Battle of Brandy Station • Tour the Battlefield • Historical & Wayside Markers • The Armies
The “Where Pelham Fell” Virginia historical marker is on the south side of the James Madison Highway (U.S. 15 & 29) at Kelley’s Ford Road (State Route 674). Kelly’s Ford Road leads four miles south to the actual site where Major Pelham was mortally wounded at the Battle of Kelly’s Ford on March 17, 1863. The marker was placed by the State of Virgina in 1927.
Alabama Major John Pelham was the commander of J.E.B. Stuart’s horse artillery. He was just 22 years old and was the veteran of 60 engagements when he was mortally wounded in the Battle of Kelly’s Ford, three months before the Battle of Brandy Station. Pelham joined in the cavalry fight at Kelly’s Ford even though his artillery was not on the field. He was struck in the head by fragments of an artillery shell and died the next day in Culpeper.
There is a monument to Major John Pelham in the town of Brandy Station across from the Grafitti House. There is also a wayside marker and a Virginia historical marker to “The Gallant Pelham” on the Fredericksburg battlefield, where Pelham held up the Federal movement against the Confederate flank for over two hours, eventually with just a single gun.
Text from the marker:
No. 10-F
Where Pelham Fell
Four miles southeast, at
Kelly’s Ford, Major John
Pelham, commanding Stuart’s
Horse Artillery, was mortally
wounded, March 17, 1863.
Erected 1927 by Conservation & Development Commission.
Location of the “Where Pehlam Fell” historical marker
The “Where Pelham Fell” historical marker is just outside of Elkwood, Virgina, on the south side of the James Madison Highway (U.S. 15/29) at Kelley’s Ford Road. (38°30’50.2″N 77°51’07.7″W) It is a little over two miles northeast of Brandy Station and six miles northeast of Culpeper.