BTC Notes: The 1st and 2nd Rockbridge Artillery

Note: The BTC Notes series serves as a way to gather important information about a given source on the Siege of Petersburg like a book, article, essay, map, etc.

Subject: The 1st and 2nd Rockbridge Artillery by Robert J. Driver, Jr.

Important Points:

1st Rockbridge Artillery

• The battery had 4 x 20-lb. Parrott Rifles by mid-June 1863.¹
• The battery lost its 4 x 20-lb. Parrott Rifles at First Deep Bottom on July 27, 1864.²
• The battery was rearmed on July 28, 1864 with 2 x 10-lb. Parrott Rifles and 2 x 3-inch Rifles.³
• The battery was armed with 4 x 10-lb. Parrotts on September 30, 1864.  No mention is made of when this change occurred.⁴
• Forced to leave two of four guns with the Otey VA Artillery on night of April 2/3, 1865.  Did not specifically state which guns or if the four guns were the same or different tube types.⁵
• Sometime after the Battle of Cumberland Church the battery picked up 1 spiked 3-inch Ordnance Rifle on the road to Appomattox. ⁶
• Captain Archibald Graham was present and in command of the battery at the Battle of Cumberland Church on April 7 and at the surrender on April 9, 1865.⁷
• A member of the battery mentioned in a letter on June 24, 1864 that the captain agreed with him on the foolishness of their position at that time.  Archibald Graham was the only captain of the battery in 1864-65, so he must have been present on or near that date. ⁸
• It is inferred in the text that Captain Archibald Graham was present on July 31, 1864.⁹
• A member of the battery in a letter or diary entry mentions the captain (Archibald Graham) being present on August 23, 1864.¹⁰
• Archibald Graham’s roster entry indicates he was sick in the hospital at least June 12-24, 1864.  He was consistently present from July-December 1864 and surrendered his company at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.¹¹

2^nd Rockbridge Artillery

• All guns of the battery were lost at Bristoe Station in the fall of 1863.¹²
• After the Bristoe Campaign, the 2^nd Rockbridge Artillery was assigned only one 24-lb. Howitzer, the battery having too few men to man the standard number of 4 to 6 guns. As of May 4, 1864, the battery still had the same single gun.¹³
• Captain William K. Donald was wounded in the foot on May 6, 1864 in the Wilderness.¹⁴
• The 24-lb. Howitzer was used as a mortar in the Battle of Cold Harbor on June 3, 1864.  No mention is made of other guns.¹⁵
• A September 30, 1864 inspection report showed the 2^nd Rockbridge Artillery with 3 x 24-lb. Howitzers and  1 x 8-inch Howitzer .¹⁶
• Lieutenant Samuel Wallace was killed leading the battery on April 2, 1865. He had been in command since January 1865.¹⁷
• Lieutenant William Thomas Wilson commanded the remnants of the battery during the Appomattox Campaign.¹⁸
• The 2^nd Rockbridge Artillery had two guns during the Appomattox Campaign. Exact tube types not specified.  More research is needed.¹⁹

Sources: