VIII. PELHAM " THE GALLANT." On the morning of the 17th of March, 1863, Averill s Federal Cavalry, three thousand in the saddle, crossed the Kappahan- riock at Kelly s Ford, and attacked about eight hundred of General Fitz Lee s command, who faced, without shrinking, these great odds, and fought them stubbornly at every point throughout the entire day. When the sun set on that tranquil evening sinking slowly down behind the quiet forest, unstirred by the least breath of wind the long and desperate struggle was decided. The enemy was retiring, " badly hurt," and General Stuart added in his dispatch : " We are after him. His dead men and horses strew the road." No harder battle was fought during the entire war. The Southern forces won the day by hard and desperate fighting, in charge after charge : but lost in the struggle some of the most valiant hearts that ever beat. Puller, Harris,, and Pelham were among the number the "gallant Pelham" of the battle of Fredericksburg. He was in the performance of his duty as Chief of Artillery, and was riding towards his General, when a regi ment of cavalry swept by him in a charge. He was waving his hat aloft, and cheering them on, when a fragment of shell struck him on the head, mortally wounding him. He lingered until after midnight on the morning of the 18th, when General Stuart telegraphed to Mr. Curry, of Alabama : "The noble, the chivalric, the gallant Pelham is no more.
