The Gallant Pelham Goes Home

Major Heros von Borcke paced the rough platform at the little railroad station at Hanover Junction. He had just arrived from Hamilton's Crossing near Fredericksburg, via the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. Here he waited impatiently for the train bearing the body of John Pelham.

It had been a time of inactivity, almost lassitude, in both armies following the Battle of Fredericksburg. Winter made for boring, monotonous camp life. In mid-March, 1863, General J .E.B. Stuart went to Culpeper Court House to attend a court-martial. Major John Pelham, a few days earlier, had gone on an inspection trip of Moorman's Battery at Orange, and followed that with a social visit to Miss Nannie Price and a Miss Brill. Cavalry headquarters at Hamilton's Crossing was quiet.

On Tuesday, March 17th, headquarters' camp was startled from its normal routine by the sound of a distant cannonade. Major Heros von Borcke was in the saddle at once, moving towards the sound, which seemed to come from the direction of United States Ford, northwest up the Rappahannock. The enemy might be trying to force the picket lines under his command. Upon reaching his first pickets, von Borcke received a report of heavy firing at Kelly's Ford, fifteen miles up river. At once his thoughts turned to Pelham with a strong sense of foreboding. In the afternoon, however, the fierce fire began to slacken and by evening had ceased altogether.

Early next morning, March 18th, von Borcke was awakened by a voice he recognized as one of Stuart's couriers. Yes, there had been a sharp fight at Kelly's Ford. The enemy had been driven back, but at serious loss to the Confederates: Major Thomas Rosser had been seriously wounded; Majors Puller and Pelham were dead! Von Borcke was horrified.

A short time later a telegram arrived from Stuart, who was still at Culpeper, advising von Borcke of Pelham's death and ordering him to proceed to Hanover Junction, to meet the train bearing Pelham's body from Culpeper. The train would have traveled via the Orange and Alexandria Railroad; at Gordonsville, the track switched to the Virginia Central, which met the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad at Hanover Junction.

It was late afternoon. There was a chill in the air, reflecting the chill in von Borcke's heart. The locomotive whistle sounded nearer, he could hear the steady puffing of the IittIe American-type engine, the faint glare of the headlight appeared, the bell began its loud clatter. Now, station personnel became alert. A small crowd moved toward the track, some as passengers, some to greet travellers. As the train pulled in, von Borcke headed for the baggage car coupled next to the engine. Several stark wooden coffins were in the car. The one containing Pelham's body was found. Von Borcke went to the telegraph office and ordered a hearse at Richmond; he also sent a telegram to Virginia's Governor John Letcher to advise him of his coming. Then he entered the train for the short run to Richmond.

The train arrived at the station on the northwest corner of 8th and Broad Streets. The hearse von Borcke ordered was nowhere to be seen; a one-horse wagon was hired and the coffin placed on it. They drove through the silent streets of the Confederate capital. Pulling up at the Executive Mansion, van Borcke was met by Governor Letcher. Arrangements had been made by the governor for Pelham's body to lay-in-state in the historic building, designed by Jefferson, which housed the state government and the Confederate Congress. Von Borcke returned to the dray and drove around to the south entrance of the building. Strong hands were waiting to carry the simple wooden cof fin into the room where the Confederate Congress held its sessions. In the rotunda, outside the room, was Houdon's famous statue to Virginia's first son, George Washington. The coffin was draped with a large Virginia flag and a guard of honor placed about it.

Next morning, March 19th, van Borcke procured a handsome iron casket and personally assisted in placing the body of his young friend into it. He was overcome by grief as he touched the now lifeless hand which had so often pressed his in warm friendship. He then ordered a glass window cut into the casket lid so that the people could see the face of the young hero.

Virginia desired to keep "the gallant Pelham" as her own son, but the Pelham family wished his burial place to be in Alabama. General Stuart immediately carried out their wishes. Congressional representatives from Alabama assisted in the plans. After the laying-in-state ceremony, Pelham's body would leave Richmond by train to Alabama.

About noon the doors were opened and the public was invited to pay their final respects to the fallen hero. Most of those who came were ladies and old men. They brought magnificent garlands and bouquets of spring flowers. Many of the young ladies who came knew Major Pelham as a guest in Richmond homes or in such nearby homes as "Dundee" and "Hickory Hill." Miss Sallie Dandridge, accompanied by her father, came to mourn the young officer who had won her heart and her hand. One "Evelyn" described the scene:

I have just returned from the capitol, and with saddened spirit sit down and write of the dear dead boy lying there -- Alabama's noblest tribute of the whole war. His coffin stands in the hall, upon a pedestal arranged for the purpose. A sentinel passes backward and forward beside it. Upon the top were the flags he fought so bravely to sustain, and upon them a mourning wreath of evergreens. Beside it --just over the manly heart now stilled forever -- lies a single snow-white flower...

On Friday, March 20th, General Stuart issued General Orders No.9, announcing the death of Pelham and ordering thirty days of mourning. Meanwhile, that very day at 5 p.m., a procession formed at the capitol's south front. The colors and guard of honor emerged from the doorway, followed by the casket borne to the wai ting carriage. Next came the escort. Major Peter Pelham, John's kinsman, then delegations of officers, congressmen, and friends. Led by a military band playing appropriate airs, the procession started off to the Richmond and Danville Railroad Station, on Hull Street, where the train awaited them. As the procession proceeded, church bells began to toll, and the sharp sound of minute guns crackled in the air.

Not a soul left the station, until the train departed, heading west and south. The train made its way to Burkeville, Virginia, arriving in the early evening. Here a change was made to the Southside Railroad for the sixty-mile run due west to Lynchburg. Just over two years earlier, Pelham had reported to the Lynchburg Ordnance Depot, his first assignment in the war. It probably arrived there about midnight. The next leg of the journey was via the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad to Bristol, some 200 miles west southwest.

The train arrived at Bristol on Sunday, March 22nd. From Bristol, the train was again switched to the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad to Knoxville, arriving there about 5 or 6 p.m. From Knoxville, it is almost 100 miles to Cleveland, Tennessee, by the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad. The train probably passed through Cleveland about midnight; then fifty miles due south to Dalton, Georgia. The run from Dalton to Cartersville is some thirty-five miles and took about two hours via the Western and Atlantic Railroad, arriving there mid-morning. Atlanta is only forty miles away, and the train most likely arrived there on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 24th. Confederate Georgia surely showed great sympathy with large crowds of sorrowing people and fresh floral tributes in the city of Atlanta. The last stop in Georgia was at West Point, seventy-five miles south southwest of Atlanta, and the train most likely would have arrived there late at night.

The Chattahoochee River is the boundary between Georgia and Alabama at West Point. The gauge was different on the Atlanta and West Point Railroad ana the Montgomery and West Point Railroad, so no interchange was possible in 1863. The river was probably not bridged either, so a ferry would have had to be used. Ferrying across the Chattahoochee, the coffin was transported then by wagon until the delegation reached the Montgomery and West point Railroad. It was about 8 or 9 a.m., Wednesday, March 25th when the gallant Pelham touched Alabama's soil once again.

The run to Montgomery is approximately eighty miles. As expected, large crowds gathered at Alabama's capital city, led by Governor Andrew B. Moore. With him was his daughter, who had once sent the gallant Pelham a captured cannon ball to shoot at the enemy.

The cortege drew up in front of the capitol -- the first capitol of the Confederacy, where barely two years ago Jefferson Davis had been sworn into office. The casket was borne up the winding stairs to the Supreme Court chamber on the second floor. A new flag was draped over it, the guard of honor posted, and the massive floral tributes arranged. Then the people were invited to ascend the right stairway, view Pelham's remains, and then descend by the left stairway. All day, March 26th, people came. They had read the newspaper accounts of the deeds of the gallant Pelham and then of his tragic death. To many it was a double tribute -- in honoring the young soldier in the capitol many also honored a dead or missing son, husband, father, sweetheart, or brother. So they climbed the winding stairs and gazed at the beautiful youth, once so quick in life, now so still in death.

The huge double doors closed on March 26th. It was time to go now -- down to the Alabama River to the fast river steamers. One of them, either the Cherokee or Warrior, would make the fifty-mile run to Selma.

At daybreak, the steamboat reached Selma. Easing up to the wharf, the gangplank was lowered, and nine men led by Judge Thomas Walker, John Pelham's uncle, came aboard the vessel. Included was the Mayor of Selma, a Presbyterian minister, and six pallbearers. The procession reached the station of the northbound Alabama and Tennessee River Railroads (of which Judge Walker was president). Once again, the public was invited to view the dead hero. Toward the end of the line, a young soldier, after looking long at the gallant Pelham, introduced himself to Judge Walker and Peter Pelham. He was James Ryder Randall, a Marylander stationed at Selma, who later wrote a poem, perhaps the best poem, in tribute to John Pelham.

Judge Walker led the party to a special car at the rear of the train. Now began the last, long leg of the journey home to Alexandria. The little train moved into the hills and valleys of northeast Alabama. Past Plantersville, Ashby, Columbiana, Sylacauga, Talladega, the train went slowly and steadily, stopping often to discharge passengers or to take on passengers and baggage. At last, about 10 p.m., Saturday, March 28th, the train arrived at the little station of Blue Mountain.

Peter Pelham looked out of the window -- he saw an unusually large crowd. Bonfires of pine logs were burning, giving off a glaring if uneven light. He saw close friends and neighbors. There was a large group of blacks, most from Dr. Pelham's plantations. These were people who helped raise the Pelham children, who had grown up with them. The train halted. The honor guard prepared to move the flag-draped casket to the waiting hearse, a carriage drawn by four snow-white horses. Soon the little procession star ted through the quiet night so beautifully wrapped in a silvery pall. Only the steady tread of the horses and an occasional creak of wheels broke the silence. No one spoke: there was no heart for speech. It was seven miles to the Pelham home. Within the hour they reached the outskirts of the village of Alexandria.

He had been dead for almost two weeks. The casket was covered with white flowers, borne by white-haired old men, and young girls with heads uncovered. It seemed a company, "all in white." Major Peter Pelham heard a voice beside him say, "made white in the blood of the Lamb," and turned to see Martha Pelham. "The Father and Sister were crushed and in sorrow kept their rooms, but that Spartan Mother...led the way into the parlor and directed that he be laid where the light would fall on his face when Sunday came." The gallant Pelham had come home.

-- by Charles H. Hooper

This article first appeared in Volume 5, No. 3 of The Cannoneer.

Source:
J. J. Thomas, Fifty Years on the Rail.
Robert C. Black, III, Railroads of the Confederacy.
Heros von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence, Vol. 2.
Philip Mercer, The Gallant Pelham.
Charles G. Milham, Gallant Pelham: American Extraordinary.
Douglas S. Freeman, Lee's Lieutenants, Vol. 2.
The Jacksonville Story, compiled by the First National Bank of Jacksonville, Ala..
Bert and Nellie Neville, A Glance at Early Selma.
Samual J. T. Moore, Jr., Moore's Complete Civil War Guide to Richmond.
Conversations and correspondence with Dr. James Livingood, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga; Mr. W. Graham Clayton, Jr., former president, Southern Railway System; Mr. Robert C. Black, III, Civil War author; Mr. Robert M. Sironen; Tennessee State Library and Archives; and Lawson-McGhee Library, Knoxville, Tennessee.