Union Artillery Batteries

At Blakeley, although Union forces outnumbered the Confederates by better than four to one, they had decidedly less artillery than the fort's defenders. By the final assault on April 9, 1865, about 20 guns were scattered along the Union lines, most brought up from Spanish Fort, with the heaviest concentration in this area along the Federal left flank and manned by crews from Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and New York. The three nearby earthen Union artillery emplacements are among the best-preserved Union artillery positions on the battlefield. Battery G of the 2nd Illinois Light Artillery, commanded by Lt. Perry Wilch, was armed with four 10-lb. Parrott rifles and fought in the assaults on both Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley. Just days before the final assault that resulted in Blakeley's capture, the battery unlimbered its guns at an emplacement a short distance down the trail to the left, and on April 8, 1865, its gunners alone fired over 200 rounds at the Confederate lines. Parrott rifles, named for inventor Robert Parker Parrott, were rifled artillery pieces widely used by both armies during the Civil War, produced in a variety of calibers designated by projectile weight, and the guns of Battery G could fire a shell accurately over 1800 yards. The 17th Ohio Light Artillery also took part in the assaults on Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley and from two positions in this area pounded the Confederate lines. The earthworks here are that unit's second position, with its first approximately 400 yards down the trail behind the emplacement. Commanded by Captain Charles S. Rice, the unit was armed with three 12-lb. Napoleon cannon. The Napoleon, named after Emperor Napoleon III of France, whose forces used it extensively during the Crimean War, was the most popular artillery piece of both Northern and Southern armies during the Civil War and could fire a twelve-pound projectile well over 1,250 yards.

Alabama · United States