Four Horse Rockbridge Artillery Limber (red), 1st Rockbridge Artillery, The Army of the Shenandoah, The First Battle of Manassas, 1861, The American Civil War, 1861-1865—four horses, limber, and accessories
$252.00
Item Number: ROCKART-01
Four Horse Rockbridge Artillery Limber (red), 1st Rockbridge Artillery, The Army of the Shenandoah, The First Battle of Manassas, 1861, The American Civil War, 1861-1865
A typical “field piece” had an authorized crew of 12 enlisted men constituting a “gun section” led by a sergeant and assisted by one (and sometimes two) corporal. Each section consisted of one “gun,” its “limber” (with one ammunition chest also serving as a seat) and (nominally) six horses (but often only four) to pull it, and a “caisson” (with two ammunition chests/ seats, a spare wheel, tools, and crew baggage) with its own limber pulled by another six horses, and two “spare” horses (when available) tethered to the rear of the caisson. Each “vehicle” was known as a “half section.” Two sections under the command of a second lieutenant constituted a platoon.
While the platoon commander and the two section sergeants (there were no “platoon sergeants” at that time) rode their own assigned horses, six artillerymen rode the three left-side horses in each half section, while the remaining six privates either rode on the three ammunition chests (two to three per chest/seat) or walked alongside. Three platoons (sometimes only two, especially in Confederate units), plus a small headquarters, under a captain, assisted by a first lieutenant and a first sergeant, constituted a “battery.”
1st ROCKBRIDGE ARTILLERY, THE ARMY OF THE SHENANDOAH, THE FIRST BATTLE OF MANASSAS, 1861.
The seventy men of the 1st Rockbridge Artillery were organized in April 1861 by Virginia Military Institute professor John McCausland. William N. Pendleton took command of the battery in late April after McCausland was transferred to command another unit.
The battery was initially equipped with two 6 pounders from VMI and two guns from Richmond.
Pendleton named the first four guns “Mathew”, “Mark”, “Luke”, and “John”, after the Apostles.
On 18th July, the battery moved east with the Stonewall Brigade to link up with Confederate general P.G.T. Beauregard’s troops at Manassas Junction. On 21st July during the First Battle of Manassas, Pendleton’s Battery was among the Confederate batteries defending the key position of the battle, Henry House Hill. The Battery was visited by Confederate president Jefferson Davis, who had gone to Manassas to watch the battle, during the Union retreat. In the aftermath of the battle, the battery received captured Union cannon.
Released in JULY 2023.
