Virtual Tour Stop, The Gallant Pelham
Modern intersection of Route 2/17 and Route 608. In this vicinity, "the Gallant" John Pelham with one cannon and a few artillerymen held up the Union advance for nearly an hour. The cannon faced in the direction shown here. Modern development sprawls across this part of the battlefield. 
John Pelham was a 24-year-old Confederate artilleryman at the Battle of Fredericksburg. A native of Alabama, he dropped out of West Point when the war began. General Robert E. Lee observed Pelham's action during the battle and referred to him as the "gallant Pelham". The name stuck as a nickname. He was mortally wounded at Kelly's Ford on March 17, 1863.
In 1903 Confederate staff officer James Power Smith placed this monument to John Pelham a cannoneer in Jeb Stuart's horse artillery. It is one of ten monuments that Smith erected in the Fredericksburg area.
Interpretive Sign for "The Gallant Pelham"
Interpretive Sign for the south end of the Battle of Fredericksburg
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Did You Know?
The Spotsylvania History Trail consists of a series of loop trails totaling seven miles. Visitors have options of walking one or more loops or driving the sections that parallel the road and walking the sections that are through the woods and fields.