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| Major John Pelham C.S.A. |
Jerry H. Maxwell’s new book The Perfect Lion is the latest and most complete biography on the
life of Confederate artillerist John Pelham. The book is a well crafted and detailed account of the life
of one of the South’s premier gunners - the Gallant Pelham.
What was most fascinating to me was the struggle that Pelham
endured to remain at West Point in the last few months of his senior year in
early 1861. When the nation fell
apart and all of his southern colleagues went home as their state’s seceded,
Pelham and best friend Tom Rosser gamely hung on to the admiration of their
classmates long after their home states of Alabama and Texas respectively left
the Union. It was only the firing
on Fort Sumter that made further tarrying at the Academy impossible. Pelham and his closest friend Rosser’s
adventurous journey through the now fully aroused Northern states to the
borders of still neutral Kentucky is well covered.
The book fully treats all the battles that Pelham was engaged in from First Manassas to Kelly’s Ford where the 24
year old was mortally wounded. Pelham’s insanely brave exploits are very well told and it is no wonder that
he earned the admiration of Stuart, Jackson and Robert E. Lee. Yet this remarkably brave and talented gunner was
one of the most modest and self-effacing of men and his men loved him for it. Pelham’s relationship with J.E.B. Stuart is fully explored
and the book while not focused on Stuart provides interesting insights into his
personality and relationships (some not so warm) with his colleagues in the
Confederate cavalry. One would
almost believe that the war was nothing but courting, singing, and strolls in
between the fierce fighting. We
also are introduced to Pelham’s subordinate officers in the Stuart Horse
Artillery. Pelham’s last battle at Kelly's Ford on March 17, 1863 is
thoroughly covered and this account answered a number of questions that I had
about Pelham’s final hours.
The work is well researched with over 68 pages of notes and
bibliography, eight photos, and eight battle maps. However, I was
somewhat distracted by the author’s use of the word “army” to describe all levels
of fighting formations. As one example, he cites Stuart's restless prowls around Nicodemus Heights [and he] must have observed Hooker's army lurking closely in the darkness. Also as a
volunteer and guide at Antietam National Battlefield I know that despite what the book says, D.H. Hill was not in command of the entire Confederate line
at South Mountain. Rebel elements
at the southernmost gap at Burkittsville were lead by cavalryman Thomas
Munford, not Hill. By this account, it would also seem that Pelham's guns alone stopped the Federal attack at Fox Gap when in truth eventually much of D.H. Hills division and parts of Longstreet's wing were also drawn to the struggle and contributed greatly there.
These observations are truly minor. I enjoyed the book very much and in its entirety,
The Perfect Lion is an important addition to the scholarship of perhaps Lee’s
most able artillerist. I highly recommend it.
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