In early March, 1862, Captain George Gaston Otey, adjutant of the
1ST Virginia Infantry, was given the assignment of organizing a new battery of light artillery. The recruits for
this unit were from Richmond’s upper and middle classes, as well as transfers from other units. Some native born Yankees
from Pennsylvania and Maryland also joined the mix. Captain Otey and the battery were held in such high esteem that men who
had served in other units as officers and NCO’s joined the battery as privates.
The service record of the battery for the next three years would bear
out this high reputation , making it one of the Confederate Army’s premier, and highly respected, artillery units.
Upon its activation the battery was ordered to Western Virginia for
service. The situation in the region west of the Blue Ridge was desperate for the Confederacy and good troops were sorely
needed. The need was so dire that General Henry Heth, commander of the Dept. of Western Virginia, ordered Captain Otey to
report immediately with his men and that guns were waiting for him on his arrival. The battery became part of a battalion
commanded by Major John Floyd King. The battery’s association with King would continue on and off for the remainder
of the war.
From 1862 until the Spring of 1864 the battery was engaged in numerous
operations in Western Virginia and East Tennessee.
The battery saw its first action at the Battle of Giles Court House,
Virginia on May 10, 1862. At Lewisburg, West Virginia on May 23, 1862 it lost its commander, Captain Otey, who was mortally
wounded. Lt. David Norvell Walker assumed command of the unit, a position he would hold for the remainder of the war.
In September, 1862 the battery was placed in a battalion of artillery
commanded by Major John Floyd King.
The Battalion consisted of :
1864 would also bring new challenges to the Otey Battery and the battalion.
They would be placed in a theater of war which would test their mettle to a far greater extent than before.
In February, 1864 command of the battalion would pass to Major William M. Owen
of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans. King would return to command in April, but only for a brief time.
In early May, 1864, after two years serving in the mountainous regions
of Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee, Col. King was ordered to split his battalion and report, with two of his batteries,
to the command of Brig. Gen. E. Porter Alexander. He chose Otey’s and Lowery’s Batteries to accompany him. However
this plan did not come to fruition. Lowery’s Battery was assigned to a battalion commanded by King, and then , Major
William McLaughlin, in the Valley District. Otey’s Battery continued on to join Alexander. Command of the battalion
passed to Major Wade Hampton Gibbes of South Carolina.
The Ringold Battery was delayed at Dublin Depot and would take part
in the Battle of Cloyd’s Mountain on May 9, 1864. Later, Davidson’s Battery at Abingdon, Virginia and the Ringold
Battery would head East to join Otey’s Battery in Longstreet’s 1ST Corps. All would take part in the
bloody Overland Campaign. As part of Breckinridge’s Division Otey’s Battery would see action at North Anna and
Totopotomoy Creek. After being reunited with the Ringold and Davidson’s Batteries in late May, Otey’s Battery
took part in the bloody fighting at Cold Harbor.
**(When the 13th Battalion was ordered to join Alexander's
artillery, it was to replace the famed Washington Artillery of New Orleans, which had been transferred from the 1st Corps.)
After Cold Harbor, from June, 1864 through April, 1865 the battery,
armed with four[4] 12 pounder Napoleon guns, was involved in the deadly siege of Petersburg. The battery also served
three[3] 24 pounder Coehorn Mortars. At the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864 the 13th Virginia Light Artillery Battalion
was positioned in the line to the right of where the crater, created by the explosion of a mine planted by the 48th Pennsylvania
Infantry, was located. Davidson’s Battery was positioned immediately to the right of the crater with Otey’s Battery
next in line. At the explosion, Davidson’s gunners, stunned, frightened and confused by the blast, abandoned their guns.
Major Gibbes sent the men of the Otey Battery to man the guns abandoned by Davidson’s men. From their position they
fired directly into the large pit made by the Yankee mine, performing lethal execution on the Federal troops trapped there.
Throughout the fight the men of the Otey Battery fought with tenacity and distinction. One of the Otey gunners stated that
the crews “fired a
wagon load of shells into the crater”. Not one of their gun positions was disabled by Federal fire.
Major Gibbes was seriously wounded in the fighting at The Crater. Command of the battalion once
again fell to Major William M. Owen. He would hold the position until April, 1865. At that time Captain David N. Walker, commander
of the Otey Battery, would assume command of the battalion, its final commander.
Life in the trenches was still perilous after the Battle of the Crater.
Otey’s Battery still lost men to enemy action. Illness decreased the ranks further as the trenches were not a healthy
place. In early August Capt. G.B. Davidson of Davidson’s battery resigned and command of the battery went to Lt. John
H. Chamberlayne.
On October 27, 1864, while the two armies were engaged in heavy fighting at Burgess's Mill 8
miles southwest of Petersburg, enemy forces attempted an incursion into the Confederate line in the 13th Bn.'s sector. Artillery
commander E. Porter Alexander ordered heavy fire to be brought down on the attackers. The 3 Coehorn mortars of the Otey Battery
alone fired 130 shells!
In October, 1864 the 13TH Battalion was transferred from Longstreet's
1ST Corps to A.P. Hill’s 3RD Corps. With the exception of brief detachments to John B. Gordon's
2nd Corps in February, 1865, they served with the 3rd Corps through the Appomattox Campaign.
The winter of 1864-65 brought hardship due to cold and hunger for the battery, but they moved
about the defenses around Petersburg repelling Union incursions.
On February 5, 1865, temporarily attached to Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon's 2nd Corps,
the battery took part in the Battle of Hatcher's Run.
In late March, 1865 the 13th battalion was sent to Fort Gregg in the outer rim of defenses.
With the Confederate defeat at Five Forks on April 1, Lee knew he would have to evacuate his
lines at Petersburg. The defenders at Fort Gregg were to buy time for the Army of Northern Virginia to make its escape.
At noon on April 1, the Federal XXIV Corps attacked Fort Gregg causing heavy casualties
among the defenders, but the stand of the gallant Confederates bought the precious time Lee needed to get his army out and
to safety. Those of the 13th Bn who survived the action at Fort Gregg headed west across the Appomattox River, to join in
the retreat of the army which began on April 2.
The Army of Northern Virginia retreated from the trenches in
the evening of April 2, 1865. The now small battalion,
consisting of Otey’s Battery and Dickinson’s Ringold Battery, under the command of Captain David N. Walker, became
part of Brig. Gen. R. Lindsay Walker’s artillery column. So as not to hamper the movement of the rest of the army Walker’s
artillery moved out ahead of Lee’s main force. Chamberlayne’s(formerly Davidson’s) Battery had been transferred
to McIntosh’s Artillery Battalion.
On April 5, at Amelia Court House, the artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia was reorganized.
The Otey and Ringold Batteries, along with numerous other artillery companies, were divested of their
artillery pieces and rearmed with Enfield rifled muskets. Thereafter they served as an ad hoc infantry battalion.
Otey’s Battery fought their last action at Appomattox Station,
Virginia on April 8, 1865 against George Armstrong Custer’s Yankee Cavalry. The 13TH Battlion
of Virginia Light Artillery, of which the Otey and Ringold Batteries were the only two batteries left, were Gen. Walker's
pickets and skirmish line. Repeating the gallant service they had rendered at Fort Gregg, the battalion was
instrumental in holding back the Federals, preventing them from closing with Lee's main body thereby eluding a total
disaster. During the fight, Walker's Reserve Artillery also opened up on the Federals. The men of the Otey and Ringold Batteries
were caught in a vicious crossfire between their artillery and that of the Yankees. The battalion was eventually over run
losing many in the process. The Otey Battery lost 1 killed, 1 wounded, and several captured. Those who escaped from
the fight were surrendered the next day along with the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia.
During its three years of service, 203 individuals passed through
the ranks of the battery. Nine men were killed or mortally wounded. Twenty-four were wounded but recovered. Eleven were listed
as missing, and must be presumed as having been killed. If the 11 missing were killed then the battle death toll would actually
be 20. This came to a total of 44 men lost to enemy action. Four members of the battery died of disease. One died in a Federal
prison camp.
As a tribute to the unit’s integrity and an indication of the
battery’s quality, ONLY FIVE members were lost to desertion in its three years of service!! Few units, Confederate or
Union, could boast of such a record!
To further appreciate this outstanding unit the following
book is recommended.
The Otey, Ringold, and Davidson Virginia Artillery by Michael A. Cavanaugh. This book is part of the
Virginia Regimental History Series.
