Colonel John Pelham: Lee’s Boy Artillerist.Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1960; John-
son, Kurt, Richard C. Anderson, and Joseph M. Han-
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Antietam.College Station: Texas A&M University,
1995; Katcher, Philip. Confederate Artillerymen.Ox-
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John Pelham of the Stuart Horse Artillery.” Unpub-
lished master’s thesis, Edinboro University of Penn-
sylvania, 1985; Mercer, Philip. The Life of GallantPelham.Macon, GA: J. W. Burke, 1929; Milham,
Charles G. Gallant Pelham: American Extraordi-
nary.Washington, DC: Public Affairs Press, 1959;
Moore, Albert B. A New Nation, a War, a Young
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and His Staff.Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books,
1993.PEMBERTON, JOHNCLIFFORD
Pemberton, John Clifford
(August 10, 1814–July 13, 1881)
Confederate General
D
espite his Northern roots, Pemberton
became a high-ranking Confederate
military officer. He served capably and
diligently but could not defend the all-impor-
tant river city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. He
ended up being a pariah in the North and
South alike.
John Clifford Pemberton was born in
Philadelphia on August 10, 1814. His father
was personally acquainted with President An-
drew Jackson, who helped the young man se-
cure an appointment to the U.S. Military
Academy in 1833. Pemberton graduated four
years later midway in his class of 50 and was
commissioned a second lieutenant in the
Fourth U.S. Artillery. He served in Florida’s
Second Seminole War until 1839 before com-
mencing a wide-ranging tour of garrison duty.
Following the onset of the Mexican-American
War in 1846, he joined Gen. Zachary Taylor’s
Army of Occupation in Texas and fought well
at the Battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la
Palma, and Monterrey. His good service
landed him a position as an aide-de-camp to
Gen. William Jenkins Worth. The following
year he transferred with Worth to Gen. Win-
field Scott’s army in the drive toward Mexico
City, winning additional praise for his per-
formance at Churubusco, Molino del Rey, and
Chapultepec. Pemberton received two brevet
promotions to captain and major for bravery
in battle, and citizens of his native Philadel-
phia voted him an elaborate sword. A turning
point in his life occurred while he was serving
at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, in 1848, when he
met and married Martha Thompson, the
daughter of a Southern shipping magnate.
Over the next 12 years he continued acquit-
ting himself well at various posts along the
western frontier, receiving high marks as an
administrator and rising to captain in 1850. In
1858, he marched with Col. Albert S. Johnston
from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to Utah as
part of the Mormon Expedition. He was serv-
ing at Fort Ridgley, Minnesota, in the spring of
1861 when the tide of Southern secession pre-
cipitated the Civil War.
Pemberton favored neither slavery nor se-
cession, but he was a strong advocate of
states’ rights. That stance, coupled with his
wife’s ardent sectionalism, convinced him to
resign his commission in April 1861 and fight
for the Confederacy. This decision was
roundly condemned by Pemberton’s family
back in Philadelphia, and two of his brothers
subsequently served in the Union Army. By
May 1862, he was commissioned a brigadier
general and assigned to the defenses of Nor-