Setting the Record Straight
"Lt. Col. John Pelham" is the appropriate way to refer to John Pelham. His posthumous promotion to lieutenant colonel was unique in the annals of the Confederacy. He was nominated on March 23, 1863: "Maj. John Pelham of Va. to be lieutenant colonel of artillery, to be assigned to duty by Gen. R. E. Lee, March 2, 1863." His promotion was confirmed by the Confederate Congress on April 4, 1863, his rank to date from March 2nd (Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, Washington, D.C., Government 'Printing Office, 1906, Vol. 3, pp 207, 238-241). Therefore, Pelham is really entitled to the rank, unlike many Confederate officers who somehow, after Appomattox, rose a grade or two higher in rank! Referring to Pelham as "Major" is a lifetime habit with many of us, but maybe with a little effort we can change.
Pelham's birth and death dates also present problems with his biographers.
Pelham was born on September 7, 1838. His older brother, William, was born
September 14, 1836, thus the confusion. At least one of our members, Mary
Elizabeth Sergent, has seen the Pelham family Bible, and John's birth is recorded
as September 7th. Every biographical entry your editor has ever seen lists
Pelham's death as March 17, 1863. This is incorrect --John Pelham died at
1 a.m., March 18, 1863. It would have been impossible, even if John had fallen
at the earliest action in the Battle of Kelly's Ford, for his body to have
been brought back to Culpeper and for three surgeons to have looked after
him, for him to have died at 1 p.m., March 17th (as Freeman in Lee's Lieutenants
erroneously states).
This article first appeared in Volume 6, No. 5 of The Cannoneer.
