Formed originally in Danville and the surrounding Pittsylvania County region in Virginia under the command of Captain Lindsay M. Shumaker, the Danville Artillery came into service April 22, 1861. Receiving its baptism of fire in the unsuccessful West Virginia Campaign, the company participated in General Robert E. Lee's Cheat Mountain Campaign and General Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign, and then served with Major L.M. Shumaker's and Major D.G. McIntosh's Battalion, Army of Northern Virginia.