The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-11-02
COLUMBIA S c.. FRIDAY MORNING. NOVEMBER 9: 1866

William H. Pendleton. As q body,
it was composed of the very pride
and flower of the Southern chivalry,
and fully attested it's lofty claims to
distinction on all those bloody fields,
stretching from Manassas to Peters
burg; and it is the especial glory Of
the famous Washington Artillery to
have first wreathed the Confederate
banner with the smoke Of its guns on
the last hostile defiance on mournful
Appomattox. Walton, Walker and
Long; Poague, Carter and Haskell;
Pegram, Mcintosh and Nelson, are
names that will ever be honored in
the proud pantheon Of Southern he
roism and devotion, and will live as
long as the fame of that immortal
struggle which they so brilliantly sig
nalized by their own lofty endeavor.
The original organization of the
Confederate artillery was into COM
panies, attached each to its infantry
brigade, and subject to the orders of
the brigadier; but it was soon disco
vered that commanders of brigades,
the great majority of whom were
from the walks of civil life, were not
the class of officers to give the artil-
lery arm that power and effectiveness
of which, under skillful, scientific
direction, it was 50 eminently sus-
ceptible. Therefore, before the open
ing Of the spring campaign of 1868,
a regular artillery and ordnance staff
was organized, in the army Of North
ern Virginia, with Gen. Pendleton at
its head. Battalions were formed,
numbering from sixteen to twenty
guns each, and operating i'll the field
with its respective infantry division,
and each under the imme diate COM
mand of its own artillery chief, who
had been assigned or promoted to it
by reason Of his distinguished fitness
and qualification, as indicated by
former tests OF high excellence in the
practice of the field. And under the
direction of this able corps of artil-
lery officers, the grand Southern
field park, both mounted and horse,
proudly asserted it's claim to a place
IN the very front rank of the artillery
armament Of the world. Pelham's
and McGregor's famous cavalry bat
teries, that operated with the dashing
troopers of Stuart, won a distinction
second not even to the celebrity Of
the famous flying artillery of Austria.
For the first two years of the war,
the field metal Of the Confederate
park was greatly inferior to that of
the enemy. The battles of Bull Run,
Manassas and the Seven Pines were
fought with six-pounder guns, twelve
FOUNDER howltzers and few three
inch rifles; and it was not until the
battle of Charlottesville that the
Confederate artillery armament was
of sufficiently heavy metal to cope
successfully with the formidable Fed
eral field ordnance. BY capture and
foreign purchase, the artillery of the
Army of Northern Virginia was
strengthened by full field compile
ment of ten and twenty-pounder Par
rotts, the twelve-pounder Napoleon
gun -howitZer and few Whitworth
and Armstrong rifles; but the twenty
FOUNDER PARROTS and the twelve
FOUNDER Napoleons were the weapons
with which the Confederate artille-
rlsts chiefly won their bloody tro-
I'liiCS atui Wictc SUCH IL DrllllalU CDaD-
ter i'll the records of high artillery
performance. In nothing was the
Southern artillery inferior to that of
the Federal, save in the matter Of
ammunition; in every other particu-
lar, it was decidedly superior, as
attested on every field where the
two armies were brought in direct
collision.
The army of the United States,
whether regarded in the light of its
scientific theory or practical arrange
ment, stands conspicuously among
the very highest models of modern
military organization. 1t stood con-
fessedly high even before the open
ing of the late bloody drama, and has
since added the fruits of a large and
profitable practical experience to its
former high theoretical Institutes,
making it u complete and finished
specimen of scientific military an
rangement, and can be studied to
eminent advantage by all the modern
war-bureaus that wish to profit by
the experienced results of novel mill
tary fOrmularities and app liances.