Lee's Young Artillerist: William R.J. PegramUniversity of Virginia Press, 1998 - 209 pages William R. J. Pegram forged a record as one of the most prominent artillerists in the Army of Northern Virginia. He participated in every major battle in Virginia and rose from sergeant to full colonel by the end of the war. Pegram entered Confederate service to defend a way of life that he believed to be ordained by God, a belief that was shared by many of his contemporaries. Lee's Young Artillerist looks at Pegram as a case study exemplifying the worldview of slaveholders whose formative years were the 1850s. Religious leaders offered a scriptural interpretation of society that emphasized human inequality as part of a social hierarchy and made support of slavery a Christian duty for all white Southerners. Pegram firmly believed in a religion of action, that God demanded he and his men do everything in their power to defeat the enemy. He equated losing faith in the Confederacy with abandoning God, family, and community and could not conceive of defeat at the hands of ungodly Northerners. Rather than being considered fanatic, Pegram's values were shared by other young Confederate officers, the South's ruling elite. Lee's Young Artillerist challenges the thesis of some Civil War historians that a weakening Confederate belief in slavery and a loss of morale contributed to the South's defeat. Carmichael proposes instead that Pegram and thousands of other young Confederates interpreted their world through a religious prism that made the defense of slavery appear a just cause for which to die. |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
THREE | 30 |
Pegrams Artillery at Mechanicsville June 26 1862 | 41 |
Pegrams Artillery at Malvern Hill July 1 1862 | 46 |
Pegrams Artillery at Cedar Mountain August 9 1862 | 53 |
FIVE | 66 |
Pegrams Artillery at Harpers Ferry September 15 1862 | 67 |
Pegrams Artillery at Fredericksburg December 13 1862 | 76 |
Pegrams Artillery at Spotsylvania May 818 1864 | 119 |
SEVEN | 129 |
Area of Operations for Pegrams Battalion August 1864April 1865 | 134 |
Pegrams Artillery at the Weldon Railroad August 21 1864 | 136 |
Pegrams Artillery at Reams Station August 25 1864 | 139 |
Pegrams Artillery at Pegrams Farm September 30 1864 | 144 |
Pegrams Artillery at Squirrel Level Road October 1 1864 | 146 |
CONCLUSION | 153 |
Pegrams Artillery at Chancellorsville May 13 1863 | 88 |
Pegrams Artillery at Gettysburg July 13 1863 | 99 |
Pegrams Artillery in the Wilderness May 56 1864 | 116 |
Pegrams Artillery at Five Forks April 1 1865 | 162 |
NOTES | 175 |
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Common terms and phrases
A. P. Hill Army of Northern artillerists assault battle brigade brother camp campaign cavalry command Confederacy Confederate Crenshaw Artillery Dinwiddie County enemy enemy's Evans Pegram Anderson Ewell's Federals field fighting fire force Fredericksburg Gettysburg gram McIntosh Grant ground gunners Harpers Ferry Hazel Grove Henry Heth Heth Heth's Hill's division horses infantry Jackson James West James West Pegram Jennie John Pegram Lee's Letcher Artillery Longstreet's Mahone's Mary Evans Mary Evans Pegram Meade's miles morning mother Munford North Northern Virginia o'clock officers P-J-M Papers Pegram to Mary Pegram to Virginia Pegram wrote PEGRAM'S ARTILLERY Pegram's battalion Pegram's battery Pegram's cannoneers Pegram's guns Petersburg position Potomac Purcell Artillery Rappahannock Richmond Ridge right flank River shell sister soldiers South Southern Stephen Dodson Ramseur trenches troops turnpike Union University of Virginia veterans victory Virginia Johnson Virginia Johnson Pegram Warren's William Gordon McCabe William Pegram Willy Willy's wounded