If you look hard enough, you can see them for brief moments. For me, history comes alive when I tread the same ground as the gray ghosts that haunt my mind. 69-caliber Springfield musket, and clad in gray-brown jean wool akin to the original Rebels', I begin my quest with all the trappings of 1862-beat-up slouch hat, cartridge box, belt, cap box, canteen, bedroll and a near-empty haversack (it's historically correct to be short on foodstuffs). The locals added the "s" when Virginia seceded in 1861 to express their anti-Northern sentiments.) It was within these rolling pastures at the Battle of Union that Pelham sealed his reputation as not just an idol but a fighting idol. I've come here to find Pelham, to an almost forgotten battlefield between Upperville and Middleburg, at the tiny burg of Unison, Va. John Pelham, and 138 autumns ago he strode these fields as the heartthrob of the Confederacy. But he wrote his brother from prewar West Point that he "devoted all time, talents and energies to the fair sex." The young Alabamian who commanded the artillery wing of Jeb Stuart's cavalry was, by all accounts, a graceful dancer, religious, philosophical, shy, athletic and a fine horseman. He said that calling on ladies was an uncommon thing for him, that he felt awkward around them. His visiting card-with his photograph on one side-received wide circulation among the girls. To the young ladies of his Southern homeland, he was an idol. We asked him to introduce us to the little-known Battle of Union-and a particularly dashing gray ghost known as the " Gallant Pelham." Robert Lee Hodge-featured in the 1998 Tony Horwitz bestseller "Confederates in the Attic"-has emerged as the archetype of the passionate Civil War reenactor, willing to suffer any discomfort in his pursuit of a tangible, authentic connection with the people and events of the 1860s.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |