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Lunenburg Rebel Virginia Artillery (Allen’s VA Battery)

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Note: Served as heavy artillery in 1864-65.

Muster In: Organized in Lunenburg County on January 25, 1862.1
Muster Out: April 9, 18652

Commander(s):
Captain Cornelius Tacitus Allen
Commander Image

Lieutenant Jugurtha A. Laffoon
Commander Image

Commander 3
Commander Image

First Offensive Order of Battle: Chaffin’s Bluff | Department of Richmond | Confederate Army3

  • Commander: Captain Cornelius Tacitus Allen4
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Second Offensive Order of Battle: Chaffin’s Bluff | Department of Richmond | Confederate Army5

  • Commander: Captain Cornelius Tacitus Allen6
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Third Offensive Order of Battle: Chaffin’s Bluff | Artillery Defenses | Department of Richmond | Confederate Army7

  • Commander: Captain C. Tacitus Allen 8
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Fourth Offensive Order of Battle: Chaffin’s Bluff | Artillery Defenses | Department of Richmond | Confederate Army9

  • Commander: Captain C. Tacitus Allen10
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Fifth Offensive Order of Battle: Chaffin’s Bluff Battalion | Artillery Defenses | Department of Richmond | Confederate Army11,12

  • Commander:
    • Captain C. Tacitus Allen (wounded September 29, 1864)13,14
    • Lieutenant Jugurtha A. Laffoon (while Allen commanded the Battalion and after Allen’s wounding)15
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons: 1 x 24 lb rifle, 1 x (12 lb?) Howitzer, 2 x 6 lb guns (Seotember 29, 1864)(in a fort or assigned to the battery?)16

Sixth Offensive Order of Battle: Chaffin’s Bluff Battalion | Artillery Defenses | Department of Richmond | Confederate Army17

  • Commander:
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Seventh Offensive Order of Battle: Chaffin’s Bluff Battalion | Artillery Defenses | Department of Richmond | Confederate Army18,19

  • Commander:
    • None listed. (November 1864)20
    • Lieutenant Jugurtha A. Laffoon (December 1864)21
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons: 4 x “heavy guns” (December 30, 1864)22

Eighth Offensive Order of Battle: Chaffin’s Bluff Battalion | Artillery Defenses | Department of Richmond | Confederate Army23,24

  • Commander:
    • Captain Cornelius Tacitus Allen (January & February 1865)25,26,27
    • Lieutenant Jugurtha A. Laffoon (January 1865)28
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:
  • Note: This unit was temporarily attached to Custis Lee’s Division, starting January 9, in January 1865.29

Ninth Offensive Order of Battle: Chaffin’s Bluff Battalion | Artillery Defenses | Department of Richmond | Confederate Army30,31

  • Commander: Captain Cornelius Tacitus Allen (March & April 1-2, 1865)32,33,34
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Dyer’s/Sifakis’ Compendium Info:
Siege of Petersburg Battles35:

  • Petersburg Siege (June 1864-April 1865)
  • Fort Harrison (September 29, 1864)
  • Chaffin’s Farm (September 29, 1864)
  • Fort Gilmer (September 29-30, 1864)
  • Sayler’s Creek (April 6, 1865)
  • Appomattox Court House (April 9, 1865)

Bibliography:

    Siege of Petersburg Documents Which Mention This Unit:

    Sources:

    1. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 48 ↩
    2. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 48 ↩
    3. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., p. 117 ↩
    4. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., p. 117: Sibley indicates Allen’s compiled service record shows him as commanding the battery in June 1864.  More research is needed. ↩
    5. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., p. 117 ↩
    6. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., p. 117: Sibley indicates Allen’s compiled service record shows him as commanding the battery in June 1864.  More research is needed. ↩
    7. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 127 ↩
    8. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 127 ↩
    9. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 136 ↩
    10. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 136 ↩
    11. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 145 ↩
    12. Sommers, Richard J. “Grant’s Fifth Offensive at Petersburg: A Study in Strategy, Tactics, and Generalship.  The Battle of Poplar Spring Church, the First Battle of the Darbytown Road, the Second Battle of the Squirrel Level Road, the Second Battle of the Darbytown Road (Ulysses S. Grant, Virginia).” Doctoral Thesis. Rice University, 1970. Print. p. 1315. ↩
    13. Allen, C. T. “Fight at Chaffin’s Farm, Or Fort Harrison.” Confederate Veteran, Volume 13, Number 9, p. 418: “It was on September 29, 1864, and I commanded the ‘little battery’ just in rear of the bluff (Chaffin’s Bluff, just one mile below Drewry’s Bluff, he means). I can’t be mistaken about these things. I was wounded about eight o’clock in the morning by three Minie balls, one breaking my right hand, another slightly cutting my left arm, and a third one just touching the 24 pound siege piece, which I was sighting at the time, and, glancing, striking me on the left breast and partly burying itself therein. I have that ball now pinned to my old and faded coat, and will keep it as a souvenir of the ‘long ago.'” ↩
    14. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 145 ↩
    15. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 145 ↩
    16. Allen, C. T. “Fight at Chaffin’s Farm, Or Fort Harrison.” Confederate Veteran, Volume 13, Number 9, p. 418: “I had a 24 pound rifle piece, one brass howitzer, and two 6 pound field pieces.” ↩
    17. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 153 ↩
    18. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 161 ↩
    19. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 170 ↩
    20. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 161 ↩
    21. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 170 ↩
    22. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 48: Specific gun tube types are not listed.  More research is needed. ↩
    23. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 179 ↩
    24. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 188 ↩
    25. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 179 ↩
    26. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 188 ↩
    27. Allen, C. T. “Fight at Chaffin’s Farm, Or Fort Harrison.” Confederate Veteran, Volume 13, Number 9, p. 418: “My wounds healed, and in January, 1865, I returned to Chaffin’s Bluff, and remained in command of the Iron Battery until Richmond was evacuated, April 2, 1865″ ↩
    28. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 179 ↩
    29. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 178 ↩
    30. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 197 ↩
    31. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 206 ↩
    32. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 197 ↩
    33. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 206 ↩
    34. Allen, C. T. “Fight at Chaffin’s Farm, Or Fort Harrison.” Confederate Veteran, Volume 13, Number 9, p. 418: “My wounds healed, and in January, 1865, I returned to Chaffin’s Bluff, and remained in command of the Iron Battery until Richmond was evacuated, April 2, 1865″ ↩
    35. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, p. 48 ↩

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