6th Arkansas Field Battery

The 6th Arkansas Field Battery (1862–1865) was a Confederate Army artillery battery during the American Civil War. Also known as: the Washington Artillery and Etter's Battery. The Washington Artillery spent its entire existence in the Department of the Trans-Mississippi, serving in Arkansas and Louisiana.

Organization After the Battle of Pea Ridge, General Earl Van Dorn was ordered to move his Army of the West across the Mississippi River and cooperate with Confederate forces in Northern Mississippi. Van Dorn stripped the state of military hardware of all types, including almost all the serviceable artillery. When General Thomas C. Hindman arrived on May 31, 1862, to assume command of the new Trans-Mississippi District, he found almost no organized troops to command. He quickly began organizing new regiments, but his most pressing need was for arms for the new forces he was organizing, including the artillery. With Hindman's first order, dated May 31, 1862, at Little Rock, he announced his staff, including the appointment of Major Francis A. Shoup, Chief of Artillery.Howerton, Bryan R. "Hindman's First Order", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, posted 21 August 2004, Accessed 15 December 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/arch_config.pl?read=8219 Shoup had served as chief of artillery under General William J. Hardee during the Battle of Shiloh. Hindman was almost totally destitute of military quality weapons and could hardly arm or issue ammunition to the few troops that he had in June 1862. Until shipments of arms reached Arkansas in July and August 1862, General Hindman struggled to arm his conscripts.Taylor, Doyle, "Re: Arms availability in the Trans-Mississippi", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 31 January 2004, Accessed 15 December 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/arch_config.pl?read=6467 When General Hindman discovered that Brigadier General Albert Pike, commanding the Indian Territory, had ten Parrott Guns located at Fort Washita which could not be used for lack of limbers and harnesses, he dispatched a detachment of the 24th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, under Captain L. P. Dodge to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) to bring the artillery to Camp White Sulphur Springs, near Pine Bluff.Edward, "Re: Artillery Transfers" Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 16 May 2004, Accessed 17 December 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/arch_config.pl?read=7391

The Washington Artillery was organized at Washington, Hempstead County, Arkansas, on June 14, 1862, by Captain Chambers Brady Etter. Chambers had previously served in the Hempstead Rifles, a volunteer militia company from the 8th Regiment of Arkansas Militia which became Company B, 3rd Regiment, Arkansas State Troops. Apparently some effort was made to provide the battery with conscripts from Hempstead County, but these men had already been assigned to Colonel Grinstead's 33rd Arkansas Infantry Regiment. General Hindman directed the enrolling agents from surrounding counties to turn over sufficient numbers of conscripts to bring Etter's battery up to 150 men.Copybook of Letters and Orders from Thomas Hindman's command, 1 June - 12 Dec. 1862, Page, 67, Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Library, Missouri State Archives, The State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed 2 January 2014, http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/page_text.php?CISOROOT=/mack&CISOPTR=10358&CISOBOX=1&OBJ=10681&ITEM=100

The records of the Washington Artillery are highly fragmentary. One muster roll survives, dated January 7, 1863, "in Camp at Little Rock," when the battery was stationed on the grounds of St. John's College. This roll probably only lists a third of the men who actually served with the Washington Artillery during the war. From other sources, such as prisoner-of-war records, pension applications, and postwar reminiscences, an expanded, but certainly a non-authoritative roster of most of the men has been developed. The battery was later designated as the 6th Arkansas Field Battery.

Service

The unit took an active part in the conflicts at Helena, Bayou Fourche, Sabine Cross Roads, and Pleasant Hill. It was assigned to W. R. Bradfute's, R. G. Shaver's, and Fagan's Brigade, and later W. D. Blocher's Battalion of Artillery, Trans-Mississippi Department. On July 1, 1862, General Hindman ordered the new unit to move immediately to Little Rock,Copybook of Letters and Orders from Thomas Hindman's command, 1 June - 12 Dec. 1862, Page, 58, Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Library, Missouri State Archives, The State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed 7 June 2013, http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fmack&CISOPTR=10681&REC=2&CISOBOX=Etter but apparently upon learning that the battery was still unarmed, he sent an order to Captain L. P. Dodge which stated:

On July 25, 1862 General Hindman send an order to Captain Etter directing him to assign a Lieutenant to duty as acting Assistant Quarter Master and Act'g ACS to purchase supplies at fair prices. Hindman informed Etter that it was too late assign conscripts from Hempstead County to Etter's battery because these men had already been assigned to Col Grindstead's command. Hindman directed the enrolling officer of any adjacent county to turn over a sufficient number of conscripts to raise Etter organization to 150 men.Copybook of Letters and Orders from Thomas Hindman's command, 1 June - 12 Dec. 1862, Page, 108, Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Library, Missouri State Archives, The State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed 7 June 2013, http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fmack&CISOPTR=10681&REC=2&CISOBOX=Etter

At the end of September 1862, several orders were issued by General Hindman regarding a movement of Etter's Battery, along with other forces northward to counter and expected Federal push into Northwest Arkansas. On September 9, 1862, Hindman inquired of the telegraph operator at Arkadelphia "Has Etter's battery from Washington passed you yet–has Speight's regt passed, has Waterhouse's Tex regt reached there yet?" On September 28, Hindman issued Special Order #39 which directed Etter's Ark battery to move at once to Elkhorn, and report to Brigadier Gen J. S. Rains. On September 30, 1862 General Hindman directed the telegraph operator at Rockport "If Col Speight has arrived tell him to hasten forward with his reg't to this place asap When Etter's btry arrives give him same instructions."Copybook of Telegraphic Dispatches from Thomas Hindman's command, 2 June - 9 Oct. 1862, Page, 318, Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Library, Missouri State Archives, The State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed 1 January 2014, http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/page_text.php?CISOROOT=/mack&CISOPTR=11166&CISOBOX=1&OBJ=11175&ITEM=632

Whether Etter was able to respond to General Hindman's repeated urgings to move the front is unclear because on October 6, 1862, Etter was ordered to turn over all of his current guns to Col John Dunnington, Chief of the Ordnance Department at the Little Rock Arsenal. Dunnington was ordered to furnish Etter with a new battery.Copybook of Letters and Orders from Thomas Hindman's command, 1 June – 12 Dec. 1862, Page, 206, Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Library, Missouri State Archives, The State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed 7 June 2013, http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fmack&CISOPTR=10681&REC=2&CISOBOX=Etter The reason for this reorganization is unclear, but it apparently led to the battery missing the Prairie Gove Campaign. The organization of the 1st Corps as given in General Hindman's Special Order No. 51 dated 24 November 1862 shows Etter's Battery assigned to Bradfute's Brigade of four regiments of Texas dismounted cavalry,Copybook of Special Orders from Thomas Hindman's Command, 01 Jun. – 18 Dec. 1862., Page, 124, Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Missouri State Library, Missouri State Archives, The State Historical Society of Missouri, accessed 7 June 2013, http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/page_text.php?CISOROOT=/mack&CISOPTR=9555&CISOBOX=1&OBJ=9578&ITEM=188 but the after action reports of the Battle of Prairie Gove do not list Etter's Battery as having participated.Shea, William. Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2009. .

An examination of the CSR's for the men of Etter's Battery shows a company return for December 1862. Cards for various members of the battery indicate that they were at Little Rock from October to December 1862 (and probably into January 1863). Of the approximately seventy men listed in the battery, the December return shows twelve were either sick or had died, another five had deserted and four were assigned to wagon driving duties. During the same period of time the battery had received only two new enlistments. Additionally, a card for Lt. John C. Arnett states that he left the company on the December 4, 1862, on recruiting duty. Take together, these circumstances may indicate that the unit was struggling to have enough men to man the guns and that this was the reason the battery was left behind for the Prairie Grove campaign.

When General Holmes reported on the organization of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi on December 12, 1862, five days after the Battle of Prairie Grove, he listed Etter's Battery as belonging to Bradfute's Brigade of dismounted Texas Cavalry, of Brigadier General Roan's Division of Major General Hindman's First Corps.United States. War Dept. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 22, In Two Parts. Part 1, Reports., Book, 1888; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth154600/m1/906/?q=west's arkansas battery : accessed January 14, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries, Denton, Texas. On January 24, 1863, General Hindman directed Colonel David Providence, Cief of Artillery to establish a camp of instruction for all the Artillery of Hindman's division. The batteries were to be thoroughly equipped, drilled, and disciplined. General Hindman also directed that Etter's Battery be assigned to Colonel Robert G. Shaver's Brigade.Missouri Digital Heritage Hosted Collections, Copybook of Orders and Letters from Thomas Hindman's Command, 2 Jan. - 4 Mar. 1863, Community and Conflict - the Impact of the Civil War in the Ozarks, Accessed 31 December 2013 http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/page_text.php?CISOROOT=/mack&CISOPTR=10165&CISOBOX=1&OBJ=10254&ITEM=112

The battery spent the spring and early summer of 1863 in an artillery camp with the other batteries of Major W. E. Woodruff's artillery battalion near St. John's College in Little Rock. Woodruff was assigned as the Chief of Artillery to Major General D. M. Frost's Division. Woodruff's Artillery Battalion at this time was composed of Etter's Battery, Marshall's Battery, and Blocher's Arkansas Batteries and Tildent and Ruffner's Missouri Batteries and Edgar's Texas Battery. This spring encampment was the only time during the war that Woodruff's Battalion was able to actually practice the artillery drill as a battalion, since the units most usually fought as independent batteries or even sections.