Morton's Battery

Morton's Battery was formed at Dresden, Tennessee, on December 27, 1862, when two mountain howitzers from Napier's Battalion under Lieutenant A.W. Gould were consolidated with guns in the possession of Lieutenant John W. Morton Jr., creating a battery under Captain John W. Morton Jr. with Gould as 1st Lieutenant and T. Sanders Sale as 2nd Lieutenant, and a strength of sixty-three non-commissioned officers and men. Its origins lay in the capture of Porter's Battery at Fort Donelson and the imprisonment of its men at Johnson Island, Ohio, after which Morton and ten of his men were assigned to General Nathan Bedford Forrest's artillery, where Captain Samuel L. Freeman, who knew Morton personally, loaned him two cannon and enough men for Forrest's West Tennessee Raid in December 1862. On December 18, 1862, Forrest's command captured two three-inch steel-rifled Rodman guns from the 14th Indiana Battery, and these were placed in Morton's possession, becoming the famous bull pups of Forrest's artillery, while three other cannon were also captured during the raid. Morton's Battery fought near here on December 31, 1862, in the Battle of Parker's Crossroads, Tennessee, with two mountain howitzers and two three-inch steel-rifled cannon. During the battle the artillery was placed at close range and ordered by Forrest to Give 'em Hell; one Confederate gun exploded, and as U.S. forces were surrendering, Forrest's command was surprised by Colonel John W. Fuller's brigade under Brigadier General Jeremiah Sullivan. Forrest extracted most of his command, and except for the exploded gun all Confederate artillery, including the bull pups, was safely removed, though the three captured pieces were left behind because their horses had been killed and there was no time to replace them. Eighteen members of Morton's Battery were captured along with three hundred cavalrymen, and Forrest commended Captain Freeman, Lieutenant Morton, and their men for maintaining constant fire despite efforts to silence them; after Freeman's death on April 10, 1863, Morton later became Forrest's Chief of Artillery.

Parker's Crossroads, Tennessee · United States