Artillery played a decisive role in many Civil War battles, including Parker's Crossroads, and manning and equipping a six-gun battery required about 150 men, 110 horses and mules, and hundreds of pieces of equipment. A captain commanded the battery, with four lieutenants, two staff sergeants, five mechanics, two blacksmiths, two buglers, and a standard bearer, while each gun had a gunner, usually a sergeant, seven artillerists, and at least two horseholders, and nearly 70 drivers handled the teams that pulled the caissons, limbers, supply wagons, and traveling forge. A full battery consisted of six guns, though four-gun batteries were also common, especially in the Confederacy, and common field pieces included the 3-inch ordnance rifle, the 10-pounder Parrott field rifle, the 12-pounder Napoleon, and earlier in the war the 6-pounder bronze field gun and 12-pounder howitzer. The Parrotts and 3-inch ordnance rifles had ranges of more than one mile, while the smoothbore Napoleon had a shorter range of .92 mile but was more effective with canister. On the march, each gun was attached to a limber carrying ammunition, primers, fuses, a tar bucket, canvas water buckets, and a tarpaulin, and each gun had at least two caissons carrying more ammunition chests, axes, and a spare wheel and pole. A battery depended on its horses, with four- or six-horse teams needed to pull each caisson, each gun and limber, the battery wagon, the forge, and additional wagons, while officers also rode horses and horse artillery artillerists did as well, making spare horses essential. Without horses, the guns were immobile, and both the animals and the guns became targets in combat. The battery wagon carried more than 125 kinds of supplies and tools needed to keep the battery in working order, including oil, paint, spokes, gunners' tools, harness, spades, scythes, picks, and carriage makers' and saddlers' tools, while the traveling forge carried smiths' tools, spare hardware, nails, and 200 pounds of horseshoes, and extra wagons might carry fodder and other supplies.

Photo: Shane Oliver

Photo: Shane Oliver

Parker's Crossroads, Tennessee · USA