The Monticello Artillery (1862–1865) was a

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to fac ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. The unit was also known as: Owen's Battery, or Howell's Battery. Some post war records refer to the unit as the Drew Light Artillery because most original members were from

Drew County, Arkansas Drew County is a county located in the southeast region of the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 18,509, making it the 39th most populous of Arkansas's 75 counties. The county seat and largest city is Monticello. ...

Organization

Based on the earliest dates of enlistment, the battery was apparently "organized at Monticello, Drew County, Arkansas, on February 8, 1862."Howerton, Bryan R., "Monticello Artillery (Owen's Battery)", Edward G. Gerdes Civil War Page, Accessed 26 December 2012, http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/monticel.html The battery is occasionally referred to as either the Drew Light Artillery or "Drew's Battery", based on the units association with

, but these references only appear in post war pension records and other articles. The battery was reorganized for the war on May 15, 1862. In the first quarter of 1864, the battery was armed with five 6 pdr bronze

smoothbore A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars. History Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without signi ...

s and one 3.3" rifle. In May 1864, armed with two 6 pdr smoothbores, one 3.3" rifle and one 12 pdr

howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...

.Black, Ron. "Monticello Artillery of Arkansas", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 22 February 2007, Accessed 26 December 2012, http://history-sites.net/cgi-bin/bbs53x/cwartmb/webbbs_config.pl?noframes;read=910Sikakis, Stewart, Compendium of the Confederate Armies, Florida and Arkansas, Facts on File, Inc., 1992, , page 43

Service

The battery served east of the Mississippi River for most of the war. The Monticello Artillery was originally organized as a light artillery battery, but as of March 18, 1862, the unit was at

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, without guns or equipment,Odom, Danny. "Re: Monticello Light Artillery", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 28 December 2012, Accessed 28 December 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?noframes;read=27647 but by May 1862 it was referred to as heavy artillery. In early April 1862 the battery was at Fort Pillow, above Memphis, and later that month the battery moved to

Corinth, Mississippi Corinth is a city in and the county seat of Alcorn County, Mississippi, Alcorn County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,573 at the 2010 census. Its ZIP codes are 38834 and 38835. It lies on the state line with Tennessee. Histor ...

. An order dated Office Chief of Artillery, Corinth, Mississippi, May 2, 1862, directed Captain Owens, commanding Heavy Artillery, to "report with your company to Major-General Hardee for duty with the siege guns of his command." The unit left Corinth a month later and moved to

Okolona, Mississippi Okolona is a city in and one of the two county seats of Chickasaw County, Mississippi, United States. It is located near the eastern border of the county. The population was 2,692 at the 2010 census. History Okolona was named as Rose Hill in 1 ...

. By June 30, 1862, the unit was at

Columbus, Mississippi Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, on the eastern border of Mississippi, United States, located primarily east, but also north and northeast of the Tombigbee River, which is also part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterwa ...

On August 29, 1862, the unit is mentioned as part of the Heavy Artillery at Columbus. Altogether the unit would spend almost a year assigned to Columbus.Howerton, Bryan R. "Re: Monticello Light Artillery", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 27 December 2012, Accessed 27 December 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?noframes;read=27632 The unit had apparently reverted to light artillery by January 1, 1863, when General Daniel Ruggles reported:. By June 30, 1863, the battery had moved back to

. On November 20, 1863, the battery was assigned to Brigadier General

Samuel W. Ferguson Brigadier-General Samuel Wragg Ferguson (November 3, 1834February 3, 1917) was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded cavalry in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. After the civil war, Ferguson served as a me ...

's cavalry brigade of General

Joseph E. Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was an American career army officer, serving with distinction in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and the Seminole Wars. After Virginia seceded ...

's Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana.Odom, Danny, "Re: Monticello Light Artillery", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 28 December 2012, Accessed 29 December 2012 http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?noframes;read=27655 On January 1, 1864, the battery is included in a list of light batteries assigned to the Army of the West, commanded by General

Leonidas Polk Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk (April 10, 1806 – June 14, 1864) was a bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and founder of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America, which separated from the Episcopal Chur ...

and is listed as being armed with five 6 lb bronze guns and one 3.3 inch bronze gun. The unit was assigned to Furguson's Brigade of General

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealt ...

's Division.United States. War Dept.. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 32, In Three Parts. Part 2, Correspondence, Etc., Book, 1891; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152633/m1/519/?q=owens : accessed December 28, 2012), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries, Denton, Texas. The unit is mentioned in Ed Bearss three volume set of the Vicksburg campaign. It appears to have been part of the Confederate forces opposing Sherman's Meridan Campaign in early 1864 and it is mentioned in Margie Bearss' book "Sherman's Forgotten Campaign". The unit was criticized by Major General Polk in February 1864 during the

Meridian Campaign The Meridian campaign or Meridian expedition took place from February 3 – March 6, 1864, from Vicksburg, Mississippi to Meridian, Mississippi, by the Union Army of the Tennessee, led by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. Sherman captured Mer ...

for failing to properly care for its horses, resulting in the need for replacements. In the spring of 1864 the battery was assigned to a cavalry brigade commanded by Confederate General Wirt Adams which was operating in the Big Black and Yazoo Country of Mississippi. While assigned to Adam's Brigade, along with another Arkansas unit, the famed, 11th / 17th Arkansas Mounted Infantry, the battery participated in the capture of the gun boat USS ''Petrel'' on April 23, 1864. Major B.P. Jett of the 11th / 17th Arkansas described the battery's part in this action (Jett mistakenly refers to the unit as Drew's Battery):Jett, Benjamin P. "Capture of the Gun Boat Petrel in 1864" in Williams, Charlean Moss. "The old town speaks Washington, Hempstead County, Arkansas, gateway to Texas, 1835, Confederate capital, 1863.", Houston, Tex., Anson Jones Press, 1951, Pages 99-102Byrd, Kenneth. "Upcoming 143rd anniversary of Petrel capture. ... .", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 12 April 2007, Accessed 27 December 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?noframes;read=15374 1841 Model Gun, 6-lb-smoothbore

On May 15, 1864, Brigadier General Wirt Adams reported that two of Owen's guns were disabled and two more were "worthless". The unit is reported as being assigned to Adam's Division of the Department of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana on June 1, 1864.United States. War Dept.. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 39, In Three Parts. Part 2, Correspondence, Etc., Book, 1892; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth154636/m1/632/?q=Wirt Adams : accessed December 28, 2012), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries, Denton, Texas. Based on the unit's forage (feed) requisitions, the unit was stationed at

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. About ...

, during June 1864, and while at Selma, on June 14, 1864, the Captain Owens signed for equipment including:Odom, Danny, "Re: Monticello Light Artillery", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 28 December 2012, Accessed 29 December 2012 http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?noframes;read=27654 Then unit seems to have settled in at Spanish Fort (Mobile), Alabama, as siege artillery by the summer of 1864. and remained there until the end of the war. The unit was initially assigned to Brigadier General St. John R. Lindell's Brigade of Major General

Dabney H. Maury Dabney Herndon Maury (May 21, 1822 – January 11, 1900) was an officer in the United States Army, instructor at West Point, author of military training books, and a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. E ...

's District of the Gulf. By November 1, 1864, the battery was under the command of Captain William C. Howell. Eventually the battery was placed in an organization commanded by Colonel Isaac W. Patton and assigned to Redoubt No. 2, (also known as "Fort McDermont") of a line of Confederate works as Spanish Fort where they, along with the 22nd Louisiana and Massenburg's Georgia Light Artillery manned a Brooke Rifle, six smoothbore rifles, two twenty-four pound howitzers and six mortars. The unit participated in the

Battle of Spanish Fort The Battle of Spanish Fort took place from March 27 to April 8, 1865, in Baldwin County, Alabama, as part of the Mobile Campaign of the Western Theater of the American Civil War. After the Union victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay, Mobile ne ...

, part of the

Mobile Campaign A mobile campaign is a campaign, usually marketing, advertising, or public relations-related, through which organizations contact their audience through SMS (text messaging). This form of campaigning allows organizations to reach out and establish ...

, in April 1865. Union forces embarked on a land campaign in early 1865 to take Mobile from the east. Maj. Gen.

E.R.S. Canby Edward Richard Sprigg Canby (November 9, 1817 – April 11, 1873) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. In 1861–1862, Canby commanded the Department of New Mexico, defeating the Confederate Gene ...

's XIII and XVI corps moved along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay forcing the Confederates back into their defenses. Union forces concentrated first on Spanish Fort, five miles to the north. On March 27, 1865, Canby's forces undertook a siege of Spanish Fort, which consisted of a semi-circular line of five redoubts stretching almost two miles long. The Union had enveloped the fort by April 1, and on April 8 captured it. Most of the Confederate forces, including the remnants of the Monticello Artillery escaped and fled to Mobile. The fall of

Fort Blakely A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

on April 9, 1865, signaled to Confederate General

in Mobile that it was time to begin evacuation of the remaining Confederate troops in the city. On April 12, 1865, Mobile was declared an open city and the remaining Confederate garrison retreated with the intention of joining the remains of the Army of Tennessee, then in North Carolina. The surrender of the Army of Tennessee to General Sherman on April 26, 1865, prevented that option and surrender of the Mobile garrison soon followed. This small force out of Mobile, including the remnants of the Monticello Artillery, was the last Confederate army to surrender east of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

Surrender

Stewart Sikakis claims that the unit re-crossed the Mississippi River in 1865 and surrendered in the Department of the Trans-Mississippi on May 26, 1865, although this appears to be an error. There are reports and correspondence in the

Official Records of the American Civil War The ''Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies in the War of the Rebellion'', commonly known as the ''Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies'' or Official Records (OR or ORs), is the most extensive collection of Americ ...

which place Owens' Arkansas Battery at Spanish Fort (Mobile), Alabama, until just before the end of the war. The battery was among the last Confederate troops east of the Mississippi River to surrender on May 10, 1865, at Meridian, Mississippi. The Compiled Service Records of the unit members confirm that most of the men were paroled at

Meridian, Mississippi Meridian is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, seventh largest city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 41,148 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census and an estimated population in 2018 of 36,347. It is the count ...

, on May 10, 1865. Affidavits submitted by many former unit members in their post war pension applications confirm that the paroles took place at Meridian.Howerton, Bryan R. "Monticello Light Artillery", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 27 December 2012, Accessed 27 December 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?noframes;read=27629

Notes

References

* * United States. (1961). Compiled service records of Confederate soldiers who served in organizations from the State of Arkansas. Washington

''The War of the Rebellion''
''a Compilation of the Official Records of the American Civil War">Official Records The ''Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies in the War of the Rebellion'', commonly known as the ''Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies'' or Official Records (OR or ORs), is the most extensive collection of Americ ...

of the Union and Confederate Armies'', U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901. * Williams, C. M. (1951). The old town speaks: Washington, Hempstead County, Arkansas, gateway to Texas, 1835, Confederate capital, 1863. Houston, Tex: Anson Jones Press. * Williamson, D. (2012). The 47th Indiana Volunteer Infantry: A Civil War history. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co., Publishers.

External links

Edward G. Gerdes Civil War Home Page

The encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture

* [http://arkansascivilwar.com The Arkansas History Commission, State Archives, Civil War in Arkansas] {{American Civil War , expanded=CTCBS Units and formations of the Confederate States Army from Arkansas 1865 disestablishments in Arkansas Military units and formations disestablished in 1865 Military units and formations in Arkansas Military in Arkansas 1862 establishments in Arkansas Military units and formations established in 1862 Artillery units and formations of the American Civil War

Organization

Service

Surrender

See also

Notes

References

External links