Byrne's battery
Encyclopedia
Byrne's Battery was a light artillery
battery
in the Confederate Army
during the American Civil War
. It fought exclusively in the Western Theater
and suffered among the highest casualties of Confederate batteries at the Battle of Stones River
.
The unit was formed by Edward P. Byrne, a native Kentuckian
living in Washington County, Mississippi
. After South Carolina
's secession
, Byrne was determined to raise a battery of artillery for service in the Confederate Army. With help from donations from the citizens of Washington County and his own substantial wealth, he raised his company and obtained many horses. He also ordered six guns from a firm in Memphis, Tennessee
. He began recruiting in Mississippi
and later in his native Kentucky. He went to Louisville, Kentucky
, to recruit volunteers, which he helped to secretly move to Camp Boone
, where several other pro-Confederacy Kentucky regiments were forming, despite the state's official policy of neutrality.
s available at the time. He acquired four six-pound field gun
s and two twelve-pound howitzer
s from the firm in Memphis. He also captured several more field pieces during the push into Bowling Green
. He also mounted his men on the finest horses (horses were in such abundance that he gave 30 of them to unmounted men of now famous Captain (later General) John Hunt Morgan
's cavalry
squadron) and gave them fine well-crafted carriages, caissons, limbers and other accoutrements he had special-ordered from another firm in Memphis
.
had already fallen, he decided to attach his battery to the organization now forming at Camp Boone that would later become famous as the Orphan Brigade
. The battery saw its first minor action on the advance into Kentucky led by General Simon B. Buckner. Byrne's Battery, along with the 2nd Kentucky Infantry, led the advance into Kentucky late in 1861 and captured guns and men along the way, along with many of the pro-Union Homeguard of Kentucky and some of regular and volunteer troops. This advance led to the capture of Bowling Green and the subsequent set-up of the later exiled Confederate Government of Kentucky.
After the withdrawal from Kentucky, they saw heavy action at the Battle of Shiloh
, where the battery was completely over-run despite the men's best efforts to save the guns. Confederate infantry soon recovered the guns and the battery later supported Daniel Ruggles
' assault on the "Hornet's Nest" as part of Ruggles' Grand Battery. Even after the bloody fight at Shiloh and the loss of many men, Byrne's Battery continued to serve heroically and effectively in the Orphan Brigade. They participated in every battle of the Orphan Brigade up to Stones River, where they gallantly and defiantly stood to their guns despite overwhelming enemy fire. One gunner lost his hand to an enemy round, but still stayed at his post. Because of its tremendous losses at Stones River, Byrne's Battery was forced to disband and disperse itself amongst the other Kentucky units and even units outside the Orhan Brigade, although though most were simply directly transferred to Lyon's (Cobb's) Battery.
After their disbandment, Edward Byrne was commissioned a colonel and placed in command of all Kentucky cavalry companies not already organized into regiment
s. Byrne was ordered to report to General Morgan after the organization of these companies. But, this did not satisfiy Byrne, and he requested permission to form another battery and be made Chief of Artillery of Morgan's cavalry. His request was granted, but his commission was amended by Confederate Congress to that of a Major. He began forming this new battery from elements of his old battery and from new recruits from Kentucky.
Byrne went on to serve with distinction under Morgan and commanded the artillery on several of his raids until he was court-martial
ed for his involvement in a bank robbery on one of those raids. The men not transferred back to his new unit continued to serve in various units, especially Cobb's Battery of the Orphan Brigade, until they were surrendered by Joseph E. Johnston
on April 26, 1865, at Bennett Place
. The remnants of Byrne's Battery were paroled on May 10.
Field Artillery in the American Civil War
Field artillery in the American Civil War refers to the important artillery weapons, equipment, and practices used by the Artillery branch to support the infantry and cavalry forces in the field. It does not include siege artillery, use of artillery in fixed fortifications, or coastal or naval...
battery
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
in the Confederate Army
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. It fought exclusively in the Western Theater
Western Theater of the American Civil War
This article presents an overview of major military and naval operations in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.-Theater of operations:...
and suffered among the highest casualties of Confederate batteries at the Battle of Stones River
Battle of Stones River
The Battle of Stones River or Second Battle of Murfreesboro , was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War...
.
The unit was formed by Edward P. Byrne, a native Kentuckian
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
living in Washington County, Mississippi
Washington County, Mississippi
-National protected areas:*Holt Collier National Wildlife Refuge*Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge *Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge-Demographics:...
. After South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
's secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
, Byrne was determined to raise a battery of artillery for service in the Confederate Army. With help from donations from the citizens of Washington County and his own substantial wealth, he raised his company and obtained many horses. He also ordered six guns from a firm in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
. He began recruiting in Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and later in his native Kentucky. He went to Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, to recruit volunteers, which he helped to secretly move to Camp Boone
Camp Boone
Camp Boone, Tennessee was located on Guthrie Road/ U.S. Route 79 near the Kentucky - Tennessee border at Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee .Camp Boone was laid out in early 1861 by three men who had been authorized to raise a Kentucky Regiment for...
, where several other pro-Confederacy Kentucky regiments were forming, despite the state's official policy of neutrality.
Armament
Bryne armed his men with the finest cannonCannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
s available at the time. He acquired four six-pound field gun
Field gun
A field gun is an artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march and when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances, as to opposed guns installed in a fort, or to siege cannon or mortars which...
s and two twelve-pound howitzer
Howitzer
A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...
s from the firm in Memphis. He also captured several more field pieces during the push into Bowling Green
Bowling Green, Kentucky
Bowling Green is the third-most populous city in the state of Kentucky after Louisville and Lexington, with a population of 58,067 as of the 2010 Census. It is the county seat of Warren County and the principal city of the Bowling Green, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area with an estimated 2009...
. He also mounted his men on the finest horses (horses were in such abundance that he gave 30 of them to unmounted men of now famous Captain (later General) John Hunt Morgan
John Hunt Morgan
John Hunt Morgan was a Confederate general and cavalry officer in the American Civil War.Morgan is best known for Morgan's Raid when, in 1863, he and his men rode over 1,000 miles covering a region from Tennessee, up through Kentucky, into Indiana and on to southern Ohio...
's cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
squadron) and gave them fine well-crafted carriages, caissons, limbers and other accoutrements he had special-ordered from another firm in Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
.
Service
Byrne first offered his services to P.G.T. Beauregard in South Carolina, but upon learning that Fort SumterFort Sumter
Fort Sumter is a Third System masonry coastal fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.- Construction :...
had already fallen, he decided to attach his battery to the organization now forming at Camp Boone that would later become famous as the Orphan Brigade
Orphan Brigade
The Orphan Brigade was the nickname of the First Kentucky Brigade, a group of military units recruited from the Commonwealth of Kentucky to fight for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. The brigade was the largest Confederate unit to be recruited from Kentucky during...
. The battery saw its first minor action on the advance into Kentucky led by General Simon B. Buckner. Byrne's Battery, along with the 2nd Kentucky Infantry, led the advance into Kentucky late in 1861 and captured guns and men along the way, along with many of the pro-Union Homeguard of Kentucky and some of regular and volunteer troops. This advance led to the capture of Bowling Green and the subsequent set-up of the later exiled Confederate Government of Kentucky.
After the withdrawal from Kentucky, they saw heavy action at the Battle of Shiloh
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and...
, where the battery was completely over-run despite the men's best efforts to save the guns. Confederate infantry soon recovered the guns and the battery later supported Daniel Ruggles
Daniel Ruggles
Daniel Ruggles was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He commanded a division at the Battle of Shiloh.-Biography:Ruggles was born in Barre, Massachusetts, in 1810...
' assault on the "Hornet's Nest" as part of Ruggles' Grand Battery. Even after the bloody fight at Shiloh and the loss of many men, Byrne's Battery continued to serve heroically and effectively in the Orphan Brigade. They participated in every battle of the Orphan Brigade up to Stones River, where they gallantly and defiantly stood to their guns despite overwhelming enemy fire. One gunner lost his hand to an enemy round, but still stayed at his post. Because of its tremendous losses at Stones River, Byrne's Battery was forced to disband and disperse itself amongst the other Kentucky units and even units outside the Orhan Brigade, although though most were simply directly transferred to Lyon's (Cobb's) Battery.
After their disbandment, Edward Byrne was commissioned a colonel and placed in command of all Kentucky cavalry companies not already organized into regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
s. Byrne was ordered to report to General Morgan after the organization of these companies. But, this did not satisfiy Byrne, and he requested permission to form another battery and be made Chief of Artillery of Morgan's cavalry. His request was granted, but his commission was amended by Confederate Congress to that of a Major. He began forming this new battery from elements of his old battery and from new recruits from Kentucky.
Byrne went on to serve with distinction under Morgan and commanded the artillery on several of his raids until he was court-martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
ed for his involvement in a bank robbery on one of those raids. The men not transferred back to his new unit continued to serve in various units, especially Cobb's Battery of the Orphan Brigade, until they were surrendered by Joseph E. Johnston
Joseph E. Johnston
Joseph Eggleston Johnston was a career U.S. Army officer, serving with distinction in the Mexican-American War and Seminole Wars, and was also one of the most senior general officers in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...
on April 26, 1865, at Bennett Place
Bennett Place
Bennett Place, sometimes known as Bennett Farm, in Durham, North Carolina was the site of the largest surrender of Confederate soldiers ending the American Civil War, on April 26, 1865.-History:...
. The remnants of Byrne's Battery were paroled on May 10.