The Cadet Battery

In 1848, the foundry of Cyrus Alger in Boston, Massachusetts, cast the specially designed V.M.I. Cadet Battery, smooth-bore six-pounder cannon and howitzers made lighter than standard guns, with each tube weighing 562 pounds and bearing the seal of Virginia. The Adjutant General of Virginia requested red-painted carriages with black metal parts so the public would instantly recognize them on parade, and cadets took special pride in the distinctive battery. Received at V.M.I. early in June 1848, the guns were used by Major Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, who came to V.M.I. on August 13, 1851, as professor of natural and experimental philosophy and instructor in artillery, to train hundreds of cadets for ten years before the Civil War. The battery originally consisted of two twelve-pounder howitzers and four six-pound tubes, though one howitzer was lost during the war. Issued to the Rockbridge Artillery, the Richmond Howitzers, and other units at the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, the guns saw action at Falling Waters (Hainesville), where on July 2, 1861, they fired the first hostile cannon-shot in the Valley, and later at First Manassas, Ball's Bluff, the Peninsula, Williamsburg, Savage's Station, Malvern Hill, and Savage Station. Superseded by heavier guns, they were retired and later taken to Richmond, where they were captured when Richmond fell, then returned in 1874 to V.M.I. and used again until official retirement ceremonies on May 10, 1913, with brief service in training men during World War I. Many former V.M.I. cadets were at Chancellorsville when Jackson, by then Lieutenant General "Stonewall" Jackson, was mortally wounded on May 2, 1863, and died eight days later; on that morning, seeing so many military leaders he had trained, he said, "The (Virginia Military) Institute will be heard from today." In 2000, restoration of the V.M.I. Cadet Battery was made possible by the support of Mr. Jeff Shaara.

Lexington, Virginia · United States