BY ALLISON BROPHY CHAMPION Culpeper Star-Exponent After a brief, calm discussion on what has been a divisive topic of Confederate history, a Town Council committee on Wednesday recommended Lake Culpeper as the new name for the municipal reservoir. The innocuous name would replace one more controversial: Lake Pelham, which the body of water was named in 1975 for a Confederate artillery officer who died in Culpeper. Maj. John Pelham (1838-1863) was from Alabama, but had a girlfriend in Culpeper, so he perished in the town of an artillery wound suffered 158 years ago during the Battle of Kellyâs Ford. That American Civil War history is well-documented at various sites tied to Pelham in the town and county.