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THE CIVIL WAR ARTILLERY PAGE |
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THE CIVIL WAR ARTILLERY PAGE |
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Union Artillerymen
Captain George Robinson, by John Hughes - Mr. Hughes is a reenactor with the Third Battery, 1st Michigan Light Artillery, and a member of the Company of Military Historians. He is working on a full-length history of the Battery.
The man who would command the Third Battery, 1st Michigan Light Artillery, for the longest period of time was George Robinson, a 28 year old steam engine machinist from Detroit when he enlisted as First Sergeant on September 15, 1861. He was knocked from his horse and received an injury to the base of his skull while the Battery was near New Madrid, Missouri, in March 1862. On July 15, 1862, he received a commission as senior Second Lieutenant, then as Captain of the Battery on November 20, 1862. On July 2, 1864, he was put on special duty as Chief of Artillery for the Fourth Division, Sixteenth Corps; and on October 13th, he was placed on detached duty as the Assistant Artillery Inspector General for the Seventeenth Army Corps under the command of Brigadier General Thomas E. G. Ransom.On December 18, 1864, he was discharged at the expiration of his term of service, primarily because of a worsening physical condition due to the injury received in 1862. After his discharge, he came back to Detroit and his old job, but he progressively worsened, and in 1873 moved to Chicago, Illinois. In 1877 he was unable to perform any kind of work due to a general paralysis. He filed for a governmental pension, citing his war-time injury as the cause of his ill health, and finally received it in May of 1881. On August 7, 1883, George Robinson died of his injury; he was 48 years old. He is buried in the Graceland Cemetery (Section S, Lot 1, Grave 1), Chicago, Illinois.
JOHN COOK, THE BOY GUNNER From Deeds of Valor, eds. Beyer and Keydel; submitted by Ben Killips
"I was 15 years of age, and was bugler of Battery B, which suffered fearful losses in the field at Antietam where I won my Medal of Honor," writes Bugler John Cook."General Gibbon, our commander, had just ordered Lieutenant Stewart to take his section about one hundred yards to the right of the Hagerstown Pike, in front of the two straw stacks, when he beckoned me to follow. No sooner had we unlimbered, when a column of Confederate infantry, emerging from the so-called west woods, poured a volley into us, which brought fourteen or seventeen of my brave comrades to the ground. The two straw stacks offered some kind of shelter for our wounded, and it was a sickening sight to see those poor, maimed and crippled fellows, crowding on top of one another, while several stepping but a few yards away, were hit again or killed.
"Just then Captain Campbell unlimbered the other four guns to the left of Stewart, and I reported to him. He had just dismounted, when he was hit twice, and his horse fell dead, with several bullets in its body. I started with the captain to the rear and turned him over to one of the drivers. He ordered me to report to Lieutenant Stewart and tell him to take command of the battery. I reported, and, seeing the cannoneers nearly all down, and one, with a pouch full of ammunition, lying dead, I unstrapped the pouch, started for the battery, and worked as a cannoneer. We were then in the very vortex of the battle. The enemy had made three desperate attempts to capture us, the last time coming within ten or fifteen feet of our guns. It was at this time that General Gibbon, seeing the condition of the battery, came to the gun that stood in the pike, and in full uniform of a brigadier-general, worked as a gunner and a cannoneer. He was very conspicuous, and it is indeed surprising that he came away alive."
John Cook, although but fourteen years of age when he enlisted, showed great courage and daring in every battle in which he participated. At Gettysburg, Captain Stewart was compelled to use the bugler as an orderly because the battery suffered such heavy losses. He carried messages to the left half of the battery, nearly half a mile away, the route being well covered by the enemy's riflemen, who lost no opportunity of firing at him, thus making it a most perilous undertaking. At the same battle he assisted in destroying ammunition of a damaged and abandoned caisson, to prevent its being of use to the enemy, who were closing in on the Union men.
JOHN JOHNSON From Deeds of Valor, eds. Beyer and Keydel; submitted by Ben Killips
John Johnson, Co. D, 2nd Wis. Infantry, born in Norway, March 25, 1842 "For distinguished bravery, coolness in action, soldierly conduct and conspicuous gallantry at the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg." This is the inscription on Private John Johnson's medal. The gallant soldier's narration follows:"I enlisted in the Second Wisconsin Infantry, but was detached service in Captain Gibbon's Light Battery, B, Fourth U. S. Artillery.
"At the battle of Antietam the enemy opened fire at break of day, from a battery on a knoll, about halfway between the turnpike and the east wood. Shot and shell whistled over us but we returned the fire and soon silenced the enemy's guns. Lieutenant Stewart, who commanded the right section of Battery B was ordered to take his section, to which I belonged, and proceed with Gibbon's Brigade. He formed in front of Dr. Miller's barnyard on the right, west side of the pike looking south on a little ridge, close to some buildings and within thirty or forty yards of a fence separating the cornfield from the pasture ground. The cornfield was full of the enemy's skirmishers and sharpshooters. It was here that 'Stonewall' Jackson's troops made three desperate charges to capture the battery at the point of bayonet, and the last time came within a few rods of our guns before we could stop them. The infantry of General Gibbon and General Patrick's Brigade rallied to its support with equal resolution, the result being a fierce and murderous a combat as ever surged about a six-gun battery. Battery B was the very vortex of the fight. General John Gibbon came up to one of the guns, straddled the trail, sighted the gun, and explained: 'Give them hell, boys!'
"Stewart's section in this position had three men killed and eleven wounded in a few moments. Among the wounded was Sergeant Joe Herzog, who with myself had hold of the handspike of the gun's trail and was trying to change the position of the gun, when he was shot through the lower part of the abdomen. Knowing that the wound was fatal and being in great agony, poor Joe deliberately drew his revolver and shot himself through the right temple. I was a cannoneer during the whole time the section and battery were engaged. We were firing double cannister. During this time I filled different positions at the piece, including gunner. The cannoneers had been killed and wounded so rapidly that those remaining had to fill their places the best they could. By this time the other four guns of the battery had come up and commenced firing. This terrific contest resulted in the battery driving the enemy's infantry out of their cover. Our casualties in this action were forty killed and wounded. At my piece there were but two cannoneers left, myself and one other. As near as I can remember, we fired from ten to fifteen rounds of cannister, brought to us by teamsters of the extra caissons, after the other cannoneers had been killed or wounded. The battery limbered up and hauled off without the loss of a single gun or caisson. Some of the guns had only two horses left, and the battery went into action again on another part of the field during the day.
"Again, at the battle of Fredericksburg I was a cannoneer in the right section (Stewart's), and filled the different positions at the gun, of cannoneers who had been killed or wounded. While carrying two case shots to the gun, having cut the fuse and made it ready to be inserted, I was wounded by a piece of shell, which carried away my right arm at the shoulder, with a portion of the clavicle and scapula. So much of the shoulder was carried away that the cavity of the body was exposed, and the tissue of the lungs made plainly visible. It has been said by comrades who were at the gun as cannoneers that I inserted the shell into the gun after my arm was torn off, before I fell. This, however, I do not remember.
" This same shell played havoc in the section, killing two men outright, Bartly Fagen of the Second Wisconsin, and Patrick Hogan of the regulars, and wounded several. It has been said by survivors of this engagement that the same shell also tore William Hogarty's left arm off. (See article about William Hogarty.) I served in the same section and at the same gun with him in this battle.
"Naturally this was my last battle."
Confederate Artillerymen
Major James F. Hart (Submitted by Terry Lewis. Terry reenacts as Ordnance Sgt. with Hart's Battery of Hampton's Legion in the Palmetto Battalion of South Carolina.)
From November 1861 to October 1864, Major Hart commanded Hart's Battery from South Carolina. His horse artillery unit, originally a part of Hampton's Legion, took part in 150 engagements, losing only one dismounted gun during the war. The battery of 4 guns saw action at Brandy Station, Gettysburg, The Wilderness, Yellow Tavern and Hampton's great "Cattle Drive." The battery fired what it claimed to be the last shots of the war on April 26, 1965 and then surrendered with the remainder of Johnston's army. During the Confederate retreat from Gettysburg, Major Hart personally lead a countercharge to hold Kilpatrick's cavalry off of the Confederate trains in what became known as The Battle of the Teamsters. Hart was wounded at Burgess Mill in October of 1864 and lost his right leg. This wound ended his active connection with the battery, although it continued to carry his name. After the war, Hart returned to South Carolina to practice law, served in the state senate and was a deligate at the National Democratic Convention in St. Louis in 1888.
Roger Preston Chew, by Robert H. Moore, II. The author of seven books, covering the histories of 29 batteries for the Virginia Regimental Histories Series, Robert H. Moore, II has maintained an interest in the "Long-Arm of Lee" for several years and is currently researching several South Carolina batteries that served in the Army of Northern Virginia. He also maintains the Virginia Artillery - Battery Park web site.
The forerunner of the reintroduction of horse artillery during the Civil War, Roger Preston Chew was the organizer of the first horse artillery company in Virginia and the Confederate service in November 1861. Chew, a native of Charles Town, Va. (W.Va.) had attended the Virginia Military Institute and had studied artillery tactics under Professor Thomas J. Jackson before the opening of the war. As most cadets from VMI, Chew was assigned as a drillmaster in Richmond in April 1861. Chew was later temporarily assigned to the Lee (Va.) Battery at Monterey, Virginia and served from July 1861 through September 1861. Appointed as lieutenant of artillery, the Jefferson County native served with Brigadier General Edward Johnson until involved in the organization of Colonel Turner Ashby's horse artillery on November 13, 1861. Soon after the organization of the company, a new Tredegar three-inch rifle and an English Blakely gun were turned over to the group of young cannoneers. Upon presenting the guns to the battery, General Thomas J. Jackson, by now known better from his title as "Stonewall" put the question to the familiar faces in the ranks: "Young men, now that you have your company what are you going to do with it?" The 19 year old Chew would make certain that the guns would be well known throughout the Shenandoah Valley in the coming year. Though he had been assigned in the field for several months, the VMI class of 1861 was graduated early in December 1861. Chew ranked as 8th in a class of 35. Officially appointed as captain in April 1862, Chew continued to command the Ashby Artillery throughout the early part of the war until promoted to major and second in command of the Stuart Horse Artillery Battalion on February 27, 1864 . Though Chew did not see an official promotion to lieutenant colonel until February 1865 , he would remain as the last battalion commander until Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Following the subsequent disbanding of the battalion, Chew attempted to join General Joseph Johnston's Army in North In the post-war years Colonel Chew occupied his life as a farmer, real estate and insurance agent. A member of the West Virginia Legislature from 1882 - 1890, Chew died as one of the last survivors of the gallant Ashby Artillery on March 16, 1921. He is buried at Mt. Zion Episcopal Church, Charles Town, W.Va.
Robert Franklin Beckham, by Robert H. Moore, II
Perhaps best known for his service as the commander of the Stuart Horse Artillery Battalion (1863 - 1864) and commander of the Artillery of the Army of the Tennesee (1864), Robert Franklin Beckham was a native of in Culpeper, Va. Appointed from Virginia's Seventh District to West Point in 1854, Beckham maintained an admirable record before graduating in 1859 as 6th of 22. Assigned as brevet 2nd lieutenant to the Topographical Engineers of the United States Army from 1859 - 1861, Beckham joined with many others at the secession of Virginia and submitted his resignation in 1861. Initially assigned as a lieutenant of artillery, PACS, on March 16, 1861, Beckham's record as a drill master is unclear until his assignment to the Newtown Artillery sometime prior to the First Battle of Manassas. Beckham remained with the company until shortly before its disbandment in October 1861. Ironically, the man he would later relieve as commander of the Stuart Horse Artillery, John Pelham, reported to the company soon after as senior 1st lieutenant. Likewise, the Newtown Artillery would also become a nucleus of sorts for Pelham's Stuart Horse Artillery Battery. Reassigned as drill master to the Jeff Davis Artillery (Alabama) at Centreville, Va., Beckham remained with the battery through the fall and winter of 61-62. Before the spring, Beckham was again reassigned on staff duty as a lieutenant with General G.W. Smith in January 1862. However, his impression upon the Alabama battery was so significant that he was elected as captain of the company on march 21, 1862. Apparently prefering higher assignments, Beckham refused the post and remained on staff duty as an ordnance officer with General Smith through 1863, attaining the rank of major. Following the death of John Pelham, Beckham was assigned command of Stuart's Horse Artillery at J.E.B. Stuart's personal request on April 8, 1863. Serving with distinction for over a year, Beckham led the battalion through several significant campaigns and actions including Chancellorsville, Brandy again being transferred to the western theater as colonel on February 16, 1864. In his role as the Chief-of-Artillery for the Army of the Tennessee, Beckham continued to distinguish himself in several engagements before being mortally wounded at Franklin, Tennessee on November 29, 1864. Surviving for less than a week, Beckham expired on December 5, 1864 and was buried at St. John's Church, Ashwood, TN.
Alcide Bouanchaud, Jr., by Jack Rogers; email him at I81CHICKEN@aol.com for more information about Captain Bouanchand and the Pointe Coupee Artillery
Bouanchand took took a prominent part the formation of the Pointe Coupee Artillery, of which he was elected lieutenant. The seat of war was scarcely reached before he had risen to the rank of Captain, and from that time on his name and Pointe Coupee Artillery became synonymous.Of his conduct in battle, a comrade-in-arms furnishes the following account:
"The action of Capt. Alcide Bouanchaud 's command in front of Nashville, in the two days' desperate battle between Gen. Hood's army and that of Gen. Thomas, was the most gallant, heroic, and brilliant artillery fighting done during the war. The battalion to which Bouanchand's battery was attached was composed of three companies: Cowan's, of Vicksburg; Capt. Put. Darden's, of Jefferson County, Miss., and Bouanchaud's, of Louisiana. When the battle commenced on the first day, Cowan's Vicksburg battery was ordered from its strongly entrenched position near Bouanchaud and Darden to support a very weak position near our extreme left. Later, this position being strongly and desperately assaulted by the Federals, the infantry support to Cowan's battery precipitantly took flight, leaving Cowan. The latter attempted to save his guns, but the Federals, 3 or 4 columns deep, coming upon him too quickly, shot down all of his horses and captured the guns. Bouanchaud and Darden fought most desperately in their respective positions, but our infantry, not able to withstand the tremendous onslaught of Thomas, was leaving the works. At this critical stage Bouanchaud had the presence of mind to order up his horses from the rear, and that, too, under a most terrific fire. By this time our infantry was flying in all directions, and the Federals were throwing themselves against Bouanchaud and Darden in overwhelming force. They had already come over our works to the left of these two batteries, and now swept down upon the batteries, capturing Darden's guns, but Bouanchaud, lion-hearted and undismayed, had limbered up, and was retiring despite them. Under a most terrific, and not improbably the hottest fire that any command ever endured, he retired by sections, or fighting columns of the Federals, and thus, unaided and unsupported, Bouanchaud and his battery, single handed and alone, on an open field without protection or shelter of any kind, checked and held back the whole of Gen. Thomas' right. Our infantry, as I have stated, was flying in all directions, and there was not a single company going to Bouanchaud's assistance. Generals, colonels, and captains were cursing and pleading--even crying in vain--to our flying infantry to halt, form, and rally to that battery. An officer cried out: 'Shame, shame, Look at those brave artillerymen; see how calmly the drivers sit their horses under that awful fire! For God's sake rally to their support, or they will be lost.' The great Gen. Loring is one of the generals who was heard to utter such words, and it was one of his regiments, the gallant little 22nd Mississippi, that went to Bouanchaud's assistance. This timely aid enabled him to get his battery under cover behind a stone wall. The Federals, however, had suffered so much from Bouanchaud's deadly fire, that as night was coming on they discontinued their attack and made no further demonstration upon our lines until the next day. Capt. Bouanchaud and his Pointe Coupee battery undoubtedly saved Gen. Hood's army from being overwhelmingly routed in the first day's fight before Nashville. Gen. Loring, who is living at this time, and who was an eye-witness to the circumstances related, can vouch for the correctness of these statements. Bouanchaud was the only captain in our battalion that night who had a cannon left. He had all of his, uninjured and intact, but of his brave little French Pointe Coupee boys, many had poured out their blood and given their lives for the honor and glory of Louisiana. On the following day Bouanchaud's position was again fiercely assailed, but the attacks upon him from the front, though desperate, were in every instance disastrously repulsed. Late in the afternoon Hood's line gave way on the left, and the Federals, breaking over the works, came down upon Bouanchaud's battery, left flank and rear.The popular Sargent Landry wrote in his diary, "A poetic incident followed with that successful rush of the charging enemy. It was the battery's fourth gun which fell into his hands. With the capture, the enemy mockingly planted his colors upon it. Not at all disturbed, but rather angered by the growing confusion, not to add the intrusive flag, the cannoneers of the third piece turned their gun directly upon the fourth and fired their last round of ammunition at the colors."
After this act of justice, the gunners fled to avoid capture. Our infantry, and the whole army, in fact, was leaving the field, and retreating. Bouanchaud had exhausted all of his ammunition and there remained nothing more for him to do other than attempt saving the few remaining members of his command. he said: 'Men, we can do no more; there is no use remaining here to be shot down or captured They went out of that hell, as it were, leaving the plain in front of where their guns had stood that day black with the dark blue uniform of the masses of the dead and dying enemy. Gen. Loring has said: 'To have served in either of the batteries of my command is glory enough for any one man. In my opinion, however, Capt. Bouanchaud's gallant conduct, and that of his famous battery, in the first day's fight before Nashville, has never in all the history of war been equaled, and can never possibly be surpassed.'"
Lt. Dick Dowling, submitted by J. Michael Haynes, Douglas Texas Battery
One exceptional Confederate artillerist was Lt. Dick Dowling, Company F, Davis Guards, Texas. On Sept. 8, 1863, he and 42 men, mostly Irish dock workers, repelled a Union invasion of Texas at Sabine Pass. It was the most lopsided victory of the Civil War.By 1863 Sabine Pass had become a hotbed of blockade running, vital to Confederate supply in the West. Union General Ben Butler planned to shut down the Sabine River ports, then move overland against Houston, thereby isolating strong Confederate defenses on Galveston Island.
Butler's invasion fleet of 4 gunboats and 19 troop transports advanced in two columns toward the Confederate defense, an earthwork with just six cannons. The gunboats' rifled guns had 9-inch bores and could hurl 135 pound shells up to three miles. Confederate commander Lt. Dowling was obliged to play possum in the face of such strength. 20 shells fell on his position unchallenged.
The Federals concluded the Confederates had withdrawn. But when the lead gunboats reached the range of Dowling's battery, his five and six-inch guns targeted one boat. A shell pierced the boiler and the vessel quickly ran aground. Two Confederate guns were disabled by return fire, but the remaining four pounded the other lead gunboat, with the same results.
After 15 minutes of firing the Federals had enough. In the resulting panic of retreat, two transports collided and the other two gunboats ran onto sandbars and had to be pulled off.
Dowling's men fired 135 rounds in 40 minutes, never taking time to scrub out the cannon barrels for safety's sake. Confederate fire so accurate that three Union gunboats were disabled, two were captured. Casualties were 65 Federals and none for the Confederates. The trickiest part for Lt. Dowling was accepting surrender of 350 Union soldiers without revealing that he had only 42 men present.
The battle of Sabine Pass was a huge morale builder for the South following the twin disasters of Gettysburg and Vicksburg. The Confederate Congress quickly voted a special medal for each of the men in Dowling's command.
Based on the book, Dick Dowling at Sabine Pass, by Frank X. Tolbert.
Beckham scan courtesy Dave Smith, of the The Cincinnati Civil War Round Table.
