Captured Federal Artillery at Stones River

During the Battle of Stones River, the Army of the Cumberland suffered heavy losses in artillery, particularly by the Right Wing under the command of Major General Alexander McCook. Colonel James Barnett, chief of artillery for the Army of the Cumberland, reported total losses of 28 guns which are spelled out below.

Battery E, 1st OVLA: 6 guns

Battery A, 1st OVLA: 3 guns

5th Indiana Battery: 2 guns

Battery C, 1st Illinois: 6 guns

4th Indiana Battery: 2 guns

5th Wisconsin Battery: 1 gun

8th Wisconsin Battery: 2 guns

Battery M, 1st OVLA: 1 gun

Battery G, 1st OVLA: 4 guns

Hewitt’s Kentucky Battery: 1 gun

 

Two broken Wiard rifles, representing lost guns from Battery G, 1st Ohio Light Artillery, lay amongst the limestone outcroppings in the cedars at Stones River National Battlefield in this image from 2004. The park had since removed the guns, remounted them, and placed them in position near tour stop #2. 

The Right Wing, heavily pressed, suffered the preponderance of the loss by losing 22 guns including two six-gun batteries which were captured in their entirety: Battery E of the 1st Ohio Light Artillery which was overrun at the very outset of the fight on December 31st and Captain Charles Houghtaling’s Battery C, 1st Illinois Light Artillery which was captured near the Wilkinson Pike later that morning. The Center Corps under the command of George H. Thomas lost a total of 6 guns, all from Negley’s division and all lost during the retreat after the bitter fighting within the cedars late on the morning of December 31, 1862.

Confederate claims of captured artillery differ from Barnett’s report. General Braxton Bragg’s initial report to Richmond on the night of December 31, 1862, states that his army captured 31 pieces of artillery while his official report states captures at “over 30.” Bragg’s corps commanders reported an even larger number of guns captured: General Wiilliam J. Hardee stated that his corps captured 23 cannons while General Leonidas Polk reported 16 captured guns, so a total of 39. Unfortunately, none of the Confederate commanders spelled out in detail what types of ordnance they captured so it is difficult to directly reconcile their claims with reported Federal losses.  

It is entirely possible that the difference between the 28 guns Barnett reported as lost and the 39 cannons Hardee and Polk state they captured lies in the following theory. If we accept that the Confederate claims are true, how do we explain the difference of 11 guns? It is possible that the Confederates also captured mountain howitzers that were attached to infantry regiments. Colonel Barnett would not have reported these losses as they technically were not under the artillery branch; but likewise, I have not seen any reports from Federal infantry commanders reporting the loss of these weapons. It is also possible that Federal losses were underreported or that Confederate captures were overstated, or both.

Besides the discrepancy in the number of guns captured, it is worth examining the types of ordnance that were captured. Per Barnett, losses included six 6-pdr M1841 field guns, six 12-pdr M1841 howitzers, four 12-pdr M1857 Napoleons, seven 6-pdr James rifles, two 10-pdr Parrott rifles, one 6-pdr Wiard rifle, and two 12-pdr Wiard rifles. Looking at it another way, the Federals lost 16 smoothbores and 12 rifles or 23 bronze pieces and 5 steel pieces. Here’s a detailed breakdown by type of ordnance:

M1841 12-pdr howitzer (Photo by Phil Spaugy)

6-pdr M1841 field gun

5th Wisconsin Battery       1

8th Wisconsin Battery       1

4th Indiana Battery  1

Hewitt’s KY Battery        1

Battery E, 1st OVLA        1

Battery A, 1st OVLA        1

Total:                    6

12-pdr M1841 howitzer

Battery A, 1st OVLA        1

5th Indiana Battery  2

Battery G, 1st OVLA        1

Battery C, 1st Illinois         2

Total:                    6

12-pdr M1857 Napoleon

Battery C, 1st Illinois         4

Total:                    4

6-pdr James Rifle

4th Indiana Battery  1

Battery A, 1st OVLA        1

Battery E, 1st OVLA        5

Total:                    7

10-pdr Parrott Rifle

8th Wisconsin Battery       1

Battery M, 1st OVLA        1

Total:                    2

6-pdr Wiard Rifle

Battery G, 1st OVLA        1

Total:                    1

12-pdr Wiard Rifle

Battery G, 1st OVLA        2

Total:                    2

 

          One intriguing question about these captured guns is what did the Confederate army do with them afterwards? When the army retreated from Murfreesboro on the night of January 3, 1863, most of these captured guns were shipped by rail to Atlanta where they were refurbished and prepared for field use. We do know that the captured Napoleons from Houghtaling’s battery were inscribed with the names of the Confederate officers commanding the regiments that captured those guns. The visitor’s center at Stones River features one of these guns. Certainly some of these guns were distributed to batteries within Bragg’s army as either replacements for battle losses or upgrades.

In the aftermath of the battle, General P.G.T. Beauregard, now commanding the forces on the South Carolina coast, sent General Bragg a congratulatory letter along with a request: would Bragg be willing to send his department a battery of rifled guns from among the captured weapons from Stones River?

          Bragg replied in the affirmative. “It is a source of much gratification to me to respond to your request for a battery of rifled guns from our captures at Murfreesboro,” he wrote. He tasked his aide Lieutenant Francis B. Parker and newly promoted Captain Charles C. White of the 10th South Carolina with delivering these guns to Charleston. “As the two fine regiments from that heroic state were conspicuously distinguished on the bloody field which yielded us these trophies, their able and gallant commander Col. [Arthur M.] Manigault has been requested to furnish four names from the most honored of his fallen officers to be placed on the guns,” Bragg stated.

The Army of Tennessee captured one 6-pdr Wiard rifle and two 12-pdr Wiard rifles from Battery G at Stones River on December 31, 1862. Eventually, the two 12-pdr Wiards would be sent to South Carolina for use in the defense of Charleston. 

          Beauregard’s request posed something of a problem- the request was specifically for rifled guns which would come from the group of 12 guns captured at Stones River. However, the two South Carolina regiments present at Stones River did not capture any rifled guns; they were heavily involved in the capture of Houghtaling’s Battery which consisted of four 12-pdr M1857 Napoleons and two 12-pdr M1841 howitzers, all brass smoothbore pieces. Evidently, it was decided to send both of the 12-pdr Wiard rifles and the two 10-pdr Parrott rifles to South Carolina, inscribing the names of the fallen South Carolina officers on the tubes. However, the Wiards were most likely captured by the men of General A.P. Stewart’s brigade while the two Parrott rifles were captured by two different brigades: Colonel A.J. Vaughan’s brigade captured the one from the 8th Wisconsin Battery while Stewart’s men captured the Battery M, 1st OVLA piece in the cedars.

          Regardless of provenance, the refurbished and engraved guns arrived at Charleston in late February 1863 accompanied by Colonel David Urquhart of Bragg’s staff. “They are beautiful steel pieces, two being Parrott guns and two Wiard guns,” the Charleston Daily Courier reported. A brass plate was affixed to each gun bearing “the name of its captor [well, not really as explained above] as follows: Captain J.R. Nettles, 10th S.C. Regt., Capt. J.S. Palmer, 10th S.C. Regt., Lt. J.P. Norris, 19th S.C. Regt., and Capt. A.J. Lythgoe, 19th S.C. Regt.”

General Beauregard thanked Bragg profusely. “The battery has been placed in charge of Captain [Christopher] Gailliard’s company of light artillery, composed entirely of young men from the same district of the state and where were born the heroes whose names have been inscribed on the guns. Rest assured that the company in whose charge they are now will emulate the gallant deeds of those who have so gloriously died in the defense of those great principles of civil liberty, without the full enjoyment of which, life would become intolerable.” Gailliard’s company, also known as the Santee Light Artillery, would utilize the two Parrott rifles for the balance of the war. Whatever became of the two oddball Wiard rifles is lost to history…

 

Many of the Federal batteries that had suffered losses at Stones River would see action nine months later at Chickamauga. The gun line in Brotherton Field depicted above is one of my favorite spots on that battlefield. 

So how did the Army of the Cumberland recuperate these battery losses? The abundant industrial infrastructure of the North provided ready replacements for lost ordnance and all of the impacted batteries were soon back at full strength and ready for service. In most cases, the lost weapons were replaced with superior cannons of newer design, to wit;

Battery C, 1st Illinois- lost 2 12-pdr howitzers and 4 12-pdr Napoleons; in Q1 1863 equipped with two 12-pdr howitzers and four 3” Ordnance rifles

4th Indiana Battery- lost 1 6-pdr James rifle, 1 6-pdr field gun; in Q1 1863 was equipped with two 12-pdr Napoleons, two 12-pdr howitzers, and two 6-pdr James rifles

5th Indiana Battery- lost 2 12-pdr howitzers; in Q1 1863 was equipped with two 12-pdr Napoleons, one 10-pdr Parrott rifle, one 6-pdr James rifle

Hewitt’s Kentucky Battery- lost one 6-pdr field gun; in Q1 1863, equipped with two 6-pdr field guns, two 3” Ordnance rifles, and two 6-pdr James rifles

Battery A, 1st OVLA- lost 1 6-pdr James rifle, 1 12-pdr howitzer, 1 6-pdr field gun; in Q1 1863 equipped with two 12-pdr Napoleons and 4 6-pdr James rifles

Battery E, 1st OVLA- lost 5 6-pdr James rifles, 1 6-pdr field gun; was not re-quipped for field service, converted into a post battery at Nashville operating heavy caliber ordnance

Battery G, 1st OVLA- lost 1 12-pdr howitzer, 1 6-pdr Wiard rifle, and 2 12-pdr Wiard rifles (total 4)- in Q1 1863 equipped with four 12-pdr Napoleons and two 3” Ordnance rifles

Battery M, 1st OVLA- lost 1 10-pdr Parrott rifle, replaced with 3” Ordnance rifle; in Q1 1863 equipped with one 6-pdr M1841 field gun, two 3” Ordnance rifles, and three 6-pdr James rifles

5th Wisconsin Battery- lost 1 6-pdr field gun; in Q3 1863 equipped with two 12-pdr Napoleons, two 12-pdr howitzers, and two 6-pdr James rifles

8th Wisconsin Battery- lost 1 10-pdr Parrott rifle, 1 6-pdr field gun; in Q3 1863 equipped with two 12-pdr Napoleons and four 3” Ordnance rifles

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