Death of Pegram

Late afternoon, April 1, 1865, Confederate infantrymen waited behind rude, muddy earthworks lining the White Oak Road while young Colonel William R.J. Pegram tended to his artillery, with three guns in this field and three others farther to the west. Then the Federals came: Sheridan’s dismounted cavalry attacked frontally, and later Warren’s infantry swept down from the east. After fierce fighting, the Confederate positions around the intersection collapsed, and in the melee Colonel Pegram fell, mortally wounded in the side. Just 23 years old, Pegram had survived all of the Army of Northern Virginia’s major battles. He died only five miles from his ancestral home and just nine days short of the war’s end.

Virginia · United States