The Seven Stars Artillery

The Seven Stars Flag. Note the bullet holes.

-List of Civil War Battles <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_Civil_War_battles>
-Mississippi Units in the Civil War: <http://mississippiscv.org/MS_Units/mississippi_history.htm>
-Battle of Vicksburg, Confederate Order of Battle: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicksburg_Confederate_order_of_battle>

Quinn's 2nd Miss Infantry (State Troops), CSA

My Confederate Ancestors

History

Histories are generally written by the winners. Thus, we can easily learn the disposition of the Federal forces who were engaged in the many battles of the Civil War. While compiling these vignettes of the many Confederate Regiments, the task is to put together the dispositions of the enemy forces--our veterans-- who were engaged, creating a historical narrative.

The facts contained in the following narrative were gleaned from multiple sources chief of which was "A History of the Seven Stars Artillery," Gainesville Volunteers, Sons of Confederate Veterans <http://www.gainesville-vols.org/activitiesevents.html> 30 May 2015.

A History of the Seven Stars Artillery
by Compatriot Jim Huffman
Presented to the Gainesville Volunteers Camp and to the 5th Brigade Quarterly Meeting at Dixie.

They took their name from the very first Confederate National Flag. They served the entire war, from May 1861 until May 1865, yet there is only one paragraph about them in the "Military History of Mississippi." Most of their members survived that horrible war, yet, in spite of their achievements, no survivor ever wrote an account of their exploits. They had virtually no casualties, yet, for four years, were constantly on the move, skirmishing, or under siege. They were formed as a single unit, yet only served in one piece early in the war, eventually being split into three companies. They were formed as one branch of service [Artillery], yet ended up another [Cavalry]. And, despite their service of some 1400 days, most of us today would only recognize the name of one battle they participated in, and very few, if any, of their names. They remain, to this day, virtually anonymous, unsung, and unheralded -- like so many Confederate Patriots. They deserve better. . .

They were the Seven Stars Artillery originally, but they came to be known by nearly a dozen other names before the war's end. Their officers were commissioned by fire-eating Mississippi Gov. John Jones Pettus in May 1861, and the battery started recruiting and training immediately in Copiah County, in the vicinity of Hazlehurst and Gallatin. Eventually, some 194 men would serve in the Seven Stars. The two men most responsible for the battery's formation were brothers-in-law -- Capt. Hezekiah George and David "Pete" Brown. 1st Lt. Calvit Roberts, who would become the unit's second captain. Brown was the younger brother of famed Mississippi political leader Albert Gallatin Brown. The battery was equipped by Hiram Alexander Gibbons Roberts, the father of Lt. Calvit Roberts. There is no specific documentation of their guns, but they are believed to have had possibly eight cannon, with six probably being 6-pound mountain howitzers and two being unique, breech-loading, 2-pound Hughes guns.

Capt. Brown received marching orders in late August 1861, and the battery was officially accepted into State service at Hazlehurst on September 1, 1861. The battery reported to Bay St. Louis in late September, and was on duty at Camp Clark for several months, training, recruiting, and equipping. The Seven Stars were accepted into Confederate service on September 29, 1861, and became part of the Third Brigade, Army of Mississippi, under Gen. Charles Dahlgren.

The Third Brigade consisted of the 3rd and 7th Mississippi Infantries and the Seven Stars Artillery. Several orders relating to the battery from this time period exhibit endorsements from officers of the 3rd and 7th Mississippi Infantries. The association with the 3rd Mississippi was, in fact, so strong that, when one deceased artillerist's father filed for the soldier's back pay from the Confederate government, he actually stated that the battery was part of the 3rd Mississippi Infantry. Interestingly, there is also a strong association between the Seven Stars and an infantry company -- the McWillie Blues, Co. K, 3rd MS Infantry -- which was raised at Hazlehurst at the same time as the battery. A number of soldiers were transferred back and forth between these two units. The battery became part of Miles' Louisiana Legion some time in the fall, and Capt. Brown's resignation in October 1862, was approved by Col. Miles. Capt. Brown went back to Copiah County to form a local defense cavalry company. Thereupon, Calvit Roberts became the Seven Stars' second and longest-serving captain.

The Yankees were threatening the MS Coast throughout the fall of 1861, and they actually attacked during April 1861, as part of the campaign that captured New Orleans. Again, showing the strong association between the 3rd MS Infantry and the battery, Lt. Fleming Coleman of the Seven Stars wrote, from Gainesville, Mississippi, in April 1862, about the famous attack of the Yankees on the Confederate camp at Pass Christian:

Our regiment is composed of 800 infantry 200 cavalry and 140 Artillery in all 1100 men. Our Col J.B. Deason, who I know must be a coward, and he is very often drunk. Our regiment was divided -- two of our cannon and four hundred men was stationed at Pass Christian where our Provisions was received, and the balance of the regiment was stationed at Handsboro." Note that the battery was already divided, a circumstance that would become the norm for the rest of the unit's existence.

Coleman continues:

On the 2nd inst. the Yankee gunboat attacked our gunboats and drove our boats away and landed two thousand men at Pass Christian and attacked our four hundred men under Lt Col Mellon, and our men fought them for an hour and then had to retreat and leave all their tents clothes and every thing they had. The Yankees had [a] nearly five to one [advantage]. So the Yankees taken all of our provisions at Pass Christian. So our part of the regiment at Handsboro had to go some where to get something to eat. So you can see that our retreat was caused by the want of Something to eat. We fought them for an hour but had to run at last. The scamps burnt up our tents and all we left. They soon left for fear of our reinforcements coming up.

Coleman described the retreat from the Pass:

My company has marched one hundred and fifty miles. We left Handsboro on the 4th inst. and we marched 20 miles a day through the most desolate and lonesome country for four days. Then we arrived at Popes Mills on Pearl River. We had been without a thing to eat for two days when we got to Popes Mills. But thank God when we got there, and let the good people of that vicinity know our condition, they soon had us plenty to eat, and it well cooked and three days after we got there the people gave us a splendid dance. I never saw a better dinner, and on the 13th inst. we took up our line of march again and marched 60 miles to Gainesville, where we found plenty to eat. But we do not know where we will go. I expect that we will go to Shieldsboro again. I can say that I have experienced the hardships which a poor soldier has to undergo. Nearly all of us had to throw away part of our clothing and Blankets, but I managed to save mine...On the 3d day of our march we had to abandon our tents on account of the bad roads and the following night, after we threw away our tents, it commenced raining. And it rained all night and next day. And we had to sleep right on the ground without any covering save the canopy of Heaven. But after all only part of our company was taken sick. As for myself I feel remarkably well except being wearied. We also encountered a storm and a hurricane, and had to cut our way through for two miles where every tree was blown down. We have a very good place to stay now. We occupy the courthouse of Gainesville and I have a very nice room to stay in, and we expect to remain here for ten or fifteen days...I hope that I may never have to take such a march again.

Coleman's is one of the few letters from the battery that survives.

With the Coast taken, the Seven Stars moved to Port Hudson, LA, to help guard that next-to-last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. But the battery was not intact, nor ever would be again. Part of it, under Lt. Coleman, was stationed within the lines of Port Hudson, and part of it, under Capt. Roberts, was assigned to Logan's Cavalry, with which it would fight at the Battle of Plain's Store at the beginning of the 49-day Siege of Port Hudson.

Just before the siege, Capt. Roberts' section was at Georgetown, MS, while Lt. Coleman's section was still at Port Hudson. The story of the Siege of Port Hudson and the heroic defense mounted by the Confederate garrison there is the very stuff of Southern legend. Amazingly, Coleman's section of the battery had only two men wounded during the siege:  Pvt. Henry Hartley lost a leg due to his wound and later received an artificial leg from the Association for the Relief of Maimed Soldiers at Richmond, Virginia. (Incredibly, Hartley did not ask to be discharged from the battery!) And Pvt. Thomas L. Rembert was wounded in the arm so severely that he had to be taken as a POW to New Orleans for treatment. He, too, later rejoined the battery. What Patriots these men were!

When Port Hudson fell, Coleman's section lost its two guns (presumably 6-pounders), and was paroled with 68 men. Lt. Coleman himself, being an officer, was sent North to a Prisoner of War camp. He was the sole Seven Stars member to be sent to a Yankee POW camp during the war.  Sadly, he never got to see the "Sunny South" again, as he died at Johnson's Island POW Camp on December 8, 1863. Let his name -- 1st Lt. Fleming George Washington Coleman -- never be forgotten, even though the consarned Yankees buried him in the post cemetery with his unit misidentified on his headstone as the "7th Mississippi Artillery." Maybe one day we can correct that mistake, as a final salute to Lt. Coleman.

Roberts' section of the Seven Stars were with Col. Logan's Cavalry in Louisiana and Mississippi while Port Hudson was being besieged. Pvt. David M. Harris was killed at Clinton, Louisiana, on May 25, 1863. In an online article, at http://artillery.man.magazine.com, entitled "Confederate Rifled Breech-Loader -- D.W. Hughes’ Portable Defense Gun," by Doug Hays, the author writes:

Several years ago I began researching a Civil War skirmish that took place at the west edge of the small town of Clinton, Louisiana, on June 3, 1863. A letter written by a citizen on the following day included the information that the Confederate forces had 'two small breech-loading brass cannon, one of which burst at the second discharge.' The Confederate artillery present was Calvit Roberts’ Mississippi Seven Stars Artillery.

Ordinance Sgt. William H. Thompson was killed at Jackson, Louisiana, on August 3, 1863.

The battery was in several skirmishes with Winslow's Federal Cavalry during McPherson's reconnaissance from Vicksburg toward Canton, October 15-19, 1863. Winslow reported a severe fight near Brownsville, MS, October 15, in which the Fifth Illinois was thrown into much confusion, while Logan gave more importance to the fight near Livingston, MS, October 16, 1863, where he claimed a substantial check to the enemy. In this battle the artillery -- the Seven Stars -- was "effectively engaged." Later in 1863, Roberts' Battery is mentioned as attached to Griffith's Brigade of Jackson's Cavalry. 

Capt. Roberts' artillery was in one last series of battles before the unit was converted into a cavalry battalion. The Seven Stars Artillery helped oppose Sherman's famous Meridian Campaign from Vicksburg to Meridian in middle-February 1864, being particularly noted for their service at Baker's Creek in covering the successful retreat of a large number of Confederate cavalrymen who had been threatened with capture.

In late February 1864, the Seven Stars traded in their remaining cannons (two to four in number) for 200 heavy Austrian or Lorenz rifles (widely hated by soldiers), but retained their battery's horses in order to become the three companies of Roberts' Cavalry, to which were added an additional three cavalry companies, the whole becoming Moorman's Battalion Mississippi Cavalry, aka the 24th Battalion, Mississippi Cavalry, and aka Roberts' Cavalry. Capt. Roberts became Major Roberts.  Pvt. John Daniel Ratcliff, served in this same cavalry unit, though he had not previously served in the Seven Stars Artillery. I am equally proud to say that Grandpa Ratcliff served in Co. E of this unit, which was captained by my cousin, James P. Beasley! Of the 194 men who originally enlisted into the Seven Stars Artillery, 117, or 60%, also enlisted into Moorman's Cavalry Battalion. Considering the ravages of Port Hudson, this is an amazing re-enlistment figure!

Early in 1864, Moorman's Battalion was attached to Wirt Adams' Brigade of Cavalry, which it would generally serve under until war's end.  During the next fifteen months, Roberts Cavalry would rarely have been together in one place at one time. Rather, the individual companies were on duty from Grenada, to Fayette, to Enterprise, to Port Gibson, to Palestine, to Gallatin, to Hazlehurst, to Meridian, to Gainesville, Alabama, etc., guarding railroads, guarding government stores, collecting stragglers and conscripts, performing picket duty along the Big Black River, skirmishing with various Yankee patrols, opposing various Yankee raids, assisting with POW exchanges, and providing invaluable scouting services. Though none of this service was famous, it was all necessary and dangerous.

On March 4, 1864, my cousin, 1st Sgt. Patrick Henry Beesley, was killed in action near Red Lick Church, some five miles south of Port Gibson. Pvt. Isaac Fife was wounded in action at Benton, Mississippi, sometime in May 1864.  Upon the promotion of Gen. Adams, Adams' Brigade became Wood's Brigade, and Moorman's Battalion was with Wood in the engagement at Coleman's Crossroads in Jefferson County, MS, July 4, 1864. A newspaper account mentions the companies of Captains Wilkinson, Hargrave and Davenport -- all original members of the Seven Stars Artillery -- as actively engaged in the defeat of Ellet's Federal expedition, and adds: "Moorman's Cavalry Battalion, of Wood's Brigade, is still increasing in numbers and efficiency." Pvt. John L. Cessna was likely wounded at this action.

Editor's Note: With changes in Confederate Mandatory Military Service laws, Great Grandpa William Case lost his over 40 exemption and enlisted in the 24th BN, Miss Cavalry as part of this planned "increase."

Major Roberts was reported in command of the battalion in September 1864. On November 20, 1864, the battalion was brigaded with the reserves under Colonel Denis. Part of Moorman's Battalion took part in the battle of Concord Church, near Yazoo City, Mississippi, December 1, 1864, after being in the field during Osband's Federal raid from Vicksburg to Canton. On December 30, 1864, during Grierson's raid from Memphis, Moorman's Battalion raced to Livingston, Louisiana, all the way from North Mississippi, but did not reach the field in time to take part in the battle of Franklin MS, January 2, 1865. Pvt. W.H. Robertson was admitted to Way Hospital, Meridian, Mississippi, on January 7, 1865, but we don't know which action he was wounded at. On March 12, 1865, Moorman's Battalion was reported to be at Jackson, MS.

Another mystery engagement for the battalion would be the one in which Pvt. Columbus Cudd was wounded, causing him to be admitted to Yandell Hospital, Meridian, MS, on April 11, 1865, just before war's end.

Research Note: Moorman's Battalion was one of the Mississippi reserve units called up to fight with LTG Nathan Bedford Forrest in Alabama until the end of the war. The Battalion minus Cpt. Wilkinson's Co C was surrendered along with LTG Forrest's Cavalry Corps on 5/12/1865 at Gainesville AL.

Indeed, we don't actually know all of the skirmishes that the Seven Stars Artillery and Moorman's Cavalry Battalion took part in, but we do know that Lt. David Ingram Purser, who suggested the name Seven Stars Artillery to the company originally, said, in after years, that the command was in "sixteen hard-fought engagements" during the war. And Purser must have been telling the truth, as he became a well-known preacher after the war.

We do know that, by April 12, 1865, at least some part of Roberts' Cavalry was with Nathan Bedford Forrest--the man whom Gen. R.E. Lee called the greatest soldier of the South-- in Alabama, striving with that famed hero to put off the inevitable Yankee victory. Pvt. Cudd was likely wounded while serving with Forrest.

Interestingly and contrary to political correctness, the same Union source for part of Moorman's Battalion being with Forrest by April 12 -- an officer of the 10th US Colored Heavy Artillery -- states that "Negroes [his word] are beginning to arrive at the [Confederate] conscript camps." So much for there never having been Black Confederate troops!

When the war did end, twenty-eight men of the former Seven Star Artillery -- now cavalry -- were paroled  in at least three different places, reflecting the fragmentation of their unit -- Gainesville, Alabama (those men who went to join Forrest); Jackson, Mississippi; and, Grenada, Mississippi. A much larger number of the men were unquestionably still in service and simply chose to ride their cavalry mounts home. Two brief, late-war letters attest to the continuing service of just one of the companies of the former Seven Stars Artillery, and I shall close my presentation with these.

These letters also speak to the character of the men of the battery, and were written by an observant and experienced Confederate officer -- Nathaniel G. Watt, who was an infantry captain, a quartermaster, and, later, a Confederate agent for the exchange of prisoners of war.

CAMP TOWNSEND, AUBREY TERRITORY,
Near Big Black River, Miss., March 18 [1865]

Brig. Gen. W. ADAMS, Commanding, &c., Jackson, Miss.:

...I hear that Capt. John Wilkinson, of the Twenty-fourth Mississippi Battalion and an original member of the Seven Stars Artillery, is likely to be relieved from this post. I most respectfully ask that this shall not be done. I find him true and worthy. In a short time I will be receiving a large number of Confederate prisoners, who will have to go into parole camp. They have been for a long time confined in Northern prisons, away from country, home, and friends. All will be anxious to go home. I have no military jurisdiction, and can only turn over these prisoners to military authority. You know how important it is for them to be with their commands. You know how "insufficient" the present number of Captain Wilkinson's command is for these purposes; and for the good of our country I do ask most respectfully of you that instead of depleting his command you increase it fourfold, still retaining him in command.

N. G. WATTS, Collector and Agent.

...and, a few days later, Watt writes:

HDQRS. EXCHANGE BUREAU, VICKSBURG DISTRICT,
Camp Townsend, April 4 1865

Capt. W. F. BULLOCK, Jr.,
Assistant Adjutant-General. Meridian, Miss.:

CAPTAIN: In addition to my letter of yesterday in relation to the necessity and justice of protecting the planters of this county from the jay-hawking which has so recently become so very common and indiscriminate, let me further state that if a company of good men were stationed for this ostensible purpose they could not only suppress jay-hawking, but inasmuch as the men could constantly operate closer to Vicksburg than any other body of scouts have done (because of the immunity from capture which would be observed by the enemy), they would be able to prevent a large amount of desertion to the Yankee lines, which I now regret to say is constantly going on, and would be able to drive out from Warren County the hundreds of lawless deserters who now seek a place of safety between our lines and that of the enemy; also they would keep you supplied with the latest papers, &c. I am satisfied such a company on such a service here would save ten times their number to the Confederacy, and at the same time give security to life and property to a people who, amid all the disasters which have overtaken them in this [war] have continued eminently loyal to us. And here let me recommend to you, should the lieutenant general see fit to detach a company for this service, that the men who are at present assigned to duty with me, and who will be relieved in a short time, are in every way suited to carry out the object proposed.

They are discreet, clever, orderly men; they have been on duty here three months (selected specially for the purpose by Brigadier-General Adams, because of his high estimate of them) as scouts and pickets, and in all that time not a single trespass upon citizens can be laid to their charge. The best citizens along the lines testify to their uniform good conduct, and they proved themselves the most reliable set of men ever on duty on this line. The planters desire them in preference to any others, because of their full confidence in them. I have reference to Capt. John Wilkinson's company (C), Twenty-fourth Mississippi Battalion of Cavalry. He has eighty effective men, and the citizens of Warren County will cheerfully provide forage and rations for them. The people cry for protection. For God's sake give them your protection. They are with us heart and soul and should not be abandoned.

N. G. WATTS, Colonel and Agent.

Such was the character exhibited by the men of the Seven Stars Artillery and, indeed, the vast majority of our cherished Confederate heroes! Let none of their names and none of their deeds be forgotten!

    "A History of the Seven Stars Artillery," Gainsville Volunteers, Sons of Confederate Veterans <http://www.gainesville-vols.org/activitiesevents.html> 30 May 2015.

History:

Order of War Department, January 24, 1865, the following companies, now forming what is known as Moorman's Battalion, will constitute the Twenty-fourth Mississippi Battalion Cavalry:
Lieutenant-Colonel -- George Moorman; Major -- Calvitt Roberts.
Company A -- Captain E. A. Miller's Company [raised in Clarke and Wayne]
Company B -- Captain Banister Hudnall's Independent Company [raised in Lawrence County, MS]
Company C -- Captain John Wilkinson's Company
Company D -- Captain Thomas J. Hargrave's Company [raised in Claiborne and Copiah]
Company E -- James P. Beesley's Company [raised in Copiah and Franklin]
Company F -- Joseph W. Davenport's Calvary Company [raised in Claiborne and Copiah]

    "24th Battalion, Mississippi Calvary," Military History of Mississippi (1803-1898), 1908. <http://mississippiscv.org/MS_Units> 18 May 2015.

My Veterans:

#16. Pvt. Gilbert Luther Case, Co. B (Capt. A.O. Cox's Co.), 2nd (Quinn's) MS Infantry (State Troops).  Discharged for disability July 27, 1862.
[Discovered July 18, 2013. Husband of Barbara Jane Case, daughter of Hiram Case.  Gilbert was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Minyard Case.]

    "A History of the Seven Stars Artillery," Gainesville Volunteers, Sons of Confederate Veterans <http://www.gainesville-vols.org/activitiesevents.html> 30 May 2015.

Gilbert Luther Case was the brother of William Case.

First Enlistment

[CPL] William Case (aged 37) enlisted 7/14/1862 as the Senior Corporal in Co E, Quinn's 2nd Miss Infantry (State Troops), CSA. This was in response to new Confederate legislation for organization of State Reserves. In Mississippi, persons 17 to 18 and 35 to 45 were assigned to regiments known as State Troops. Grandpa William attended the many musters with Co E, but never deployed with the Quinn's 2nd Miss Infantry (State Troops) [MST] to combat. And, the last known roster for Co E, 2nd MST was on 9/4/1862.

Individual companies of the 2nd MST periodically mustered and deployed in support of the Confederate war effort, only to be released to their homes with weapons in hand, literally to defend the home-front as the Union Army of the Tennessee swept back and forth across the state during the battle for and siege of Vicksburg. And along with the other soldiers over 40 and under 18, Grandpa William was discharged in 6/1864; as he had just turned 40. And, Grandpa William's second enlistment was in 8/1864 with Co E, 24th Battalion Miss Cavalry, CSA.

Second Enlistment

[SGT] In February of 1864, the Seven Stars Artillery was reorganized as Moorman's Battalion (Mississippi Cavalry), later to be designated as the 24th Battalion, Mississippi Cavalry with LTC George Moorman as commander and Major Calvitt Roberts as adjutant. In August of 1864, Grandpa William Case chose to enlist as a Sergeant and serve with his friends and neighbors in Co E, 24th Battalion, Miss Cavalry, CSA.

The 24th BN, Miss Cavalry served with Col. Wood's Cavalry Brigade, BG Wirt Adams' Cavalry Division, under MG Franklin Gardner, District of Mississippi and East Louisiana and then with LTG Nathan Bedford Forrest until the end of the war. The last record for Grandpa William is on 5/12/1865 when LTG Forrest surrendered and Forrest's entire Corps was paroled at Gainesville AL.
 <http://www.gainesville-vols.org/activitiesevents.html>