Lt. Charles Pelham (1835-1907)

The eldest of Dr. Atkinson and Martha Pelham's seven children, Charles Pelham was born March 12, 1835 in Person County, North Carolina. In 1837 his parents moved to Benton County (now Calhoun County), Alabama. The Pelham boys, led by Charles, were a rowdy bunch. One example will suffice: One day Dr. Pelham received a visit from the school teacher, complaining that the Pelham boys had thrown the schoolroom chairs down a well. Charles had supposedly been sick in his bedroom all day. Dr. Pelham knocked on the door and asked, "Charles, have you been out of this room today?" "Yes, sir," Charles answered. Dr. Pelham said not a word, but gave Charles a whipping.

The family expressed concern over Charles' wild ways, but by 1857 he was studying law and in 1858 began a legal practice in Talladega. In 1861 he settled down enough to marry Margaret Johnston.

Charles, like his father, was a Unionist, but at the outbreak of the war he enlisted in the Confederate army for 12 months. On April 1, 1862 he reenlisted in Company C, 51st Alabama Partisan Rangers and on September 2nd he was second lieutenant of the Company. In the Atlanta Campaign Charles was severely wounded in the leg -- he carried a cane the rest of his life. At the end of the war, Charles was promoted to first lieutenant and he was paroled in Talledega, May 16, 1865.

Following the war, Charles joined the Republican Party. He was what used to be known disparagingly as a "scalawag." He was socially ostracized for his political views -- even his brothers were bitter (especially Peter, who at this time was helping Forrest in Tennessee with the Ku Klux Klan) and turned against him. Charles practiced law with the Republican Governor, L. E. Parsons, and he was appointed Judge of the 10th Judicial Circuit Court in 1868. In 1872 he was elected as a Republican Congressman, serving from 1873-1875, and he was on the state Republican Executive Committee.

During this period Charles had some harrowing experiences. His life was frequently threatened by the local Ku Klux Klan. One day he was walking down a street in Talladega, when a "red neck" accosted him: "Judge Pelham, have you picked out a big black nigger for a son-in-law?" This Charles did not take kindly, and he practically beat the man to death with his cane. He was immediately arrested and by nightfall a large, angry crowd had gathered at the jailhouse. His brothers in Alexandria -- 35 miles away -- nearly rode their horses to death reaching Talladega. They arrived just in time. Lining up in front of the jail they challenged the mob as to who would be the first to try to lynch their brother. The mob dispersed; Charles was later freed. The incident healed the rift among the Pelham brothers.

Once Democratic home rule was reestablished, Charles moved to Washington, D.C. He had two children: Rosa, born in 1862, married his law partner, William Soult and lived in West Virginia. His son, John Pelham, ironically also became a judge -- in Alabama -- and a staunch Democrat to boot. Charles Pelham was visiting his brother Peter in Georgia when he died in 1907.

Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins in her book, The Scalawag in Alabama Politics, 1865-1881, points out that for years Southerners held the negative stereotypical view of scalawags as Unionists or disloyal Confederates, uneducated, small farmers, with little or no political experience, motivated by pecuniary gain. Like most stereotypes, it is only partially. true. Except for being a Unionist in 1861, Charles Pelham certainly did not fit into any of those categories. He was motivated by principle alone. With much to lose, he showed great courage and independence of mind in adhering to his own convictions.

-- by Peggy Vogtsberger

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

Sources:
Charles Pelham File, National Archives.
Letter of J. Douglas Pelham to Peggy Vogtsberger, June 6, 1984.
Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins, The Scalawag in Alabama Politics, 1865-1881, University of Alabama Press, 1977.
James K. Greer, ed., Alabama's Tragic Decade, 1865-1874, Birmingham: Webb Book Company, 1940.
Letter of Justus N. Brown to Rev. E. M. Cravath, American Missionary Association Archives, #498.