The Washington Artillery began as a volunteer artillery unit called the Native American Artillery which soon became part of the Washington Regiment. They would later change their name to the Washington Artillery.

The Washington Regiment, the only military organization in the American quarter of New Orleans, underwent reorganization in February and assigned the Washington Artillery to be the right-flank company of the regiment which also included cavalry and infantry.

August 22: The Washington Artillery, as a part of the Washington Regiment, volunteered for service under General Zachary Taylor in the Mexican War. They embarked at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans, Louisiana on the steamer Alabama for Corpus Christi and the Texas frontier. At the expiration of their three months’ service, they returned to Louisiana.

General Zachary Taylor
During the Mexican War

February 22: A regimental flag of silk with the roaring tiger head encircled by a laurel whose branches are tied with a ribbon upon which the motto "Try Us" is inscribed, the name "Washington" above the design and the name "Artillery" below the design, was presented to the Battalion Washington Artillery by Misses Mary and Frances E. Spearing.

May 9: Responding to another call for skilled volunteer artillerists in combating the Mexicans, the Washington Artillery embarked on the steamship Galveston for Texas to serve three months in Mexico near the Rio Grande. They would be designated as Company A of the Washington Regiment and functioned as infantry for this ninety-day assignment.

Another reorganization took place which included the election of officers. During the period between 1852 and 1857, the membership dwindled, in part due to the premature discharge of a gun during a battery salute which took the life of its second captain since the 1852 reorganization. Until 1857, the membership would decrease until there were thirteen members left.

A tiger’s head encircled by a cannoneer’s belt was adopted as the emblem of the Washington Artillery, along with the motto "Try Us". It would later have crossed cannons added as background to the roaring tiger emblem. Colonel J.B. Walton accepted command of the Washington Artillery, and the ranks of the membership began to swell again.

The Washington Artillery's Arsenal Building on Girod Street in New Orleans was completed in 1859.  At its official opening, the men of the Washington Artillery sang a song that has been titled "Try Us".  The Washington Artillery paid for the design, construction, and equipping of the Arsenal Building by itself.

A full company had again been organized, equipped fully, uniformed and drilled. The Washington Artillery was restored to its former glory.

January 9: The Washington Artillery boarded the steamer National with other militia units as a secret expedition to seize the United States arsenal at Baton Rouge.

January 11: The Baton Rouge Arsenal in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was surrendered by the occupying Federal soldiers. Arms and equipment were seized. The seizure of the Baton Rouge Arsenal pre-dated the assault on Fort Sumter and constituted the first serious act of hostility to Federal authority.

February 22: The ladies of New Orleans presented a stand of colors to the Washington Artillery, and the presentation speech was made by Senator J.P. Benjamin of Louisiana.

May: Desiring to join the Confederate Army, the Washington Artillery sent a committee to Montgomery, Alabama (then the capitol of the Confederacy) to offer their services to the Confederate States of America. At that time, there was no law by which they could be accepted without the approval of the State of Louisiana through the office of Governor Moore, who would not consent to offering the services of the Washington Artillery to the CSA. As a direct consequence, the Confederate government framed and passed a law immediately upon learning of this dilemma which allowed the Confederate government to accept the Washington Artillery’s services for the duration of the war. This was the first command to inaugurate fighting artillery by battalion.

May 26: The Battalion was drawn up at Lafayette Square in New Orleans, Louisiana and mustered into service. They then marched to Christ Church where they were reminded by Reverend Benjamin Morgan Palmer of their education as gentlemen, and that it behooved them to bring back their characters as soldiers and gentlemen unblemished.

A flag was presented to the command. The entire command was completely outfitted at their own expense.

Companies 1, 2, 3, and 4 left Louisiana with their twelve-piece brass band, French cook Edouard from Victor’s Restaurant in New Orleans, Negro cooks, and white and Negro servants to join the Army of Northern Virginia immediately upon their acceptance by the C.S.A. A reserve force of twenty active members remained in New Orleans which was aiding the formation of the 5th Company - Washington Artillery. The recruiting work having begun in April, by May the 5th Company had one-hundred fifty members who cast ballots and elected W. Irving Hodgson to be their captain.

When the first four companies left for Virginia, the arsenal on Girod Street was having additional construction done. Within ninety days, 5th Company had completed the construction work, equipped it fully, and paid for it themselves. Requiring tents, they found it necessary to use what they could find. A circus having gone bankrupt in New Orleans, they purchased the red-and-white striped tents and made them into tents for the members of 5th Company, creating some of the most distinctive-looking tents of the War.

August: "We still retain our white gaiters and red kepis, but they are bound eventually to go. The blue cloth dress uniforms have been shipped to Richmond, and will there remain for swell occasions." - Lieutenant William M. Owen. Once in Virginia, reality set in. The white gaiters and even the blue cloth uniforms did go by the wayside, but the distinctive red kepis remained a part of the uniform of the Washington Artillery through the War.

September: Each man of the Washington Artillery had new tailor-made uniforms made at his own expense of "Crenshaw Mills stuff, bluish-gray in color, and gave the command a neat and distinctive appearance". The final break had been made with the former style of uniforms which had made them almost indistinguishable from the Federal troops’ 1858 uniforms.

The uniforms of the first four companies were to include the sky blue kersey trousers and vest of the old uniform, coupled with the "Crenshaw Mills stuff", a bluish-gray color of wool.  The new uniforms of the 5th and 6th Companies were to be entirely made from the "Crenshaw Mills stuff".

February: Elections were held to select officers to lead 5th Company into active service. One-hundred and eighty-five votes were cast. 5th Company was growing and ready to serve.

March 1: A dispatch from General P.G.T. Beauregard was published in the Picayune of New Orleans. Sent from Jackson, Tennessee, the dispatch read: "Will accept all good equipped troops...Let the people of Louisiana understand that here is the place to defend Louisiana."

March 2: The members of 5th Company met and voted to offer their services in defense of Louisiana, for either 90 days or the duration of the War, "in the place that Beauregard tells us it is to be fought".

March 6: The 5th Company - Washington Artillery, newly formed and established with a command structure, was mustered into the service of the Confederate States of America.

March 7: The 156 rank and file members of the 5th Company attended a divine service in the First Presbyterian Church on Lafayette Square in preparation for their departure.

March 8: Outfitted with six guns (two six-pounders - 3.67 caliber; two six-pounder rifles - 3.25 caliber; and two 12-pounder howitzers - 4.62 caliber, the howitzers having been captured by the Americans in the Mexican War), the 5th Company left for Grand Junction, Tennessee. Except for horses and part of its ammunition, the 5th Company was completely furnished with camp and garrison equipment, and all at its own expense. They were supplied with 10 mules and 81 battery horses. The 5th Company bore the Confederacy’s battle flag, copied from one of the three made as patterns by the ladies of Richmond from their silk dresses.

March 10: After traveling to Grand Junction, Tennessee, 5th Company was outfitted with the final element required: battery horses. Now fully outfitted, they drilled and honed their artillery skills.

April 1: The 5th Company arrived in Corinth, Mississippi where they were assigned to General Patton Anderson’s Brigade of General Daniel Ruggles’ Division, of General Braxton Bragg’s Second Corps of General Albert Sidney Johnston’s Army of the Mississippi. The reason that the 5th Company never joined its sister companies in Virginia may be understood from the observation of a member of another unit in Corinth, who noted upon their arrival:

"Their uniforms were fresh. They sang, joked, and laughed aloud as they cooked their meals at the campfire....They had just left the city and were on the way to Virginia (as I understand) where the other four companies of their battalion were, but were halted at Corinth in order to take part in the coming battle of Shiloh. That fastened them to the Army of Tennessee."

That version of the 5th Company’s service in a different theater of war is in conflict with the more patriotic and romantic, albeit unlikely, version found in the account given by some Washington Artillery veterans in which it was claimed:

"The Washington Artillery was not satisfied with furnishing a quota to the Army of Northern Virginia. Its active members at home determined that it should also be represented in the Army of Tennessee. Accordingly...the Fifth Company was organized...".

April 3: The 5th Company moved from Corinth to Pittsburg Landing (Shiloh) while the Union’s General U.S. Grant’s army was assembling approximately 25 miles north of Corinth at Pittsburg Landing.

April 6: The battle of Shiloh began. Due to a mortal wound, General Johnston was succeeded by General P.G.T. Beauregard during the battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing). The 5th Company began firing at 7:10 AM from a distance of about 50 yards on a tented camp, probably of Sherman’s Division, and silenced one of the Federal batteries. Joining efforts with another Confederate battery, they then silenced a second Federal battery, and following its infantry contingent, fired on another tented camp from which Federal sharpshooters were firing. The 5th Company had three men killed and seven men wounded by Federal sharpshooters in this confrontation.

April 7: The 5th Company occupied several firing positions on the right flank of the Army that morning, and would have been overrun in their position in a wheat field had it not been for the aid rendered by the Crescent Regiment from New Orleans. Several other cannoneers were killed or wounded in that conflict. Having run out of ammunition and most of its horses having been killed, the 5th Company pulled back for re-supply.

Although the 5th Company was ready to return to action, Beauregard ordered them back to Monterey late that evening. The Confederate forces retreated, and a detachment of cannoneers from 5th Company were sent to another battery on a hill on Pea Ridge Road to cover the retreat. There was an engagement at Monterey according to the 1894 Souvenir Yearbook, but no further information on that incident has been found.

April 8: The 5th Company returned to Corinth, Mississippi. Losses from the battle of Shiloh were seven dead, twenty wounded. A total of 703 rounds had been fired. Three caissons, a battery wagon, and a forge had been abandoned on the retreat, although the battery wagon (stripped of all tools by a Texas unit) was later recovered.

May 8: The engagement at Farmington, Mississippi was to begin. By this time, Braxton Bragg had succeeded P.G.T. Beauregard as commander, as Federal General Henry Halleck had succeeded General U.S. Grant at Pittsburg Landing shortly after the battle of Shiloh. On May 8th, the 5th Company went into position at Farmington, Mississippi (which is about 4 1/2 miles northeast of Corinth) as part of Ruggles’ Division in order to stop Halleck’s forces from attacking from that direction. From mid-afternoon until dark on the 8th, the 5th Company fired on enemy troops as they appeared.

May 9: Divided into three sections, the 5th Company supported the Brigades of Ruggles’ Division as they drove back the Federal forces who retreated to Corinth, Mississippi. The engagement concluded at about noon. The 5th Company had one man wounded, and fired almost 80 rounds.

May 29 to 30: The evacuation of Corinth, Mississippi began. Bragg determined that he could no longer defend Corinth from Halleck’s forces, and evacuated the city on the 29th and 30th. The 5th Company, with Anderson’s Brigade in the rear guard, covered the evacuation, and were harassed by Colonel Philip H. Sheridan’s cavalry regiment during their retreat to Clear Creek, Mississippi.

June 5: The Confederate forces, including 5th Company, fell back to Tupelo, Mississippi.

July 23: The 5th Company joined the movement of troops from Tupelo, Mississippi as a strategy to cut the supply lines of the Federal troops in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. By now, the 5th Company was part of General D.W. Adam’s Brigade, and remained so until after the battle of Chickamauga. They traveled through Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama to a point near Chattanooga, Tennessee, where they remained until the last week of August.

August: During the last week of this month, the 5th Company was part of a major troop movement across the Tennessee River through Tennessee and into Kentucky.

September 15: Bragg’s troops reached Munfordville, Kentucky, a town in central Kentucky just northeast of Bowling Green and almost immediately outside what is known today as Mammoth Cave National Park. 4,000 Federal troops repulsed the leading edge of Bragg’s forces, but the remainder of Bragg’s Army arrived in the late afternoon and evening, surrounded the town, and forced the surrender of the Federal troops. The extent of the 5th Company’s participation in the action is unknown today, although Munfordville is listed as one of its engagements.

October 8: The battle of Perryville (Chaplin Hills), Kentucky would take place this date; Perryville is located southwest of Lexington and Frankfort, Kentucky, and west of Berea and Richmond, Kentucky. The 5th Company had marched over 500 miles in 60 days at this point. Adam’s Brigade, of which the 5th Company was a part, was committed to action by about 11:00 AM, and the 5th Company fired from a hill across part of the town. As the Brigade advanced, the 5th Company followed, firing from several positions. General Hardee ordered that Adam’s Brigade withdraw, and the 5th Company then fired from defensive positions until 7:30 that evening. General Adams in his official report said,

"The Washington Artillery...deserve particular notice of praise, and I would especially recommend that they have ‘Perryville’ inscribed on their banner."

Five men were wounded, with a total loss of 24 horses either killed or having run away. The battery fired 758 rounds.

October 9 to December 30: The Confederate forces retreated through Kentucky. They would pass into Tennessee from Kentucky by way of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, which is at the juncture of the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia, and famous because of the old song written about it. They moved through the Tennessee Valley to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and then through Stevenson and Tullahoma to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, which is southeast of Nashville, Tennessee, roughly one-fourth the distance from Nashville to Chattanooga.

December 31 to January 2, 1863: The battle of Murfreesboro (Stone’s River), Tennessee would begin with Braxton Bragg’s forces being attacked by Federal General William Rosecrans’ forces. Adam’s Brigade, part of Breckinridge’s Division of Hardee’s Corps, was sent from the east side of Stone River to the west side where it was to assault a hill from which a Federal battery fired. They were forced back by superior numbers of Federal troops after about an hour’s fighting. The Federals held their position, and Confederate General John C. Breckinridge, native of Kentucky and former Vice President of the United States, was ordered to attack on the east side of the river.

January 2: The 5th Company, with Adam’s Brigade, re-crossed the river to participate in a series of desperate charges which captured the Federal’s position on high ground, but Federal fire from across the river forced them back. The 5th Company losses included two men killed and two men wounded.

January 3: Bragg’s Army began pulling back to Shelbyville, Tennessee that night. Shelbyville is south and slightly west of Murfreesboro, approximately half the distance between Murfreesboro and the Tennessee - Alabama border.

July: Grant’s Army had already moved below Vicksburg, Mississippi where they crossed the river and, in May, had temporarily taken Jackson, Mississippi before marching west to lay siege to Vicksburg. Joseph E. Johnston brought Confederate troops to the Jackson, Mississippi area in an unsuccessful attempt to join General John E. Pemberton before Pemberton was sealed in at Vicksburg. Later, Breckinridge’s Division would join Johnston’s forces, moving from Tennessee through Mobile, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi. Vicksburg having surrendered to Grant on July 4th, the Confederate forces assumed a defensive position at Jackson. Federal General William T. Sherman brought elements of three Federal Corps to lay siege to Jackson.

July 8: The 5th Company set up opposite the Lynch House in Jackson, Mississippi and waited for the Federal troops.

July 9: The battle of Jackson, Mississippi would begin this date. The 5th Company was moved to a new position astride the tracks of the NOJ and GN Railroad on the south side of the city. After taking that position, the 5th Company used a piano from a nearby abandoned house to accompany their singing. Reports indicate that the singing halted only during the firing on July 12th, but the music resumed after the Federal forces had been repelled.

July 11: The 5th Company opened fire on the approaching Federal forces and held them.

July 12: The right flank of Sherman’s forces, Lauman’s Division, made an assault on the 5th Company’s position, but they were repulsed by the 5th Company with heavy losses. This firing continued through July 16th.

July 16: Having fired daily from July 12th into the evening of the 16th, Johnston withdrew the Confederate troops from Jackson, moving eastward. 5th Company losses were six men missing, two horses and a mule killed. They had fired 211 rounds. Johnston authorized the 5th Company to inscribe "Jackson 1863" on their flag soon after this event. Johnston’s army removed itself to Morton, Mississippi, about thirty-two miles east of Jackson.

September: As a result of Bragg’s evacuation of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Breckinridge’s Division (of which the 5th Company was a part) evacuated Morton, Mississippi to join Bragg, passing through Rome, Georgia.

September 18: Breckinridge’s Division, which included the 5th Company, left the area of Pigeon Mountain and moved to the east bank of the Chickamauga River, stopping near Glass’ Mill.

September 19: The battle of Glass’ Mills and Chickamauga began with 5th Company having six officers and one-hundred twenty enlisted men. The unit now had two James rifles which were positioned on a high bluff above Glass’ Mills, and the other four cannons - all twelve-pounder Napoleons at this point - accompanied the infantry across the river. Their initial success was short-lived as the heavier Federal artillery drove them back. Some of the 5th Company’s pieces had been damaged by the Federal’s fire.

September 20: Dawn found the 5th Company five miles north of the previous day’s position. By mid-morning, they had advanced virtually unopposed with Adam’s Brigade to the Chattanooga Road until they could turn 90° to the south to attack down the Chattanooga Road. Numerous exchanges of artillery fire took place which finally allowed Adam’s Brigade to charge the Federal position. The Federals, having superior numbers of artillery and infantry troops, refused the attack of Adam’s Brigade.

A Federal attack on Slocomb’s Battery of the 5th Company at the Glenn Orchard was driven back, and Adam’s Brigade formed around the Battery. Slocomb then reported that the battery was badly "cut up" and in need of rest, so the Battery was ordered to retire. Two hours later, the Battery reported for duty again.

Adam’s Brigade was placed four hundred yards behind General Liddell’s Division which was under artillery fire from the Federal forces, and Adam’s Brigade joined an attack just before dusk which advanced the Confederate line beyond the Chattanooga Road again. The Confederate victory resulted in the Federals withdrawing to Chattanooga.

5th Company losses included the deaths of eleven men, twenty men wounded, and fifteen horses killed. The six pieces fired a total of 562 rounds.

September 27 to November 27: Assigned to Cobb’s Battalion of Artillery of Breckinridge’s Division, commanded by General William Bate, in Hardee’s Corps, the 5th Company was separated from Louisiana infantry units for the first time. By late November, Bragg established a line of entrenchments at the base of and in the area of Missionary Ridge, while Hardee’s Corps manned the upper part of Missionary Ridge and Breckinridge’s Corps held the lower part.

November 25: Bate’s Division was ordered to move from the entrenchments at the base of Missionary Ridge and re-locate to the summit, a task of more than five hours’ work that exhausted both teams and men. Federal troops attacked the Confederate forces at the base of Missionary Ridge, and the 5th Company fired upon them as they began to form together at the base, but distance made their firing all but totally ineffectual. The Union soldiers overran the base positions, continuing up the ridge and forcing the Confederate forces to flee.

The six pieces of the 5th Company were divided into two sections, each firing on advancing infantry while receiving incoming fire from captured Confederate cannons turned on them by Federal troops only a few hundred yards away. Federal infantrymen crossed over the ridge, cutting the supply route so that only one limber chest could finally be brought through to replenish already-low ammunition supplies. A Federal shell struck and destroyed both limber chests of the Napoleons on the right section of the 5th Company. The 5th Company retreated with the four pieces which could still be limbered, but they became mired down on the steep slopes of Missionary Ridge. Unable to get help freeing the pieces from retreating infantrymen, the cannons finally were unlimbered as Federal troops were within forty yards of them, and most of the men and horses escaped capture.

In retreat, the officers and cannoneers of the 5th Company came across several abandoned cannons. Putting them into position, and with support from some infantrymen still in the area, they opened fire on the advancing Federal troops and halted the advance of the Federals on that part of the battlefield.

November 26: Having had to abandon their cannons, the 5th Company moved with the Division trains to Ringgold, Georgia, and then to Dalton, Georgia. In the report of the battle, seven men were listed as missing and wounded, and the 5th Company’s four Napoleons and two James Rifles were listed as captured.

December 17: By this date, the 5th Company reported that it had 118 men with 93 men fit for duty, and had been outfitted with two six-pounders, two twelve-pound howitzers, and about 142 rounds per gun. The 5th Company was now a four-gun battery. Bragg had asked to be relieved of duty as commander of the Army of Tennessee, and had been replaced by General W.J. Hardee; Hardee was then quickly replaced by General Joseph E. Johnston by this date, all of these changes taking place in about a three-week period.

March: By this time in 1864, the 5th Company was in a Corps commanded by Hindman, Hood, or Hardee.

April: A report listed the battery as having four twelve-pounder Napoleons and forty-eight serviceable horses. Cannoneers considered the smoothbore brass Napoleons to be the best all-around gun for firing shell with fuze, solid shot, grape, and canister. Accurate up to a thousand yards, the claim was that "in the hands of Corporal Alex Allain, Charlie Fox, Oscar Legare, or other gunners, we faced many a Parrott rifle in artillery duels with confidence."

April 30: The 5th Company was reported as being in Cobb’s Battalion of Bate’s (formerly Breckinridge’s) Division of Hardee’s Corps of Johnston’s Army of Tennessee.

May 6 to 8: Sherman’s forces assaulted Dalton, Georgia, seeing action at Rocky Face Ridge and Buzzard Roost Gap (Mill Creek Gap). Bate’s Division, being part of the defending forces, almost certainly took part in the defense of these places, and the 5th Company, as part of Bate’s Division, would also have been involved in the fight. However, records were lost during the later retreat from Nashville, so there is a gap in the official record. We do know that three men of the battery were killed in the two-day battle, one by a cannon shot near the wagons and the other by an enemy skirmisher; and eight men were wounded. During this time, sharpshooters began taking a heavy toll of cannoneers, which led to cannoneers experimenting with heavy wooden shields toward the end of the War.

May 25 to June 4: A series of engagements took place in the vicinity of Pumpkin Vine Creek (Dallas and New Hope Church, both near the creek). Three men were killed, two mortally wounded, and two wounded at Dallas, Georgia. No injuries or fatalities were recorded at New Hope Church, but one man was wounded at Golgotha Church. Dallas was later recalled by the men as an artillery duel which resulted in heavy destruction. Johnston shifted east to take positions on Lost, Pine, and Kenesaw Mountains, all of which the railroad passed on the way to Marietta, Georgia. Slocomb’s Battery of the 5th Company was positioned on Pine Mountain.

June 14: One man was killed on Pine Mountain.

June 15: Pulling back to Kenesaw Mountain, five men of the Battery were reported missing.

June 27: Hardee’s Corps was positioned at the center of Johnston’s line when Sherman attacked. The battle of Kenesaw Mountain resulted in the deaths of two more men of Slocomb’s Battery, and seven men were wounded.

July 4 to 9: Johnston pulled back to the south side of Peach Tree Creek at the edge of Atlanta.

July 15: Penned by C.E. McCarty on July 15th, 1864 in Atlanta, Georgia, a song titled "Song of the Fifth" and subtitled "Written for the 5th Company - Washington Artillery" first saw paper. Although it is not known to what tune McCarty put the stirring words of the song, its meter is most appropriate to the melody of "Cheer, Boys, Cheer!"

July 17: Johnston was replaced as commander of the Army of Tennessee with General John B. Hood, a move unpopular with the army.

July 20: Bate’s Division opened the attack on Union General Thomas’ Army of the Cumberland. The Union was able to bring up reinforcements, and the Confederates suffered heavy losses in a series of charges. Slocomb’s Battery had three fatalities with one man wounded. Hood moved the troops back to entrenchments in Atlanta.

July 22: Federal General McPherson’s Army of the Tennessee shifted obliquely to approach Atlanta from the Atlanta-Decatur Road; most of his cavalry had been dispatched to Decatur on a mission. Hood ordered Hardee to march his troops (which included the 5th Company) fifteen miles in order to attack McPherson’s exposed army on its left flank, which they did the night of the 21st. They attacked about mid-day on the 22nd, catching the Federals by surprise. However, nearby Federal reinforcements soon arrived and the attack was ultimately unsuccessful. Estimates as high as twenty-five percent of Hood’s troops were claimed as casualties. The 5th Company reported two men wounded in this fight.

September 2: The Campaign for Atlanta was over, for all intents and purposes, as Federal troops entered the city.

September 18: Hood’s army was encamped in the area of Lovejoy Station, Georgia, while Sherman’s forces occupied the region in and around Atlanta. Hood was to move his army toward Nashville, Tennessee in the hope of being able to sever Sherman’s supply lines. By this point, General Cheatham had succeeded Hardee, making the 5th Company part of Cheatham’s Corps. Hood moved his troops twenty miles west and struck camp at Palmetto.

October 2: Hood’s Army mobilized to attempt to establish a position north of Atlanta across Sherman’s supply line. At the same time, Sherman was moving his headquarters to Kenesaw Mountain. Bate’s Division followed the Army’s northward route along the railroad. Fighting took place at Altoona with skirmishes at other points along the way.

October 13: Bate’s Division left to cut the railroad at Mill Creek Gap (near Dalton, Georgia) as part of the advance guard. Mill Creek Gap was protected by a timber-and-earth blockhouse with four-foot thick walls and a water-filled ditch surrounding it. The 5th Company was ordered to open fire on the blockhouse when the Union occupants refused to surrender. Soon the blockhouse surrendered with twelve of the fifty Union soldiers killed or wounded, and the railroad had been torn up for three miles. The diary of a soldier in another division made note of the fact that the action there lasted two days with considerable artillery fire involved. No record exists of the Washington Artillery’s involvement in that fighting.

November 13: Hood was ordered to continue toward Nashville in the hope that his troops, along General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s, would be able to isolate and defeat Union General Schofield’s army, then in the vicinity of Pulaski, Tennessee. Bate’s Division, as part of Cheatham’s Corps, crossed the Tennessee River at nearby Florence, Alabama on this date, marching through sleet and snow toward Columbia, Tennessee about eighty miles away where they would find almost two Corps of Schofield’s troops.

November 26: Arriving at Columbia, Tennessee on this date, the Confederate Army bivouacked on Shelbyville Road.

November 27 to 28: Light skirmishing took place on the line around Columbia, Tennessee.

November 29: Following Cleburne’s Division, Bate’s Division crossed the Duck River on a pontoon bridge four miles east of Columbia, Tennessee, moving toward Spring Hill, Tennessee. Their intent was to cut off Schofield’s forces as they withdrew from Columbia. Bate’s Division, unlike Cleburne’s, did not participate in any of the sporadic fighting which took place along the way. Schofield’s troops were not blocked, and went on to Franklin, Tennessee.

November 30: Late in the afternoon, Hood’s troops attacked Schofield’s forces in Franklin, Tennessee which were supported by artillery. The Confederates were repulsed, and the Federals pulled back to Nashville, Tennessee that night. Franklin is on the list of engagements in which the Washington Artillery fought, but no record has been found detailing the nature of their participation. One member of the battery was captured at Franklin.

November 31 to December 3: Bate was ordered to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to destroy the railroad there. Arriving at the end point of the Wilkinson Turnpike, seven miles from Murfreesboro, Bate learned that the town was occupied by a large Federal force under the command of General Lovell Rousseau. Reporting his findings, Bate was instructed to continue as ordered, and to expect that Forrest’s cavalry would soon arrive to reinforce him.

December 4: Arriving at the intersection of Overall Creek and Murfreesboro - Nashville Turnpike, over five miles from Murfreesboro, the 5th Company opened fire on a blockhouse built to protect the railroad bridge. Bate’s troops tore up the railroad tracks while the blockhouse was being bombarded.

Federal troops arrived during the afternoon, but were repulsed by fire from the Washington Artillery. Later that afternoon, more Federal troops arrived, this time with artillery as well as more infantry. Union cavalry crossed the creek to the left of Bate’s position and charged the Battery, but were driven back when the battery fired double charges. The official report noted that the "...Battery...acted with conspicuous and effective gallantry." Bate moved his troops back to Stewart’s Creek to prevent the Federals from outflanking them in the night. This action appears in the Washington Artillery records as Overall Creek. One man was killed and three men were wounded.

December 5: The Confederates destroyed the blockhouses at Stewart’s Creek, Read’s Branch, and Smyrna. Forrest arrived with cavalry and infantry and took command of Bate’s Division, moving the entire force to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to attack the Federals.

December 6 to 7: The 5th Company was engaged at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the action being referred to as Second Murfreesboro. On the 7th, the Union Army attacked, pushing back the Confederate forces, resulting in the loss of two cannons from Slocomb’s Battery because the horses were killed, stranding the pieces. The Battery reported one man killed, one man wounded, and one man captured.

December 8: Bate’s Division rejoined the Army of Tennessee at Nashville, Tennessee, returning to Cheatham’s Corps.

December 15: Having sustained heavy losses at Franklin, Hood’s Army of Tennessee was depleted physically and materially. Hood’s troops assumed a defensive posture. The morning of the 15th, Union General Thomas attacked Hood’s left where Cheatham’s Corps was located. Late that evening, Bate was to move his Division to the left. Forming a line of battle with his right on the Franklin Turnpike, Bate realized that the firing had fallen off as the night progressed; his Division moved further left to Sky’s Hill. The terrain prevented the Confederate artillery batteries, except for two howitzers, from accompanying Bate to the new position.

December 16: All morning, Federal artillery batteries pounded the Confederate position. By afternoon, the Union troops were in position to the rear of Bate’s line, so Bate ordered the artillery to shift to the right of the Franklin Turnpike, the only line of retreat still open. Federal artillery fire drove out Bate by a rear attack, the scattered forces joining the retreat in progress on the Franklin Turnpike. The 5th Company apparently had only two pieces during the battle. Some accounts indicate that the Battery, unable to pull the pieces through the miry clay fields of Tennessee, spiked the guns and left them on the field. They began their retreat to Corinth, Mississippi by way of Pulaski, Tennessee.

December 25: Crossing the Tennessee River on Christmas Day, the Battery reported their numbers as including "forty-five bareheaded and half-clad men." By war’s end, the bright brass uniforms buttons would have to be replaced with crudely hand-carved buttons made by the men themselves, men who were "bareheaded and half-clad". Quite a contrast to the description of the 5th Company on April 1, 1862, when "[t]heir uniforms were fresh," and from the day in 1861 when President Jefferson Davis would say of the Washington Artillery, "Don’t they look like little game-cocks?".

January 1: The 5th Company arrived at Corinth, Mississippi.

January 19: The remnants of the Army of Tennessee arrived in Tupelo, Mississippi.

January 22: Hood is relieved of command at his request.

February 2: The 5th Company is stationed at Columbus, Mississippi. Confederate General Maury in a report on about the same date reported that two-hundred ninety Army of Tennessee artillerists without guns and stationed at Columbus were being sent to Mobile to man the heavy guns. This included the 5th Company, who would initially be assigned to Battery No. 6 of the Mobile coastal defenses.

February 25: General Joseph E. Johnston is again placed in command of the Army of Tennessee. By early March, the Army of Tennessee would move on to North Carolina.

March 4: The 5th Company while in Mobile, Alabama drafted a letter to General Joseph E. Johnston, then in North Carolina with the Army of Tennessee. Signed by the officers on behalf of the 5th Company, they requested that Johnston equip the 5th Company again as a light artillery battery and summon them to his forces in North Carolina. The reason for the request was given as the men’s preference for the mobility of the light artillery. The War, however, would end before the letter could reach Johnston.

March 10: The 5th Company was in Cobb’s Battalion of Artillery in the Artillery of the Right Wing, Defenses of Mobile and assigned to man heavy guns and Coehorn mortars on the upper east side of Mobile Bay. Their stretch of defense comprehended six redoubts, and the 5th Company was assigned to Redoubt No. 3, which was called Spanish Fort after the site of an old Spanish fort.

March 15: Federal Major Edward Canby began operations to capture Mobile, Alabama.

March 27 to April 9: The Federal forces began massing artillery at a position from which they would batter the Spanish Fort area. During the thirteen days that the Washington Artillery would man this position, the Federal troops moved their covered ditches closer daily, and the artillery pounded the Spanish Fort area almost constantly. Infantry charges were driven back time and time again. Union artillery disabled most of the Confederate artillery in the redoubts. Seeing that the position could no longer be defended, on April 9th the men were ordered to withdraw to Mobile during the night, using a walkway which had been built through the marshes. The 5th Company fired the last shot at Spanish Fort, one of the very last shots to be fired in the War.

Between March 28th and April 5th, 5th Company had two men killed and eleven men wounded.

April 9: The same orders which directed the 5th Company to withdraw also assigned them as a light artillery battery in the Battalion of Major Henry Semple. Supplied with two twelve-pounder Napoleons from the Mobile fortifications and two three-inch rifles and ammunition from the Ordnance Department, they went to nearby Camp Beulah to procure other equipment. Within days they were restored as a field artillery battery, prepared to return to action.

According to another source, the following guns were issued to the 5th Company - Washington Artillery, at Mobile on April 10, 1865, just prior to the evacuation of the city.

3-inch rifle - Skates & Co., Mobile; 1862
12-pounder Napoleon - Macon Arsenal; 1863; No. 34, 1170 lbs.
12-pounder Napoleon - Columbus Arsenal; 1864; No. 39; 1221 lbs.
12-pounder Napoleon - Columbus Arsenal; 1864; No. 31; 1220 lbs.

According to that same source, the last-named cannon still exists and is located today in Middletown, Connecticut.

On this date, Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant.

April: By mid-month, Semple’s troops had evacuated Mobile, Alabama, and headed toward Meridian, Mississippi.

May 8: Early in the month, Semple’s troops (including the 5th Company) were part of General Richard Taylor’s forces. At Meridian, Mississippi, they surrendered to the Union forces. For the sad duty of turning over the guns of the Battery to the Federal Army on May 8th, 1865, Dr. W. I. Bull prepared the following inscriptions for the guns:

Shouldst thou in thy Captor’s cause
Thy old comrades face
Remember then honor’s laws
And burst thy chase.

 

Loaded with shot and shell
I’ve often reaped for death and hell.

Paroled at Meridian Mississippi, only eighty-eight rank and file members of the 5th Company remained. The 5th Company returned to New Orleans on boat transportation provided for them by the Union Army where they were dismissed upon their landing at port.

5th Company - Washington Artillery had been involved in more than forty battles and engagements. One lieutenant and forty-nine men were killed or mortally wounded, with more than one hundred men wounded severely during the course of the War. One-hundred thirty men were present at the time of surrender, with another sixty men absent due to illness, furlough, detail assignments, or because they were being held as prisoners-of-war.

Three-hundred eighty-eight men served with the 5th Company during the War, not including between thirty and forty white and black servants. During the course of its service, the Fifth Company saw duty in Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Georgia where they fired 5,906 rounds of ammunition. The 5th Company traveled 3,285 miles on foot and rode trains for another 2,939 miles during the War.