General Jeb Stuart called him "irreplaceable." General Stonewall Jackson classified him as "incomparable." General Robert E. Lee described him as "the gallant Pelham." The individual so depicted and honored was Major John Pelham, Commander of Stuart's Horse Artillery, Confederate States of America. Of Pelham, General Stuart wrote: "I loved him as a brother; he was so noble, so chivalrous, so pure in heart, so beloved." Easily he might have added: "So courageous, so efficient as an artilleryman, so responsive to the sound of battle." At age 24, having already achieved the rank of major, Pelham fell mortally wounded after just one and a half years of successful and heroic handling of guns in battle.