who then represented Pelham's Alabama district in the Confederate Congress:

"The noble, the chivalriç, 'the gallant Pelham' is no more. He was killed in action yesterday. His remains will be sent to you today. How much he was beloved, appreciated and admired, let the tears of agony we shed and the gloom of mourning throughout my command bear witness. His loss is irreparable.”

His remains were taken to Richmond and lay in state at the capitol, viewed by thousands. He was buried at Jacksonville, Ala., amid the scenes of his childhood. General Stuart's general order to the division announcing his death concluded:

His eyes had glanced over every battlefield of this army, from the first Manassas to the moment of his death, and, with a single exception, he was a brilliant actor in all. The memory of 'the gallant Pelham,' his many virtues, his noble nature and purity of character is enshrined as a sacred legacy in the hearts of all who knew him. His record has been bright and spotless, his career brilliant and successful. He fell the noblest of sacrifice-on the altar of his country, to whose glorious service he had dedicated his life from the beginning of the war."

He was calmly and recklessly brave, and saw men torn to pieces around him without emotion, because his heart and eye were upon the stern work he was performing. Such is the brief but resplendent career of the "boy artillerist."

The deeds of Pelham's nephew, who was a private in Terry's Texas regiment, caused the Texas Legislature to enact that as he, "a hero in more than a hundred battles," had fallen while charging the enemy at Dalton, Ga., leaving no issue, the name of a certain child, a nephew, should be changed to Charles Thomas Pelham, to perpetuate his memory.

[From the Richmond, Va., Dispatch, January 17, 1903]

A MARYLAND CONFEDERATE.

Matchless for Hard Fighting and Bravery.

RECOLLECTIONS OF MAJOR JAMES BREATHED.

By H. H. MATTHEWS, Pikesville, Md., a Member of Breathed's Battery.

So little is generally known of the early life and ancestry of Major James Breathed, the fearless, dashing artillery officer who commanded the celebrated battery which has always been known as Breathed's Battery, since the death of the immortal Pelham, on March 17th, 1863, at Kelly's Ford, Va., I thought the public would perhaps be gratified by a recital of his early life up to and after the Civil war.

Please pardon the length of this letter, as I find it impossible to do him justice in a shorter one.

Major James Breathed, of the Stuart Horse Artillery, Cavalry Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, C. S. A., was the son of John Breathed and Ann MacGill Williams, of Hagerstown, Md. His ancestors came from England and the north of Ireland, and to Maryland in 1740. John Breathed moved into Virginia, at Janesville, sold his large landed estates in West Virginia and Maryland that he inherited from a bachelor uncle, and purchased Durrganess, originally the old Randolph estate. Major James Breathed was born February 13th, 1838, in Virginia, at Fruit Hall, Morgan county, near Berkeley Springs. At an early age his father and mother moved over near Hagerstown, Md. Young "Jim" Breathed was sent to St. James College, near that place. After being there some time he concluded to study medicine, which he did in the office of Dr. MacGill for two years; then he went to Baltimore and took a course of surgery under the celebrated Dr. Nathan R. Smith. He received his diploma and graduated as an M. D. at the age of twenty-one years. He went to St. Joseph, Mo., shortly afterward, and began the practice of medicine, remaining there until Virginia seceded, on April 17th, 1861. All his relations were strong Southerners.

The late Governor Jackson, Marmaduke, "Jeff" Thompson, and

Breathed.

Price were making war speeches, advocating secession. was with them, being a relative, and in the fire of youth, he determined to go into the service of the South and link his fortunes with them.

When "Jeff" Thompson, and Generals Marmaduke and Price were compelled to leave their homes and firesides by the orders of the United States Government, Breathed went with them, determining to stand by them and the views they advocated to the end. Breathed's parents begged him not to be too precipitate, and had him to return to Maryland.

En route to Maryland, and while he was on the cars, he sat in the same seat with the then Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart, U. S. regular cavalry, who was returning to Virginia, to offer his services to the Governor of the State of his birth.

Breathed, two days after reaching home, crossed the Potomac river at Williamsport, Md., went to Martinsburg, Va., and joined a company of cavalry that was being organized at that place under the command of Captain John Blair Hoge, afterward Company B, First Virginia Cavalry, Army of the Shenandoah, under General Joseph E. Johnston. While in this command he again came in contact with Colonel J. E. B. Stuart, who at that time was Colonel of the First Virginia Cavalry. When they met Stuart recognized Breathed as his travelling companion of a few weeks previous, when they were both en route for the South with the same purpose in view-to join the Southern Army of Virginia. Stuart was struck with Breathed's manly and bold bearing, and when Pelham organized the celebrated battery of Stuart Horse Artillery at Centreville, Va., in the fall of 1861, he was transferred from Company B, First Virginia Cavalry, as a private, to that battery. Later, at the election of officers and at General Stuart's suggestion, Breathed was elected first lieutenant of the battery, and started on his unparalleled record as the hardest artillery fighter the war produced. (So said General R. E. Lee, his commander.) The organization to which he attached himself was not only known throughout the breadth of this fair land, but also in Continental Europe. The names of the incomparable Pelham and the intrepid, reckless, dashing Breathed will be handed down to generations yet to come, hand in hand, as true types of Southern valor and manhood. Breathed, at the time of which I am writing, was only 22 years of age, being Major Pelham's senior by one year.

After the war he returned to Hancock, Md., where his sister, Mrs. Robert Bridges, resided, and again began the practice of

medicine. Being near Mason's and Dixon's line, his profession naturally took him over in Pennsylvania. Some of the stay at homes living in Pennsylvania at that time notified him that if he came over into Pennsylvania they would kill him. They did not know the temperament of the man, or they certainly would not have indulged in such idle talk. Those threats made against him virtually forced him into forbidden territory, and go he did, spurning with contempt the low bred hirelings that had tried to intimidate him, and for years-up to the time of his death—went in and out across the line, penetrating the State of Pennsylvania for miles, fearful of no one except himself. He found friends that stood by him when

adversity overtook him.

Our dearly loved, idolized hero-loved by his old battery to a man-passed away at Hancock, Md., February 14th, 1870, and was buried in the beautiful cemetery of St. James Episcopal church. His age was 32 years. On Memorial Day Federal soldiers who have felt the power of his sword and the thunder of his battery, strew flowers over his grave and silently shed a tear over the mound. that contains the remains of as true a type of manhood as the world can produce. As in life he was always found upon the uttermost edge of his country's fortune, so in death he sleeps on the extreme limit of the State he loved so well-old Maryland.

Afterward Breathed's, Famous Battery, Stuart's Horse Artillery Battalion, Cavalry Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, C. S. A.

Corrected and verified at various times by Captain Daniel Shanks, Lieutenant J. Wm. Cosgrove, Orderly Sergeants S. Murray and Z. F. Williams, and Privates H. H. Matthews, L. O. Bennett, Walter G. Smith, Henry Weeks, T. Frank Yates, and others.

Revised by Colonel Winfield Peters, of Maryland Line, member of Historical Committee, etc., United Confederate Veterans, Baltimore, Md., February, 1903.

This renowned battery grew out of the Newtown, Va., Battery; when, at Centreville, Va., in November, 1861, it was changed to a horse battery (every man mounted), under the command of Captain John Pelham, and was attached to the cavalry at the instance of Brigadier-General J. E. B. Stuart, and the battery was known as the Stuart Horse Artillery. Other horse batteries, uniting with Pelham's, formed the battalion, Stuart Horse Artillery, and Pelham was promoted to major.

Major John Pelham was killed in the cavalry battle at Kelly's Ford, Va., March 17, 1863.

Major R. F. Beckham (formerly Captain of the Newtown Battery) succeeded Major Pelham, April 8, 1863, and was relieved in the fall of 1863. Major R. Preston Chew succeeded Major Beckham in the spring of 1864, and, on the recommendation of General Hampton, Major Chew was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, August 10, 1864. Captain James Breathed succeeded Captain Pelham as battery commander. Captain Breathed was promoted to major, Stuart Horse Artillery Battalion, in the spring of 1864, serving until the end of the war.

By order of General Stuart, Private James Breathed, Company B, Twelfth Virginia Cavalry, was transferred to Pelham's Horse Battery, November, 1861.

Major Breathed died at Hancock, Md., February 14, 1870.

Captain P. Preston Johnston succeeded Captain Breathed as battery commander. Captain Johnston was promoted to major, Stuart Horse Artillery Battalion, in the fall of 1864, serving until the end of the war. Now living, and the only surviving officer of the bat

tery.

Captain Daniel Shanks succeeded Captain Johnston as battery commander in the fall of 1864, serving until the end of the war.

Shanks had served as corporal, Company H, and as color-corporal in the First Maryland Infantry, June 18, 1861, until June 18, 1862. He was then honorably discharged, and thereupon enlisted in Captain Pelham's Battery.

Captain Shanks died in Leonardtown, Md., July, 1892.

First Lieutenant, William Hoxton. Wounded badly at Trevillian Station, Va.