History
Fowler's Alabama Battery
 Corporal Phillip Jackson Ellis of Fowler's Alabama Battery. |
Fowler's Alabama Battery began service
in the War Between the States as the Warrior Guards, a militia unit from
Tuscaloosa County that was organized several years before the war. The
Warrior Guards were under the command of Captain R. E. Rodes (later General
Rodes), a graduate of Virginia Military Institute. Associated with
Captain Rodes, as commissioned officers, were William H. Fowler - First
Lieutenant, John J. Harris - Second Lieutenant, and Ben Hardwick - Third
Lieutenant. Upon the passing of the Act of Secession, the Governor of Alabama ordered the Warrior Guards to report to Ft. Morgan, at which time the unit departed for Mobile. They garrisoned the fort for several weeks and, after being relieved by other troops, returned to Tuscaloosa where they were kept in readiness quartered near the water tower. Later, the encampment moved to the bluff just east of the Baptist College and on the north side of Main Street. In the later part of April 1861, the Warrior Guards were ordered to Montgomery and, under the honor guard of the Alabama Corps of Cadets, traveled to the Tuscaloosa wharf area where they boarded the "Cherokee" and traveled to Candy's Landing. They then loaded into wagons for the trip to Newburn where they boarded a train for Selma. After traveling by an Alabama River steamer, they arrived in Montgomery and camped on the fairgrounds. |
It was at this time that the Warrior Guards became the 5th Alabama Infantry, Company H. Colonel John H. Forney swore the unit into the army of the newly formed Confederate States of America. After a brief stay in Pensacola, the regiment was ordered to Richmond and were pressed into service at the First Battle of Manassas where Ed Tarrent of the Warrior Guards became the first Alabama man to be wounded in battle.
In December of 1861, William H. Fowler, now promoted to Captain, and fifty men from the 5th Alabama Company H, requested to form an artillery battery and, with $2000 raised by citizens of Tuscaloosa, was equipped with new uniforms purchased in Virginia. The group then returned to Alabama, recruited one hundred more men, and became Fowler's Battery. The battery remained on duty in Mobile for about a year.
Joining the main Army of Tennessee at Tullahoma in March of 1863, the battery was part of General Edward C. Walthall's Brigade, Polk's Corp, at Chickamauga, and there lost 10 killed, 18 wounded, and 16 horses. At Chickamauga National Military Park, Fowler's Battery's last position in the battle is marked by a battery of 12lb Napoleons located directly behind the visitors center.
| At the
Battle of Missionary Ridge, the
battery had several men wounded. Shortly after this battle,
William H. Fowler was promoted to Major and returned to Alabama to
supervise military records. The battery's leadership was passed to
John Phelan. Placed in General Benjamin F. Cheatham's Division,
during action at Dalton, the battery lost 6 killed and 9 wounded.
On the retreat from Dalton, the guns were served almost daily and
suffered considerably. Moving with General John Bell Hood into Tennessee, the battery was engaged at Franklin and Nashville, losing 8 men in the later battle. At Franklin and Nashville, the battery served with Benjamin F. Cheatham's division under direction of Col. Melancthon Smith as part of Hoxton's Battalion. John Bell Hood's Tennessee campaign virtually wiped out the artillery in the Army of Tennessee, and Fowler's Battery was no exception. The Battery was thereafter stationed in Mobile and saw action in the Spanish Fort/Ft. Blakely Campaign. At the end of the war, the unit surrendered with 130 men. |
 Grave marker of Fowler's Battery member Pvt. Robert E. Baird in the Cemetery at Beauvoir in Biloxi, MS. |
1st Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery
The 1st Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery was mustered into service on December 17, 1861 at Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati, Ohio. The unit moved to Savannah, Tennessee and was engaged in the Battle of Shiloh on April 6thand 7th, 1862. The unit participated in the advance and siege of Corinth, Mississippi. After spending the better part of the summer in Athens, Alabama, the battery moved to Nashville and took part in the siege and capture of that city. Operating in Tennessee, the battery took part in the repulse of Forrest's attack at Edgefield and was active in the battle of Stone's River. The battery took part in the Middle Tennessee Campaign (Tullahoma) and was engaged in the Chickamauga Campaign at both Dug Gap and Chickamauga. Also, in the fall of 1863, the battery took part in the battles of Chattanooga and Mission Ridge. The battery moved to Nashville on December 2, 1863, and was on duty there until August, after which it saw service at Fort Donelson and Spring Hill. They were ordered to join the army in the field and took part in Rousseau's pursuit of Wheeler. The battery then took part in the pursuit of John Bell Hood's army to the Tennessee River. They then retired to Huntsville, Alabama, until March of 1865, then saw service in East Tennessee and Nashville until June. The 1st Ohio, Battery G were then garrisoned at New Orleans until they were ordered home for mustering out on August 31, 1865.
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