Helena Artillery

Organization

The Helena Artillery was organized at Helena, Phillips County, Arkansas, on April 27, 1861. The battery was enrolled in State service for three months on April 29, 1861. Captain A. W. Clarkson was the first commander of the battery, which was initially composed primarily of Phillips County men. Many of the enlistments in the battery appear to have been from the Irish immigrants who worked in the dockyard at Helena. Approximately 50 of the names of the battery appear to be of Irish nationality. On July 6, 1861, the battery was mustered into Confederate service for twelve months (later extended for the duration of the war) at Memphis, Tennessee. A number of men declined to enter Confederate service, and were discharged on July 23, 1861, at Pitman’s Ferry, Arkansas. The Helena Artillery was closely associated with Colonel Patrick R. Cleburne’s 1st Regiment, Arkansas State Troops (later redesignated 15th Arkansas Infantry), and a number of transfers took place between the two units. Later, the Helena Artillery was augmented by transfers from various Alabama, Missouri and Tennessee regiments, and by conscripts recruited in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee.

On July 14, 1861, Confederate Brigadier General William J. Hardee arrived in Little Rock to assume unified Confederate command in the state. The following day the state Military Board signed an "Article of Transfer", which provided that all state forces would be transferred on a voluntary basis to the command of the Confederate States of America. The Articles of Transfer included Major Francis A. Shoup's battalion of artillery;

Company A, Captain Clarkson's Helena Light Artillery, Company B, Captain John T. Trigg's Arkansas Battery; and Company C, Captain George T. Hubbard's Jackson Light Artillery.

Many Confederate artillery units seem to have begun the war named for the city or county that sponsored their organization. In the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, artillery units are most often referred to by the name of their battery commander. During the war, efforts were made to organize artillery units into battalions and regiments, but the battalions seldom functioned as a consolidated organization, in fact batteries were often broken out and fought as one or two gun sections. Shoup's battalion would be an exception to this rule.

Service

The Helena Artillery crossed the Mississippi River with Hardee’s Brigade in the fall of 1861, and never returned to Arkansas. The battery, as part of Shoup's Battalion, moved to central Kentucky with Hardee's forces. Major Shoup's battalion was associated with Brigadier General Patrick Cleburne's brigade when it moved into Kentucky and remained so until after the battle of Shiloh. The battalion was in the retreat from Bowling Green, Kentucky to Corinth, Mississippi, following the fall of Forts Donelson and Henry in February 1862.;

Shiloh

During the Battle of Shiloh, a.k.a. Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, Sunday, April 6, 1862 – Monday, April 7, 1862, the battery, armed with two 6-pounder smoothbores and two 12-pounder howitzers was assigned with the rest of Shoup's battalion to General Patrick Cleburne's 2nd Brigade of Major General William J. Hardee Corps. Major Shoup was serving as Major General Hardee's Chief of Artillery. By the afternoon of Sunday, April 6, 1862, men of Brig. Gens. Benjamin M. Prentiss's and W. H. L. Wallace's Union divisions had established and held a position nicknamed the Hornet's Nest. The Confederates assaulted the position for several hours rather than simply bypassing it, and they suffered heavy casualties during these assaults. The Confederates, led by Brig. Gen. Daniel Ruggles, assembled a 'grand battery' of over 50 cannons, including Trigg's Arkansas Battery into a position known as "Ruggles’ Battery". Some controversy exists as to who exactly gave the order to concentrate artillery at this point. It has gone down in history as “Ruggle’s Battery” but Major Shoup also claimed the credit. Other sources indicate that Brig. Genl. James Trudeau began the concentration after orders from Beauregard. National Park Service tablets at the Shiloh National Military Park use the “Ruggle’s Battery” designation. This concentration originated about 3:00 pm when General Beauregard was informed of the death of General Albert S. Johnston thereby making Beauregard the army commander. He immediately moved to push the stalled rebel attack by assigning General Braxton Bragg to command in the eastern sector of the battlefield and General Ruggles to command in the center of the battlefield, the Duncan field sector. Ruggles issued orders to gather the artillery into a group which historians now believe totaled 55 guns. Major Francis Shoup also claims a portion of the credit for this grouping. There were actually two groups of guns in Ruggle's Grand Battery, a northern group and a southern group. The northern group contained the batteries located by aides of General Ruggles and brought to the field and this group was the group formed by Ruggles. The northern group, commanded by Captain Bankhead included a section of Ketchum's Alabama battery 2 guns, Hodgson's Louisiana battery 6 guns, Bankhead's Tennessee battery 6 guns, Stanford's Mississippi battery 6 guns, Robertson's Alabama battery, 4 guns for a total of 30 guns. The southern group was commanded by Major Shoup and contained a group of batteries which had been under Shoup"s supervision and had been resting following the morning fight near the main Corinth Road. The southern group of guns, commanded by Major Shoup included Roberts Arkansas battery 4 guns, Triggs Arkansas battery 4 guns, Sweet's Mississippi battery 6 guns, a section of Hubbard's Arkansas battery (Lt Thrall commanding) 2 guns, Brynes Kentucky battery, 7 guns and a section of Cobb's Kentucky Battery, 2 guns, for a total of 25 guns. The guns of these two groups came from different areas of the battlefield. It appears that Shoup was not initially aware of the presence of the northern group of guns or Ruggles' orders to gather the guns. The resulting artillery concentration of 55 guns was, up to that time, the largest concentration of artillery ever on the North American continent and was itself a historical event. This status did not last long as it was quickly surpassed by even larger artillery concentrations in the Eastern Theater of the war. The grand battery enabled Confederates to surround the position, and the Hornet's Nest fell after holding out for seven hours.

In early May 1862, Confederate forces underwent an army-wide reorganization due to the passage of the Conscription Act by the Confederate Congress in April 1862. All twelve-month units had to re-muster and enlist for two additional years or the duration of the war; a new election of officers was ordered; and men who were exempted from service by age or other reasons under the Conscription Act were allowed to take a discharge and go home. Officers who did not choose to stand for re-election were also offered a discharge. The reorganization was accomplished among all the Arkansas units in and around Corinth, Mississippi, following the Battle of Shiloh.

Captain Clarkson resigned and was succeeded by Captain John H. Calvert on July 2, 1862. Later that year, charges were preferred against Captain Calvert that he got drunk and exposed himself to the citizens of Nashville, Tennessee, and was put in jail by the guard. He promised not to drink anymore during the war. If he did, he was to tender his resignation.

Siege of Corinth

The Siege of Corinth (also known as the First Battle of Corinth) was fought from April 29 to May 30, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi. The town was a strategic point at the junction of two vital railroad lines, the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. Following the Union Army victory at the Battle of Shiloh, Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck amassed three Union armies—the Army of the Tennessee, the Army of the Ohio, and the Army of the Mississippi—for an advance on the vital rail center of Corinth, Mississippi. Made cautious by the staggering losses at Shiloh, Halleck embarked on a tedious campaign of offensive entrenchment, fortifying after each advance. By May 25, 1862, after moving five miles in three weeks, Halleck was in position to lay siege to the town. Confederate morale was low and Beauregard was outnumbered two to one. Typhoid and dysentery had felled thousands of his men. At a council of war, the Confederate officers concluded that they could not hold the railroad crossover. The siege ended as the Confederates withdrew.

When Lieutenant General Braxton Bragg issued his organization of the Confederate Army of the Mississippi, on June 30, 1862, Calvert's Battery was assigned to Brigadier General Patrick R. Cleburne 2nd Brigade of Major General William E. Hardee's 3rd Army Corps.

Kentucky Campaign

During the Kentucky Campaign in the summer of 1862, Calvert's Arkansas Battery was assigned to Major General William E. Hardee's Left Wing (Corps) of the Army of Mississippi. During the October 8, 1862, Battle of Perryville, the battery was split, with one section of two 2 6-pound Smooth Boore cannon under Second Lieutenant Thomas J. Key assigned to support Brigadier General BG Patrick Ronayne Cleburne's 2nd Brigade of Major General Simon Bolivar Buckner's Third Division and one section of two 12-pounder Howitzers under Second Lieutenant Sylvanus G. Hanley assigned to support Colonel Joseph Wheeler's Cavalry Brigade. Following Bragg's decision to retreat from Kentucky at the end of the campaign, the Confederate Army of the Mississippi was renamed on November 20, 1862, as the Army of Tennessee and was divided into two corps commanded by Generals Polk and William J. Hardee. A third corps was formed from troops from the Department of East Tennessee and commanded by Edmund Kirby Smith.

Stones River Campaign

The Battle of Stones River or the Battle of Murfreesboro as it was known in the South was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign. During the battle of Stones River, the Helena Arkansas Artillery, now under the command of Lieutenant Thomas J. Key, was assigned to Brigadier General Lucius E. Polk's 1st Brigade of Major General Patrick R. Cleburne's Division of Lieutenant General William J. Hardee's Corps of the Confederate Army of Tennessee. Lieutenant Key, commanding Calvert's battery, filed his report of the report of the roll of his battery in the battle from the Artillery Camp at Tullahoma, Tenn., January 23, 1863:

The next point of attack was near the Nashville and Franklin pike, where the Abolition infantry had ensconced themselves in a dense forest of timber, and were awaiting the advance of our forces to mow them down as they pursued over an open field. This battery began shelling the woods, and routed the Abolitionists in front, but they rallied and renewed the attack on our left, and promptly we turned our guns upon them, and they were hurled back in confusion.... The fourth place of action was, after we had pursued the enemy's batteries into the clustering cedars, near the railroad, where they were masked....The contest was unequal and desperate. Their rifle guns could throw canister as far as ours could spherical case, and in order to prevent annihilation we were forced to withdraw. The fifth position was in the field west of the enemy's concentrated artillery, where we fought them until we had exhausted our ammunition, losing in this engagement one of our bravest and most expert No. 1 cannoneers. The enemy turned a triple number of pieces upon us.... The sixth and last action was near that same intertwined and matted grove of cedars. Here also the contest was unequal. It was in this engagement that Lieutenaut Fitzpatrick lost his left hand by a canister, and a cannoneer's head was shot off, and a number of horses were killed, and one howitzer slightly damaged. Finding that we could not move the enemy from his strong position, and that smooth-bore guns could not cope with Parrott and rifled guns, we withdrew from the contest. The battery lost 3 men killed, 1 officer and 4 men wounded, 10 horses killed and wounded, and 4 sets of harness....

Captain Calvert showed up drunk on the battlefield at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on December 31, 1862 and tendered his resignation on February 6, 1863. He was succeeded in command by Lieutenant Thomas J. Key, who had transferred from the 15th Arkansas Infantry the previous summer. The battery would continue to be known as Calvert's Arkansas Artillery in official reports, until the Atlanta Campaign in 1864. After the defeat at the Battle of Murfreesboro, General Braxton Bragg had his army occupy strong defensive positions around Tullahoma, Tennessee. Union General Rosecrans spent five and a half months reinforcing Murfreesboro and building earthworks. The next major operation, the Tullahoma Campaign, did not come until June 1863, when Rosecrans finally moved his army against Bragg.

Tullahoma Campaign

The Tullahoma Campaign was fought between June 24 and July 3, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Union Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans, outmaneuvered the Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by General Braxton Bragg, from a strong defensive position, driving the Confederates from Middle Tennessee and threatening Chattanooga. The battery was not directly engaged in either of the major engagements at Liberty Gap or Hoover's Gap.

Chickamauga Campaign

In General Braxton Bragg’s report on the Organization of troops in Department No 2, on July 31, 1863, Calvert’s Arkansas Battery, under the command of Lieutenant Key, was listed as assigned to Brigadier General L.E. Polk’s Brigade of Major General Patrick R. Cleburne’s Division or Lieutenant General D.H. Hill’s Army Corps. The battery was still assigned to Polk’s brigade in the August 10, 1863 report on the organization of troops in the Department of Tennessee. During the Battle of Chickamauga, Calvert's Arkansas Battery, under the Command of Lieutenant Key was assigned to an artillery battalion consisting of Douglas Texas Battery and Semple's Alabama Battery, under the command of Major T.R. Hotchkiss. The battalion supported Major General Cleburne's Division of Lieutenat General D.H. Hill's Corps of the Army of Tennessee. On October 6, 1863, Lieutenant Key provided a report on the battery's roll in the battle:

The battery was mentioned for conspicuous gallantry and professionalism at Chickamauga. Two members of Key’s Battery, Privates James McCourtney and George McMillon, were awarded the Confederate equivalent of the Medal of Honor for heroism at Chickamauga. Captain Key had earned a reputation as an audacious battery commander, often running his guns up close to the enemy, in advance of the infantry, pouring rapid and accurate fire into the enemy. Many reports and correspondence mention the incredibly fast loading and firing that characterized the Helena Artillery.

Chattanooga Campaign

The Chattanooga Campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in October and November 1863, during the American Civil War. Following the defeat of Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans' Union Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Chickamauga in September, the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Gen. Braxton Bragg besieged Rosecrans and his men by occupying key high terrain around Chattanooga, Tennessee. Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was given command of Union forces in the West and significant reinforcements began to arrive with him in Chattanooga from Mississippi and the Eastern Theater.

The Union Army of the Tennessee under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman maneuvered to launch a surprise attack against Bragg's right flank on Missionary Ridge. On November 25, Sherman's attack on Bragg's right flank at Tunnel Hill on the east end of Missionary Ridge, which was defended by Cleburne's Division, with Calvert's Arkansas Battery. Lieutenant Key and the battery were praised in Cleburne's report of the battle.

Hoping to distract Bragg's attention, Grant authorized Thomas's army to advance in the center of his line to the base of Missionary Ridge. A combination of misunderstood orders and the pressure of the tactical situation caused Thomas's men to surge to the top of Missionary Ridge, routing the Army of Tennessee, which retreated to Dalton, Georgia, fighting off the Union pursuit successfully at the Battle of Ringgold Gap. Bragg's defeat eliminated the last Confederate control of Tennessee and opened the door to an invasion of the Deep South, leading to Sherman's Atlanta Campaign of 1864.

Atlanta Campaign

During the Atlanta Campaign, Key’s Battery was assigned to Hochkiss’s Battalion, usually part of Major General Patrick Cleburne’s Division. The battalion also included Goldthwaite’s Alabama Battery and Sweet’s Mississippi Battery. On December 14, 1863, the battery was reported 93 assigned, with 71 present for duty, 60 of which were listed as effective. The remaining 22 were listed as absent. The battery's armament at the time was listed as two 12 pound howitzers and two 6-pounder guns.

According to the report of Major T.R. Hotchkiss, Key's battery was the first battery to fire on a Union Brigade involved in the demonstration against Dalton Georgia on February 25, 1864. The battery engaged at a range of approximately 700 yards and fired approximately nine rounds per gun. A report on the light artillery assigned to the Army of Tennessee on April 1, 1864 lists Keys battery as composed of four 12-pounder howitzers, with a strength of 61 present of 81 assigned. Key had command of the battalion through much of the campaign.

During the Battle of Pickett's Mill on May 27, 1864, Key’s Arkansas Battery occupied a position with Major General Cleburne’s Division. As Brigadier General William B. Hazen’s brigade attacked Cleburne’s line, Key and some of his men rolled two of his guns from their original position on a ridgeline, to the far right of the line. Hazen’s men suffered appalling casualties at the hands of Key’s gunners. Another Brigade under Colonel William H. Gibson took its place and receive equally rough treatment. Finally, Colonel Frederick Knefler attempted to help extract Gibson’s brigade and were also driven away by Key’s guns. Key's two guns fired a total of 187 rounds of canister and spherical case shot during the Union assault.

The battle of Battle of Peachtree Creek on July 20, 1864, was the first major engagement after John Bell Hood replaced Joe Johnston as commander of the Army of Tennessee. Key's Arkansas Battery supported the attack of Brigadier General Daniel C. Govan's brigade of Cleuburne's Division. By July 23, 1864, Captain Key was in command of Hotshkiss's Battalion of Artillery and Lieuteant James G. Marshall was leading the Helena Artillery.

On September 1, 1864, at the Battle of Jonesboro, Georgia, all but 12 men of the battery were captured, along with the Battery's flag by Company E, 3rd Ohio Volunteers, along with much of Govan's Brigade on September 1, 1864. Due to a special cartel between Union General Sherman and Confederate General John B. Hood, the unit was quickly paroled and exchanged for Union prisoners held at Andersonville Prison. The battery re-entered service approximately a month later. The battery and Govan's Brigade were released and exchanged just in time to participate in General John B. Hood's disastrous Franklin-Nashville Campaign.

Franklin-Nashville Campaign

After the fall of Atlanta, Key’s Battery followed General John B. Hood into Tennessee and fought in the Battle of Nashville. The battery was not present for the fatal Battle of Franklin, in which General Cleburne and so much of his division were killed. The battery had been detailed along with James A. Smith's Brigade of Cleburne's Division to guard the wagontrain. The battery joined the remainder of Hood's army in front of Nashville on December 6, 1864. When an ice storm struck during the siege of Nashville, Captain Key recorded in his diary, "The Soldier's stand around their fires warming one side while the other side grows cold, and shed tears from the strong smoke which puffs in their eyes.... Our artillery carrages are frozen in the ground and an inch of ice coats my brass guns." After the defeat at the Battle of Nashville and the retreat from Tennessee, the battery was split. Captain Key, with half of the battery was assigned to protect the city of Macon, GA and to recruit more soldiers.

Battles

The Helena Artillery was involved in the following battles:

Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, April 6–7, 1862.

Siege of Corinth, April to June 1862.

Kentucky Campaign

Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862.

Stones River Campaign

Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, December 31, 1862 to January 3, 1863.

Tullahoma Campaign, June 24 - July 3, 1863.

Battle of Liberty Gap, Tennessee, June 24–26, 1863.

Chickamauga Campaign

Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, September 19–20, 1863.

Siege of Chattanooga

Battle of Missionary Ridge, November 25, 1863.

Atlanta Campaign, May to September 1864.

Battle of Pickett's Mill, Georgia, May 27, 1864.

Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 27, 1864.

Siege of Atlanta, Georgia, July 22, 1864.

Battle of Jonesboro, Georgia, August 31 and September 1, 1864.

Franklin-Nashville Campaign

Battle of Nashville, Tennessee, December 15–16, 1864.

Although the Confederate Government wished to devise a medal for valor, similar to the United States' Medal of Honor, they were never able to issue a general medal for bravery and good conduct. In lieu of such an award, the Confederate Congress instituted a "Roll of Honor". This roll was to list the names of soldiers from each company who were singled out for valor or good conduct displayed during victorious battles. The names were to be selected by vote of the company members. A company could also decline to choose a name, and the honor could be awarded posthumously. The completed Roll was to be published and read in each regiment. The Army of Tennessee selected names for two battles: Murfreesboro and Chickamauga. In accordance with Confederate Adjutant and Inspector General's Office Order Number 131, Two members of Calvert’s Battery, Privates James McCourtney and George McMillon, were awarded the Confederate equivalent of the Medal of Honor for heroism at Chickamauga.

Battle flag

One battle flag from Key's Arkansas Battery has survived. Like the other units in Cleburne's Arkansas Division the unit was issued a Hardee pattern flag. The flag is cotton with dark green, black and red paint. It measures 30 × 36 inches and has the War Department Capture Number 231 painted on the flag. Key's Battery was captured with most of the rest of Daniel Govan's Arkansas brigade in the fighting at Jonesboro, Georgia, on 1 September 1864. The flag is consistent with the last two flags of the 1864 issue, and as a group they reinforce the observation that decorating was done at the brigade level at this point in the war. The crossed cannon are unusual on an artillery flag, as they generally honor capture of enemy guns by infantry. The honor may have been extended for silencing enemy guns in an exchange, but is unknown before 1864. The flag is currently in the collection of the Old State House Museum, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Surrender

At the end of the war, the Helen'a Artillery appears to have been divided into two sections. One group, under Captain Key, surrendered at Macon, Georgia, on April 20, 1865. The other group, under First Sergeant D. G. Johnson, surrendered at Selma, Alabama, on May 4, 1865.