Horse artillery batteries were a much rarer commodity in the western theater than they were in the east. During the Atlanta campaign, for example, there was only one battery assigned to each cavalry division, according to David Evans’ excellent book Sherman’s Horsemen.

The Chicago Board of Trade is one of the country’s oldest currently operating futures and options exchanges. It was responsible for raising several units of Illinois volunteers during the course of the Civil War. President Lincoln sent out a call on July 6, 1862 for an additional 300,000 volunteers. On the evening of the 21st, the Board decided to raise a battery of artillery. By 4 pm on July 23rd, $15,000 had been raised and 180 men volunteered for the battery. 156 of these men were selected by the mustering officer, Captain J. Christopher, and mustered into federal service on August 1st as the Chicago Board of Trade battery, Illinois Volunteers.

Captain James H. Stokes was mustered in as captain of the battery. He graduated seventeenth in his class at West Point in 1835. A veteran artillerist, he had served five years as an artilleryman fighting Indians in Florida and three years as a quartermaster before resigning in 1843. He gained a great deal of notoriety by assisting Captain Nathaniel Lyon in securing and moving small arms from the St Louis Arsenal to Springfield, Illinois to equip Illinois volunteers in April 1861.

On August 2nd the battery marched in review past the Board of Trade offices despite a lack of uniforms and went into camp near 37th Street and Stanton Avenue. By the 4th, all officers and noncommissioned officers had been appointed and the command was organized. The battery received six James rifled six-pounder field artillery guns on August 11th, followed by its horses nine days later.

By September 10th, the battery was fully equipped and assigned to the command of General Don Buell. A week later the battery exchanged four of its rifled guns for smoothbore six-pounder guns. They moved with the army on October 1st, and their first engagement was at Lawrenceburg on October 11th.

On December 4th, muskets were issued to the cannoneers, enabling them to act as their own infantry escort for the battery. Ten days later the battery suffered its first casualties when a foraging party was attacked. The loss was one man wounded and six taken prisoner.

In late December 1862, the battery distinguished itself in its first major engagement as an entire battery at the battle of Stone’s River. Positioned by General Rosecrans himself in a gap in the Union line, the battery held its ground against cannon fire and repeated charges by Confederate infantry. Although one charge reached within 30 yards of the guns, the battery repulsed them with canister and held its ground. According to the battery’s historian, “By 11 o’clock the enemy had learned that neither bravery nor numbers could carry the battery in the front, and all was quiet. Three of our men lay dead by their disabled gun.” (Sketch, pg 22)

“After the battle of Stone River, General Rosecrans, commanding the Army of the Cumberland, issued a special order, giving the Battery the privilege of carrying the colors presented by the Chicago Board of Trade, this being the first time in the history of the army where a battery of artillery was allowed a stand of United States colors and a battery flag.” (Sketch, pg 31) By the end of the war, the names Stones River, Elk River, Chickamauga, Farmington, Dallas, Decatur, Atlanta, Lovejoy, Nashville and Selma had been inscribed on the flags. Tragically, the battery’s flags were returned to the Board of Trade after the war and destroyed by fire in 1871.

In March 1863, the battery was changed from field artillery to horse artillery. On May 16, 1863, the battery was attached to the Second Cavalry Division, Army of the Cumberland. They were then ordered to be equipped as horse artillery, the first battery in the western theater to do so, according to the unit historian (Sketch, pg 44-45). Interestingly, they kept their same cannons. The battery remained with this division until the end of the war.

The battery was split during the battle of Chickamauga. The second section of the battery, under Lieutenant Griffin, fought with Minty’s brigade on the Union left during the battle. The first and third sections fought under the battery commander on the Union right. The entire battery withdrew on September 22nd through Chattanooga to Washington, Tennessee, claiming to be the last battery to retire from the field (Sketch, pg 45).

In October 1863, the battery participated in the pursuit of General Wheeler’s command to Alabama, and was engaged in the battle of Farmington. On October 20th, Captain Stokes was relieved of command to assume duties as the Inspector of the Quartermaster, Military division of the Mississippi as a lieutenant colonel of volunteers. Captain George I. Robinson succeeded Stokes in command of the battery. There was no loss of the battery’s discipline or ability, as Robinson had been its senior lieutenant since it was mustered into service.

In February 1864, the battery turned in their brass guns and was issued six 10-pounder Parrot guns. The battery was engaged in numerous actions while advancing with General Sherman’s army on Atlanta, including Dallas, Resaca, Kennesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Marietta, Vining Station, Noon Day Creek, Stone Mountain and Decatur.

The battery participated in General Kilpatrick’s raid around Atlanta from August 18-22, losing five men and two guns disabled. When Sherman split his army in November, the battery turned all of its good horses over to Kilpatrick’s command and moved north to Nashville under General Thomas. Upon their arrival, they were placed behind breastworks for the first and only time during the war.

They were assigned to General Wilson’s command during the battle of Nashville and the subsequent pursuit, arriving at Waterloo, Alabama just before the end of the year. The battery wintered near Waterloo.

When the spring campaign began in March 1865, they accompanied General James Wilson’s Second Cavalry Division on its raid through Alabama into Georgia. At the battle of Selma on April 2nd, they accompanied the charging advance after the outer works were seized. The battery continued to accompany the division until Macon, Georgia was reached on the 20th, and they learned that the war was over.

On May 23rd, the battery started home. In early June, they turned in their remaining four Parrot guns at Nashville, Tennessee. By June 27th, the battery arrived once again in Chicago. The men of the battery were mustered out a week later on July 3, 1865.

The battery suffered relatively light casualties during the war, with a total of only 19 fatalities. Ten enlisted men were killed in action or died of their wounds, while an additional nine died of disease, according to Dyer’s Compendium. A monument to the battery was erected in Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, on May 30, 1901.

Sources:

Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. 3 vols. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1959.

http://www.civilwararchive.com

Historical Sketch of the Chicago Board of Trade Battery. Chicago: Andrew Finney Co., 1902.

Robinson, George I. “With Kilpatrick Around Atlanta,” War Papers, Commandery of Wisconsin MOLLUS, Volume 1. (New York: Nostrand Van Allen, 1891) pages 201-227.

Battery M, 2nd U.S. Horse Artillery, 1862. Photo by James F. Gibson. Library of Congress

Battery M, 2nd US Artillery was located at Fort Brown, Texas under the command of Captain Henry J. Hunt when Texas seceded from the Union. As such, it was part of the forces that General Twiggs attempted to surrender to the state of Texas with all of their equipment. Captain Hunt was forced to abandon his horses, but successfully evacuated the battery with its guns via the Gulf of Mexico.

Captain Hunt was a Michigan native who graduated 19th in his class at West Point in 1839. He had spent his entire career to that point in the 2nd Artillery, both on the frontier and during the Mexican War. He was brevetted major for gallant and meritorious conduct at the battle of Chapultepec. By the end of the Civil War, he was a brevet major general of both volunteers and the regular army.

After leaving Texas, the battery served briefly in the defense of Fort Pickens, Florida from April until late June 1861. It had joined General McDowell’s army in Washington prior to the battle of Bull Run, where it functioned as light artillery battery with four 12-pounder Napoleons. It was still nominally under the command of Captain Hunt, but given his position of commander of the artillery for Tyler’s division on the left of the Union line, the battery was probably fought by one of his lieutenants. After the battle of Bull Run, he was promoted to Chief of Artillery in the defenses of Washington south of the Potomac, and left the battery. Captain Henry M. Benson of New Jersey took command of the battery.

Benson was no stranger to the 2nd Artillery. He enlisted as a private in the 2nd Artillery on June 6, 1845, and served with distinction in the Mexican War. By the end of the war he had progressed to battery first sergeant, and was promoted to second lieutenant on January 26, 1849. After the Mexican War, he served in South Carolina, Florida, Kansas and Fort McHenry, Maryland, where he was stationed at the outbreak of the Civil War. He was promoted to captain on May 14, 1861, and had also fought at the first battle of Bull Run. Benson was eminently qualified to command, having held every position in an artillery battery from private to captain.

During the winter of 1861-1862, the artillery of the Army of the Potomac was thoroughly organized by General William .F. Barry, and the armament of each battery was standardized. In November, Battery M was made a horse battery equipped with six 3-inch ordnance guns, and it accompanied the Army of the Potomac to the peninsula in March 1862 as part of the army’s Horse Artillery brigade.

During the campaign, First Lieutenant John W. Barlow of New York led the right or lead section, First Lieutenant Peter C. Hains of Pennsylvania led the left or rear section, and Second Lieutenant Robert H. Chapin of New York led the center section.
After the evacuation of Yorktown, the battery accompanied the army’s two cavalry brigades in pursuit. It fought at Grove Wharf on May 4th, Williamsburg on May 5th, and Hanover Court House on May 27th. It was also engaged at Malvern Hill on July 1 and August 5. Captain Benson was mortally wounded during the fighting on August 5th, and died at sea six days later while being evacuated to Washington for further treatment. Lieutenant Hains assumed command of the battery, as Lieutenant Barlow had transferred to the topographical engineers the previous month.

Lieutenant Peter Conover Hains graduated West Point on June 24, 1861, and was immediately promoted to first lieutenant. He earned the new rank less than a month later in the fighting at Bull Run. Hains accompanied the battery throughout the Peninsula campaign, and received a brevet promotion to captain for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Hanover Court House. He commanded the battery until September 1862, when he too joined the topographical engineers.

Upon its return from the peninsula in September 1862, First Lieutenant Alexander Cummings McWhorter Pennington, Jr. assumed command. A native of New Jersey, he was the son of a Congressman and the Governor of New Jersey. He graduated 18th in his class at West Point in 1860 and was assigned to the 2nd Artillery. Pennington also was no stranger to the horse artillery, having spent the previous campaign in charge of the lead section of Captain John Tidball’s respected Battery A, 2nd US Artillery. Tidball’s Battery, as it was known, was the very first unit assigned and equipped as horse artillery, and had established a reputation for excellence during the campaign.

Lieutenant Pennington and his new battery were very active in the Maryland campaign. They rode in the advance with the cavalry and were engaged near South Mountain and at Antietam. It accompanied the cavalry in pursuit after the battle, fighting at Martinsburg, October 1, and at Nolan’s Ford, October 12. The battery fought at Nolan’s Ford after making a march of 80 miles in a little over 24 hours. Crossing the Potomac, it was engaged with the cavalry during November at Purcellville, Philomont, Upperville, Barbee’s Cross Roads, Amissville and Corbin’s Cross Roads. At Fredericksburg the battery was in reserve.

After a relatively quiet winter, the battery opened 1863 campaigning as part of Stoneman’s raid in May. It was engaged at Beverly Ford during the battle of Brandy station, where Lieutenant Pennington was brevetted captain for gallant and meritorious service. During the Gettysburg campaign the battery was engaged at Hunterstown and Hanover, and on the Union right at Gettysburg on July 3rd. Pennington was brevetted major for his service during the fighting on July 3rd. After the battle the battery once again accompanied the cavalry in the pursuit, fighting at Monterey Pass, Smithsburg, Williamsport, Boonsboro, Hagerstown, and Falling Waters, and at Battle Mountain, Va. It was engaged in skirmishes at James City, Brandy Station and Buckland Mills in October, and at Raccoon Ford and Morton’s Ford in November.

On March 30, 1864, Lieutenant Pennington was promoted to captain in the 2nd Artillery. During 1864 the battery was engaged at Craig’s Meeting House, May 5, and at Todd’s Tavern, and took part in Sheridan’s raids in May and June, being engaged at Meadow Bridge, Strawberry Hill and Trevillian Station. In June 1864, the army’s horse batteries were reduced to four cannons each, two Napoleons and two 3-inch ordnance guns. Battery M went to the Shenandoah valley in August, and was engaged at Summit Point, Kearneysville, the Opequon, and at Lacey’s Springs in December. The battery wintered at Pleasant Valley, Maryland.

In September 1864, Captain Pennington departed the battery, having received an appointment as the Colonel of the 3rd New Jersey Cavalry. By October he was commanding a cavalry brigade. Lieutenant Carle A. Woodruff replaced him in command of the battery.

Carle Augustus Woodruff of New York was appointed a second lieutenant in the 2nd US Artillery from civilian life in the District of Columbia on October 22, 1861. He was initially assigned as the rear or left section chief of combined Battery B/L, 2nd US Artillery, where he served during the Peninsula campaign. He was promoted to first lieutenant on July 24, 1862. Woodruff had been brevetted captain for his services at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863 and major for his efforts at Trevillian Station on June 11, 1864. He spent the entire war as a horse artillery officer.

When the spring campaign began in 1865, the Napoleon section stayed in pleasant valley. The rifle section under Lieutenant Woodruff left in February with Sheridan to join the Army of the Potomac, and was engaged at Waynesboro, Dinwiddie Court House, Five Forks, Namozine Church, Sailor’s Creek, and Appomattox. After the war, the entire 2nd US Artillery Regiment was consolidated at Fort McHenry, Maryland and sent California.

The most important component of the horse artillery was its horses. Without horses, the guns couldn’t move, and might as well have been so many pieces of siege artillery. These batteries were just as dependent on their horses as the cavalry units they supported, and they were also their greatest liability.

Artillery horses were a prime target for enemy fire – disable the horses, and the guns were that much easier to capture if they couldn’t get flee. They were also as vulnerable as the crewmen themselves to the rigors of disease, poor rations, and the often squalid living conditions of army camps. There were always sick horses requiring care. I am not sure if the horse artillery batteries also drew their remounts from the various cavalry depots established in 1863, but I strongly suspect that this was the case.

As their lives and guns so often depended upon their horses, horse artillerymen were generally disposed to accept the requirements for their care without excessive grumbling. Just as with the cavalry units they supported, the bugler would sound stable call after reveille and morning formation, and water call after breakfast. The same routine for the horses would be repeated late in the afternoon. Morning and afternoon drill also meant a workout for the horses, after which they needed to be walked to cool down, curried, and probably watered again.

One driver was assigned to each pair of horses, riding the on (left) horse and holding reins for it and the off (right) horse. Skilled riders were required for this service, which combined the daring of cavalry troopers with the precision teamwork expected of artillerymen. Drivers were issued a leg-guard, an iron plate encased in leather and strapped to the right leg to prevent the limber pole from injuring them.

Civil War artillery not being one of my strong suits, these posts depended heavily on a few excellent websites for the majority of its facts. Its mistakes are of course my own (and yes, some might argue that they are one of my strong suits). Those seeking additional information are encouraged to visit the following sites.

Sources:

http://aotw.org/
http://www.cwartillery.org/artillery.html
http://www.civilwarartillery.com/basicfacts.htm
http://www.civilwarhome.com/artilleryterms.htm

In this segment of our examination of horse artillery, we will examine the organization and equipment of horse artillery batteries.

Organization

An artillery battery generally consisted of either four or six guns, and was commanded by a captain. Two guns formed a section, usually commanded by a lieutenant. During movement, each gun was hooked up behind a limber, which carried the ammunition chest, and was drawn by six horses. Each gun also had its caisson, carrying three ammunition chests, which was also drawn by six horses. These two units made up a platoon, which was commanded by a sergeant and two corporals. A battery was also accompanied by a forge, a wagon carrying the tents and supplies, and generally six additional caissons with reserve ammunition.

There were three drivers for each six-horse team, who rode the horses on the left side and held the reins for the horses on the right. A typical gun crew was made up of nine men. Where the artillery was designated as horse artillery, the crewmen each rode a horse, with two additional men acting as horse-holders in action. When there was a shortage of horses, two men could ride on each ammunition chest, but this added to the load for the horses towing the battery.

In addition to the lieutenants commanding each section, another lieutenant usually commanded the line of caissons. There was also an orderly and quartermaster sergeant, five artificers, two buglers, and a guidon-bearer.

Equipment

First among the battery’s equipment, we must discuss the cannons themselves. Civil War horse artillery primarily used two different type of cannons, the 12-pounder Napoleon cannon and the 3-inch ordnance rifle. We’ll look at each separately.

The Model 1857 12-pound Napoleon cannon was the most popular smoothbore cannon used during the war. It was named after Napoleon III of France and was widely admired because of its safety, reliability, and killing power. It was particularly lethal at close range. The Napoleon reached America in 1857, and was the last cast bronze gun used by the American army. The Union version of the Napoleon can be recognized by the flared front end of the barrel, called the muzzle swell. The 12-pound in its name refers to the weight of the ammunition it fired. The Napoleon could fire solid ball, case, shell, grapeshot and cannister ammunition.

The 3-inch ordnance gun was the most widely used rifled artillery piece used during the war. Unlike the cast bronze Napoleon, the 3-inch was made of iron. It was popular because of its reliability and accuracy, and was exceptionally durable. The 3-inch in its name refers to the size of the bore, or opening at the muzzle. It normally fired solid bolt, case or common shells (generally Schenkel or Hotchkiss shells), but could fire cannister in an emergency. The 3-inch ordnance rifle had a range of roughly 1,800 yards. Although light by artillery standards, its weight was still significant at roughly 1,700 pounds for the cannon itself and its carriage. It was primarily produced by Phoenix Iron Company of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
The carriage of an artillery piece allows the cannon to be aimed, holds it in place while it is fired, and allows it to be moved where it is needed. It basically consisted of a cradle, a trail and two wheels.

The limber for field service was basically a two-wheeled cart, simply an axle, with its wheels, surmounted by a framework for holding an ammunition chest and receiving the tongue. At the back of the axle is the pintle hook, on which the lunette on the trail of the gun carriage can be keyed into place. The result is a four-wheeled cart that pivots on the pintle hook. The ammunition chest on the limber could be used as a seat for three crewmen, but in the horse artillery it was customary to spare the horses, and they would ride the limber and caisson only when necessary.

The caisson was intended to transport ammunition, and carried two ammunition chests like the one on the limber. It had a stock like that on the gun carriage, terminating in a lunette, so that it could be hooked to a limber for transportation. A caisson with its limber thus held three ammunition chests, which with the chest on the limber hauling the gun carriage made a total of four. The caisson with its drivers and crew would be under the direction of a corporal, who would report to the sergeant in charge of the gun to which the caisson was assigned. The line of caissons for the battery would be under the overall supervision of one of its lieutenants.

The battery wagon, also drawn by a limber, was a long bodied cart with a rounded top, which contained tools for the saddlers and carriage makers, spare parts, extra harness, and rough materials for fabricating parts. The limber which drew the battery wagon was a portable blacksmith shop, containing a light forge and blacksmith tools. Each battery had only one wagon and one forge, and they were expected to accompany the battery wherever it went.

Wheels for all three of the standard carriages, as well as caissons, limbers and battery wagons, were 57 inches high, and could be easily interchanged. All caissons carried an extra wheel on the back, and changing a broken wheel was a standard drill for a battery of horse artillery.

The mention of Company M, 2nd U.S. Artillery several times in the history of B Company, 6th US Cavalry brought the subject of horse artillery back to my mind. It’s a topic that I’ve considered writing about for quite some time, as the experiences of the horse artillery is intertwined with that of the cavalry units that they fought with. So we’ll spend the next several days discussing what horse artillery was and then examine two batteries of horse artillery who supported regular cavalry units, one from each theater.

Horse artillery, or flying artillery as it was also called early in the war, was a type of light, fast-moving and fast-firing artillery which provided highly mobile support to cavalry units. In a nutshell, the concept was that these units would be as mobile as the mounted units they supported, using speed and positioning to make up for the relatively small caliber of their guns. A close ancestor of today’s self-propelled artillery, the horse artillery consisted of light cannons attached to two-wheeled carriages called caissons or limbers which carried the cannon’s ammunition and equipment. The cannon’s crewmen rode the horses and the caissons during movement. In normal artillery units, the crewmen marched alongside of their cannon.

Once in position, horse artillery crews were trained to quickly dismount, deploy or “unlimber” their guns, then rapidly fire at the enemy. Ammunition for the horse artillery generally consisted of round shot, shells or grapeshot. They could then just as rapidly “limber-up” (reattach the guns to the caissons), remount, and be ready to move to a new position. It was highly versatile and supported cavalry units by disrupting enemy formations and dueling enemy artillery in an offensive role, while they often worked in concert with cavalry units to act as a rearguard to cover the retreat of other units. Mobility was key to their survival, as they rarely fought from prepared positions.

Horse artillery first rose to prominence during the Mexican War, where it played a decisive role in several key battles. During the Civil War, it was made up almost entirely of company-sized batteries from the regular army’s artillery regiments. In the eastern theater, these batteries were nominally assigned to the Army of the Potomac’s U.S. Horse Artillery Brigade, which was assigned to the Cavalry Corps. In actuality, however, the various batteries were detached to support cavalry brigades and divisions, and the entire brigade never fought together as an entire unit. In the western theater, horse artillery consisted of individual batteries loosely grouped and assigned to support cavalry brigades.

The next post will focus on the two most prevalent artillery canon used by the horse artillery, the 12-pounder Napoleon cannon and the 3-inch ordnance rifle.