John Pelham (September 7, 1838 – March 17, 1863)[1] was a Confederate cavalry soldier under J. E. B. Stuart during the American Civil War.

In 1861, with graduation approaching and war breaking out, Pelham wrote to Jefferson Davis inquiring whether he should leave West Point.

Ultimately, Pelham resigned from West Point just a few weeks before his planned graduation to accept a commission in the militia of his home state of Alabama.

Pelham was involved in every significant military engagement of Stuart's cavalry from the First Battle of Bull Run to Kelly's Ford, more than 60 encounters.

At Sharpsburg, Pelham's guns, positioned on a rise known as Nicodemus Hill, repeatedly harassed the flanks of oncoming Union lines, causing numerous casualties and breaking up battle formations.

General Robert E. Lee commended Pelham in his official report for "unflinching courage" while under direct fire from multiple Union batteries.

Pelham's body was returned home and buried at City Cemetery in Jacksonville, Alabama, where a statue erected downtown in 1909 commemorates the fallen Confederate officer.

A stone obelisk monument honoring Pelham, which contained an inscription on the base referring to him as "gallant" and beloved and which had stood in the grassy median of a busy avenue in Anniston, Alabama since 1905, was removed late at night on September 27, 2020.