This company was organized December 21, 1861 at New Market, Jefferson County, with men from Jefferson, Cocke, Greene, Washington and Sullivan Counties. It served as heavy artillery until after the fall of Vicksburg, July 4, 1863, and then as light artillery with the cavalry in the latter part of the war. It was listed as a member of McCown's Corps of Artillery, and as a member of the 1st Tennessee Heavy Artillery Regiment.
Soon after being mustered in, it moved to Corinth, Mississippi, and from there in February, 1862 to Grenada, Mississippi, to secure guns and equipment. It returned to Corinth in March, where it manned a battery of siege guns in the fortifications around Corinth. It retired with the army to Tupelo, Mississippi and in July moved to Columbus, Mississippi, where it remained until November 28, 1862, when it was sent to Vicksburg, Mississippi, along with Johnston's and Bain's Batteries.
At Vicksburg it manned a battery of four siege guns in the Upper Water Battery, and was attached to the 1st Tennessee Heavy Artillery, commanded by Colonel Andrew Jackson, Jr., which formed part of the River Batteries under Colonel Edward Higgins.
Colonel Jackson, in his report of the bombardment of the enemy gunboats on April 22, stated: "the 10-inch Coluinbiad, commanded by Captain J. P Lynch, jumped the pintle at the 12th discharge, but was remounted in a short time, and is now ready for action."
On May 19, a 32-pounder smooth bore, served by a detachment from Captain Lynch's Company, was with Brigadier General W. E. Baldwyn's Brigade in the engagement at Chickasaw Bayou.
Colonel Higgins, in reporting on the bombardment of the enemy gunboats on May 27, in which the ironclad gunboat Cincinnati was sunk, stated: "Great credit is due to Captain Lynch and Captain Johnston for the handsome manner in which their guns were handled during the engagement."
The battery was surrendered July 4, 1863; was paroled shortly thereafter, and went to parole camp at Demopolis, Alabama; from there to Atlanta; and from there to Carter's Station, East Tennessee, where it was reported on September 19, 1863. However, it was not officially exchanged until July, 1864.
In the meantime, a number of recruits were added to the nucleus of the old company, and when the exchange was finally completed, the company was equipped with two 12-pounder howitzers, and two l0-pounder Napoleon guns, and attached to Brigadier General John C. Vaughn's Cavalry Division, in the Department of East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, and served out the war in this area. It was engaged in the Battle of Saltville, Virginia, October 2, and then, with Major General J. C. Breckinridge in command of the forces in the field, took part in the final struggle for East Tennessee, beginning with the Battle at Bull's Gap, on to Strawberry Plains, and then back to Greeneville, where the battery remained for about two weeks.
Here it was nearly cut off by Federal General Stoneman, but, after a five day struggle to drag the battery over mountain roads, managed to reach Seven-mile Ford, Virginia, but was overtaken by Stoneman at Marion, Virginia, and in the running fight that followed the battery was over-run and captured, and the men who were not killed, wounded, or captured scattered through the woods.
The remnant struggled into Wytheville, Virginia, where additional recruits were secured, and the company equipped with six guns, and placed in Major R. C. M. Page's Battalion of Artillery, which on February 28, 1865 was listed as composed of Burrough's, Lynch's, McClung's Tennessee Batteries, and Douthat's Virginia Battery. As a matter of fact, McClung's battery was there in name only, for the greater part of this battery had been captured at Morristown on October 28, 1864, and 17 men from that company who had escaped capture had reported to Lynch's Company for duty. Page's Battalion was the Artillery force for Major General John Echols' Department.
About April 1, 1865, General Echols had started with the remnant of his command to join General R. E. Lee, and had reached Christiansburg, Virginia, when he received news of Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. On receipt of the news Echols disbanded his forces at Christianburg on April 12, 1865.
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This unit history was extracted from Tennesseans in the Civil War, Vol 1. Copyrighted © 1964 by the “Civil War Centennial Commission of Tennessee” and is published here with their permission.
This history may not be republished for any reason without the written permission of the copyright owner.
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