 1992 · Tidewater Trail at intersection with Benchmark Rd.

Here Major John Pelham, commanding Stuart's Horse Artillery, executed a stunning flank attack on advancing Union troops during the Battle of Fredericksburg on 13 December 1862. Reduced to one cannon, the 24-year-old Pelham halted the Federals for almost two hours by employing the flying artillery tactics that he had perfected. Observing from a nearby hilltop, Lee exclaimed, "It is glorious to see such courage in one so young!" Lee's battle report commended "the gallant Pelham." The Alabamian was fatally wounded three months later at Kelly's Ford on the upper Rappahannock River.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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