Major John Pelham paced the parlor nervously, repeatedly looking out the front window at his cannon strategically placed on Seaton’s Hill, five hundred yards from Welbourne, the home of Lieutenant Colonel Richard Henry Dulany of the 7th Virginia Cavalry. Pelham had arrived the night before at the home in Middleburg, Virginia, and, after securing his guns on the most imposing elevation in the area, the Confederate artillerist had accepted the invitation from Lieutenant Colonel Dulaney’s father, John Peyton Dulany, to spend the night, along with his aide Lieutenant George C. Walker.
Pelham was not reared to be rude to a host, so when John Dulany insisted he take breakfast before he left the next morning, he could hardly refuse. But he could almost feel the advance of the troops of General George McClellan, who he knew were crossing the Potomac while he paced in the parlor.
Pelham knew what Major General J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry was facing, having faced these troops at Sharpsburg in September, where Lee was outnumbered two-to-one, and battled with Brigadier Generals Andrew A. Humphreys’ and Winfield Scott Hancock’s troops on October 16 and 17. Despite being reinforced by Lieutenant General A.P. Hill’s infantry division, Stuart had been so outnumbered in the 16th and 17th that he’d had to fall back repeatedly, until Humphreys finally declined to continue fighting.
Knowing the odds against the Confederates and that he was away from Stuart while the Federals were advancing, Pelham likely would have preferred foregoing breakfast that Indian summer morning. He was at Welbourne because he had had to go to Millwood to pick up six pieces of artillery for the coming battle and he likely couldn’t wait to be again with Stuart where the action was. But his guns were in place on Seaton’s Hill just in case the Federals showed up there, which they might. Nobody was taking Pelham’s guns.
Lieutenant Walker was nervous, too. Walker may have looked out the window at the waiting guns and done what many soldiers in many wars have done: He left a mark to show he had been there, possibly to leave a record of his life in case he didn’t survive.
For whatever reason, Walker scratched his name and the date — G.C. Walker Oct 28 1862. Pelham was in the act of adding his name when he was called to breakfast by thirteen-year-old Mary Dulany, who saw him lower his hand from the window pane when she entered the room.
Mary must not have minded too much. Years later, she named her own home “Pelham” after the artillerist. Indeed, there might have been any number of patriotic Southerners who would have been delighted for John Pelham to inscribe his name on their windows, dining room tables, front doors or anywhere else he wished. Besides the recommendation of his handsome face, Pelham was a hero, having protected Lee’s left flank at Sharpsburg and been the army’s rear guard just weeks earlier, and then distinguishing himself during Stuart’s Chambersburg raid begun October 9, mortifying the Federal army. Pelham did not earn the title “The Gallant Pelham” from General Lee until later, when his name became a household word because of his heroism and skill on the battlefield. Even his enemies admired him.
Pelham left the rest of his name unfinished and inhaled his breakfast. Then, he rounded up his gunners and the cannon and, while teenagers Fanny and Mary Dulany sat on the front porch and watched, they thundered away down the Welbourne Road, off to meet Stuart.
Welbourne Inn Today
Today Welbourne is an historic bed-and-breakfast, beautifully restored by Rebecca Dulany Schaefer, innkeeper and a descendant of Fanny Dulany. Welbourne has five main guestrooms. Though Rebecca doesn’t know which was Pelham’s bedroom, one could guess by identifying which might be the master bedroom, which the girls’ bedroom and which Lieutenant Colonel Dulaney’s bedroom. That leaves two possibilities. But it would be a guess.
But one can climb with certainty the staircase where John Pelham walked, eat in the beautiful dining room where he had that hurried breakfast, gaze at the lawn where soldiers camped and almost hear the bullets pinging the roof during the Battle of Unison on October 31, when Stuart ate his breakfast sitting on his horse beside the front porch. And, of course, one can view the etching in the middle of the parlor window opening onto that front porch.
Jessica James, author of the award-winning Past Lane Travel blog and historical novels, recently traveled to Welbourne Inn, where she and Rebecca tried to photograph Pelham and Walker’s autographs.
“The etching is really hard to read,” Jessica says. “We tried holding paper behind (it) and closing the shutters, which helped the ‘1862’ show up. But you can’t really see what else he wrote.”
Rebecca wonders why Pelham and his aide would write their names on a prominent window of someone else’s home. Guests, she says, always ask about it. A likely answer is they were young warriors anxiously anticipating battle, having to wait with nothing else to do in an unprotected parlor, like many a soldier before and after them.
Did Pelham Leave The Bower Early?
On October 28 or 29, depending upon who is writing the history, Stuart packed up, said goodbye to the Dandridges at The Bower, headed southward and crossed the Blue Ridge at Snicker’s Gap.
Jerry H. Maxwell in his excellent book The Perfect Lion says Pelham was with Stuart when he broke camp at The Bower on October 29.[1] I believe Pelham had left The Bower before then, taking Walker with him to collect some artillery that was at Millwood, Virginia, before crossing the Blue Ridge and rendezvousing with Stuart.
(It’s interesting that Maxwell writes about Pelham and Walker being at Welbourne and placing the guns there on Seaton’s Hill, but leaves out the tidbit about the men scratching their names on the glass. It could be that he couldn’t reconcile the date Walker wrote with the known timetables for Stuart’s movements. As comprehensive a book as his is, it seems strange that Maxwell didn’t include the window glass story.)
If Pelham had left The Bower when Stuart did, on October 28 or 29 (depending upon the source), he would have had to leave Welbourne on the 28th, ride back to The Bower with the artillery and gunners, arriving there late the 28th or 29th, and then accompanied Stuart back down the same road. But it is known that Stuart crossed the Blue Ridge at Snicker’s Gap and did not rendezvous with Pelham until October 30 at Bloomfield. If Pelham had left The Bower when Stuart did, he would have had to ride approximately 188 miles. It seems unlikely, unless he just had to see Sallie Dandridge one more time.
It seems logical that Pelham had told Sallie goodbye and gone for his guns at Millwood before Stuart left The Bower. Pelham, then, would have spent the night with General D.H. Hills’ troops at Upperville, which is known, and circled back via Welbourne to meet Stuart at Bloomfield on October 30, a ride of approximately 54 miles.
Stuart’s Successful Delaying Action
That also means Pelham was not there when Stuart surprised and routed a force of about one-hundred Federals after he crossed the Blue Ridge. Pelham’s other batteries were there, but when accounts say “Pelham’s artillery” they don’t mean he was present; they are speaking of his command of Stuart’s artillery. Pelham was on his way to Bloomfield and probably heard the guns, his artillery and the Union’s, and been mightily frustrated that he was not there.
Stuart and his men killed or captured almost all of the surprised Federals. The rest he chased toward Aldie, where he encountered a large force of Federals. Stuart’s cavalrymen were driven back by Union artillery placed on the heights west of town. Eventually, the Confederate artillery drove the rest of the Federals from Aldie.
During the artillery battle, Stuart got an erroneous report that there were Federals approaching his rear from Mountville, so he about-faced his troops to meet this non-existent threat. Realizing the error, Stuart and his cavalrymen rode to Bloomfield, where he met Pelham on October 30.
The next morning, Stuart’s pickets at Pilomont were attacked and he moved his force east to Unison, between the Federals and General D.H. Hill’s troops encamped at Upperville.
Union General Alfred Pleasonton believed he faced strong Confederate infantry and wired General George B. McClellan for reinforcements. Late that evening a brigade of infantry, another battery and a contingent of the 6th Cavalry arrived to strengthen the Union force.
On November 2, the Union force of 2,500 cavalry, infantry and artillery began to move south toward Unison, led by a brass band. Stuart deployed his small force, putting Pelham’s guns front and center, and secured his flanks with the 9th Virginia toward Bloomfield and the 3rd Virginia toward Pothouse.
The Battle of Unison began as the Confederates slowly withdrew. Union artillery, occupying a hill north of the village, began a bombardment. Seven hundred infantry advanced slowly against Stuart’s cavalry and Pelham’s artillery fire. Stuart withdrew to an elevation south of the village, where Pelham’s guns let loose.
The Dulanys at Welbourne could not help but hear the thunderous blasts of Pelham’s artillery, being less than 5 miles away.
A young scout and staff officer who rode with Stuart during the fighting around Unison, John S. Mosby, also would visit Welbourne and would become widely known in the area for his exploits as a partisan ranger.
On November 3, Stuart’s greatly outnumbered force resisted and held the advance Union troops for most of the day before withdrawing through Upperville and Ashby’s Gap. Stuart’s force continued to harass the Union army until McClellan’s force was in position to move toward Richmond on November 5.
But because of the time gained by Stuart’s delaying tactics at Unison, most of Lee’s army had crossed the Blue Ridge, reached Culpeper and was preparing for the next major battle, Fredricksburg, where Pelham would earn the name “The Gallant Pelham” from General Lee.
For more information about the Dulany family and their superb home, see The Dulany’s of Welbourne: a Family in Mosby’s Confederacy by Margaret Ann Vogtsberger.
To become a member of the John Pelham Historical Association, go here and perpetuate the memory of a fine man.
[1] pp. 215-216
jannicholsbatts.com 