Carte de Visite of Captain William (Willy”) Ransom Johnson Pegram

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Carte de Visite of Captain William (Willy”) Ransom Johnson Pegram – This rare CDV of Willy Pegram depicts him wearing his spectacles, as he was quite near-sighted. Born in Richmond, Pegram, as a 20 year old student at the University of Virginia, enlisted at the rank of private, in Richmond’s “Purcell Artillery”, in the Army of Northern Virginia. Willy Pegram would quickly gain fame for his great courage, under fire, belying his bespectacled, scholarly appearance. Pegram quickly rose through the ranks, initially as a 1^st Lieutenant in 1861; then promoted to Captain, in April, 1862; promoted to the rank of Major in March, 1863; then Lt. Col. in February, 1864 and finally, achieving the rank of a full Colonel in February, 1865. He would become Gen. A.P. Hill’s favored artillery officer, serving with Hill’s famous “Light Division” and later with Hill’s Third Corps. During his brief Colonelcy, Pegram would be in command of sixty guns. During his years of service, Pegram was wounded twice – at Antietam and at Squirrel Level Road; he was mortally wounded at the disastrous Battle of Five Forks, on April 4, 1865, just days before the death of his older brother, General John Pegram, who was killed in action at the Battle of Hatcher’s Run. Both brothers are interred beside each other, in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery.

We obtained this CDV from an 18^th century home in Amelia, Virginia, along with several other important, Confederate images, from a family that had originated in Petersburg. The image remains in fine condition. The photographer’s back mark is “Bendann Brothers / 207 Baltimore St. / Baltimore”’; there is a tax stamp affixed to the bottom left of the back of the image. Additionally, on the back, are the notations identifying Pegram, recorded their by a family member, at the Amelia home.

William Ransom Johnson Pegram

Willy Pegram (1841-1865)

Born in 1841, Willy Pegram rose from private to colonel while serving under A.P. Hill and while often attached to the Light Division. Joseph R. Anderson, a brigade commander in the Light Division briefly, was a brother-in-law to the Pegram brothers by marriage to their sister Mary.

A student at the University of Virginia’s law school, Pegram joined the Richmond “Purcell Artillery” in April 1861. He was well known for his gold rimmed spectacles that he required even in the heat of battle because he was extremely near-sighted, an obvious handicap for a gunner.

Nonetheless, Pegram fought at every major battle that the Third Corps or Light Division was present at. Pious and quiet, he was a superb gunner remembered for his habit of being very aggressive offensively with his cannon.

Pegram was never promoted above the rank of colonel, though others recommended his promotion.

Henry Heth and R.H. Anderson separately asked for his promotion and assignment to command of an infantry brigade and Powell Hill endorsed Heth’s recommendation of Pegram: “No officer of the Army of Northern Virginia has done more to deserve this promotion than Lieutenant Colonel Pegram.” But Lee did not promote Pegram saying “He is too young—how old is Colonel Pegram?” Heth had answered: “I do not know, but I suppose about 25.’ Lee had replied: “I think a man of 25 as good as he ever will be; what he acquires after that age is from experience; but I can’t understand, when an officer is doing excellent service where he is, why he should want to change.”

The recommendation was returned, camp gossip had it, with the statement that “the artillery could not lose the services of so valuable an officer.”

Willy’s older brother, John, was a West Pointer, class of 1854. He was a Confederate general and was killed at the battle of Hatcher’s Run in February, 1865, soon after his marriage to the “most beautiful woman of her generation,” Hettie Cary. The death devastated Willy who had always been close with his brother.

Pegram was killed a little over a month after his brother. As Southern historian Douglas Southall Freeman wrote, “To the artillerists, it was a day of disaster not to be recorded solely in terms of four guns lost or of good soldiers captured.” Willy Pegram had once sworn that his guns would not be taken from his while he lived; he finally suffered the loss of a gun while lying mortally wounded at the battle of Five Forks on April 1, 1865. He died the next morning. As Gordon McCabe remembered it, “At about 10 o’clock we reached Ford’s, and I obtained a bed for him . . . I had given him morphine in small quantities until he was easier, and he soon fell into a doze. The enemy advanced on the place about 12 o’clock, and I was left alone with him. I sent off our sabres, horses, spurs, etc., as I felt sure that we would be captured. I shall never forget that night of waiting. I could only pray. He breathed heavily through the night, and passed into a stupor. I bound his wounds as well as I knew how and moistened his lips with water. Sunday morning he died as gently as possible.”

Likely, A.P. Hill never knew that his favorite gunner had been killed in battle the day before.

William Ransom Johnson Pegram, known as “Willie” or “Willy”, (June 29, 1841 – April 2, 1865) was an artillery officer in Robert E. Lee‘s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War. He was mortally wounded in the Battle of Five Forks. He was the younger brother of Confederate General John Pegram, who was also killed in action. His grandfather, John Pegram, was a major general during the War of 1812.

Early life

Born in a house along Main Street in Richmond, Virginia, Pegram was a student at the University of Virginia‘s law school when the Civil War broke out in 1861.

Civil War

Pegram quickly enlisted in an artillery battery from Richmond known as the “Purcell Artillery“^[1] in April 1861. The youthful Pegram would become General A. P. Hill‘s favorite artillery officer. He gained a reputation for his scholarly looks—extreme nearsightedness required that he wear his gold-rimmed spectacles even in the heat of battle–and for his utter fearlessness in battle. Confederate General Henry Heth commented that Pegram was “one of the few men who, I believe, was supremely happy when in battle.” One of his soldiers recalled that Pegram thought “A soldier should always seek the most desperate post that has to be filled.”

Pegram amassed a commendable combat record during the Civil War, first with A.P. Hill’s famous “Light Division” and then with Hill’s Third Corps. He fought in virtually every major action in the Eastern theater in which the Army of Northern Virginia was engaged.

Willy Pegram rose through the ranks from private to colonel of artillery in command of sixty guns. There was a movement afoot to make him a general, but nothing ever came of it. It is said that both division level commanders Henry Heth and Richard H. Anderson separately asked for his promotion and assignment to command of an infantry brigade, and A.P. Hill endorsed Heth’s recommendation of Pegram: “No officer of the Army of Northern Virginia has done more to deserve this promotion than lieutenant colonel Pegram.” But Lee did not promote Pegram, saying, “He is too young—how old is Colonel Pegram?” Heth had answered: “I do not know, but I suppose about 25.” Lee replied: “I think a man of 25 is as good as he ever will be; what he acquires after that age is from experience; but I can’t understand, when an officer is doing excellent service where he is, why he should want to change.” And so, the recommendations for Pegram to be promoted were returned with the statement that “the artillery could not lose the services of so valuable an officer.” Indeed, many thought that Pegram was the best gunner in the Army of Northern Virginia.

Willy’s older brother, John, was a West Point graduate of the class of 1854. John was killed just two months earlier and near the same location at the Battle of Hatcher’s Run in February 1865. The death devastated Willy, who had always been close to his older brother.

Death

Willy Pegram once stated, “Men, whenever the enemy takes a gun from my battery, look for my dead body in front of it.” On April 1, 1865, at the Battle of Five Forks – a battle Southern historian Douglas Southall Freeman deemed “a day of disaster not to be recorded solely in terms of four guns lost or of good soldiers captured” – Pegram finally suffered the loss of one of his guns while he lay mortally wounded beside it. He lingered into the evening, dying at 8 o’clock the next morning. He was buried in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery.

Pegram went by the nickname of Willy or Willie. His family members apparently used the spelling of “Willy” as does his modern biographer. Freeman, and many other Civil War authors, spell the name as “Willie.” General Joseph R. Anderson, of Tredegar Iron Works fame, married Pegram’s sister Mary Evans in 1881.

Civil War Confederate Army Officer. Considered one of the finest artillery commanders during the Civil War. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Five Forks and was buried on the field. His remains were brought to Richmond for Burial on December 6, 1865. He was interred next to his brother, Brigadier General John Pegram, who was killed at the Battle of Hatcher’s Run near Petersburg on February 6, 1865.