Brown ' s Arkansas Battery The Brown ' s Arkansas Artillery Battery ( 1862 – 1863 ) was a Confederate Army artillery battery during the American Civil War . Also known as : the Newton Artillery . The battery operated in the Confederate Department of the Trans - Mississippi for its entire existence . Organization . When General Thomas C . Hindman arrived in Arkansas in late May , 1862 to assume command of the new Trans - Mississippi District , he found almost nothing to command . He quickly began organizing new regiments , but his most pressing need was for arms for the new forces he was organizing , including the artillery . One of his first acts was to order General Albert Pike , commanding the Indian Territory , to return Woodruff ' s Battery , also known as the Weaver Light Artillery to Arkansas . Louis W . Brown first had been elected Second Lieutenant in Capatin William E . Woodruff ' s militia battery , then known as the Totten Light Artillery on December 20 , 1860 , and he was still serving as a Lieutenant in Woodruff ' s battery at the time of this transfer . Woodruff ' s Battery was utilized to provide the officer cadre for several new batteries in the summer of 1862 . Brown was promoted to Captain and ordered to command a battery to be organized from details from the infantry regiments of Brigadier General James H . McBride ' s brigade . Another former member of Woodruff ' s battery , Sergeant Henry Halliburton was promoted to serve one of Captain Brown ' s Lieutenants . Little is known of this battery , except that it was named the " Newton Artillery " in honor of Col . Robert Crittenden Newton . No muster rolls have ever been located . Historians have assembled a roster of thirty four unit members by examining the muster rolls of the regiments which detailed men to the battery . Most of the thirty - four names which appear in the National Archives records under Brown ' s Arkansas Battery also can be found in the 27th Arkansas Regiment . Six each came from Companies " G " and " I " ; another five were assigned from Company " F " . Others appear to be from Companies " A " , " B " , " C " , " E " , " H " and " K " . Several Missouri men from Co B , Matlock ' s Ark Regiment , joined the battery . They previously had been members of Jeffers ' Mo Independent Cavalry Company , the Swamp Rangers . One of them , Joseph Coker , later wrote a short paper , which is part of the Thomas Ewing Family Papers , Library of Congress . Cooker traces some of his experiences during the war , including a little on his service in Brown ' s Battery . The transfer of men from the 26th Arkansas to Brown ' s Battery was made permanent " by order of Gen . Hindman " as of August 12 , 1862 . This was also the date that transfers of men to other batteries ( Hart ' s , etc . ) were made permanent . It is also , coincidentally , the date of a reorganization of regiments in Arkansas in which new elections of officers were held , and some companies were shifted around , consolidated , etc . Battles . By October 18 , 1862 , Brown ' s Arkansas Battery , with four iron 6 pounder guns was located at Pittman ' s Ferry , in Randolph County , Arkansas , With Colonel Colton Green ' s Missouri Cavalry Regiment . In early November , the battery was assigned to a small brigade of Missouri Cavarly , including the 3rd Missouri Cavalry Regiment , commanded by Colonel John Q . Burbridge . Under Burbridge ' s command , the battery fought at the Battle of Clark ' s Mill on November 7 , 1862 in Douglas County , Missouri . Battery Member Joseph Coker described the battery ' s participation in the Battle of Clark ' s Mill . By December 1862 , the battery , now apparently reduced to two guns , was assigned to Colonel Joseph C . Porter ' s Missouri Cavalry Brigade during General John S . Marmaduke ' s December 1862 through January 1863 expedition through southern Missouri . This movement was two - pronged . Col . Porter led one column , comprising his Missouri Cavalry Brigade , out of Pocahontas , Arkansas , to assault Union posts around Hartville , Missouri . When he neared Hartville on January 9 , he sent a detachment forward to reconnoiter . It succeeded in capturing the small militia garrison . The same day , Porter moved toward Marshfield . On January 10 , some of Porter ' s men raided other Union installations in the area before making contact with Marmaduke ' s column east of Marshfield . Marmaduke had received reports of Union troops approaching to surround him and prepared for a confrontation . Early on the morning of January 11 the Confederates under Porter made contact with Union Col . Samuel Merrill ' s scouts and skirmishing commenced . Merrill marched his force directly to Hartville where it took a strong defensive position on covered , high ground west of the courthouse . Shelby and Porter ' s brigades attempted to dislodge Merrill ' s force , but it was too strongly positioned . Over a four - hour period several Confederate assaults were made , each being repulsed in turn . Eventually Merrill withdrew most of his force . Both sides claimed victory in the Battle of Battle of Hartville . Marmaduke was compelled to make a rapid retreat into Arkansas and then an arduous trek to winter camp . What became of the battery following Marmadukes ' First Missouri Expedition is unclear . It is possible that Brown ' s Battery also participated in General Marmaduke ' s Second Missouri Expedition . In April 1863 , there is a reference to Brown ' s Battery of Greene ' s Brigade in a General Order No . 10 . , issued by General Holmes , which refers to the court martial of one of the battery ' s soldiers for offences committed in February 1863 when the battery was stationed at Batesville , Arkansas . The battery is listed as belonging to Colonel Colton Greene ' s Missouri Cavalry Brigade of Brigadier General Marmaduke ' s Missouri Cavalry Division as of May 20 , 1863 , with the added comment " ordered to Little Rock " . The battery virtually disappears from the records at that point . Brown ' s Battery is not mentioned in Marmaduke ' s report of the raid , however , Marmaduke ' s report mentions does mention that his force included that eight field pieces and two mountain guns . It is assume that Collins ' s battery of Shelby ' s Brigade had four cannons , and it is likely that Pratt ' s battery of Carter ' s Brigade of Texans also had four pieces . That does not account for the two other weapons he reported having on the raid . These could be the two pieces of Brown ' s Battery attached to Greene ' s Brigade . The battery is listed as being asssignd to Greene ' s Brigade on May 20 , 1863 , immediately after the raid . General Marmaduke began his second raid into Missouri from Northeast Arkansas on April 18 , 1863 . During the raid , he intended to obtain much - needed supplies for his troops , several hundred of whom were unarmed and un - mounted . Marmaduke organized his division of about 5 , 000 men into two columns , each made up of two brigades . Colonel George W . Carter led one of the columns , which consisted of a brigade led by Colonel Colton Greene and the other by Carter himself . The second column was led by Colonel Joseph O . Shelby and consisted of Shelby ' s famous " Iron Brigade , " commanded by Colonel George W . Thompson , and another brigade commanded by Colonel John Q . Burbridge . In all , the division had between eight and ten pieces of artillery . Following an unsuccessful attack on the heavily fortified city of Cape Girardeau on April 26 , 1863 , Marmaduke began a retreat by to Arkansas , conducing a rear guard action at the Battle of Chalk Bluff on May on May 1 and May 2 , 1863 while he crossed his forces back into Arkansas . Disbanded . References to Brown ' s Battery become very scarce following Marmadukes Second Expedition to Missouri . The May 20 , 1863 report of the battery ' s assignment to Greene ' s Brigade includes a note that the battery had been ordered to Little Rock . It may be that the battery was ordered to Little Rock to be disbanded . General Holmes issued Special Order No . 23 , District of Arkansas , dated April 11 , 1863 , which appears to have ordered the transfer of 17 members of Brown ' s Battery who had originally been transferred from Shaler ' s 27th Arkansas Infantry Regiment to return to their unit . These men are counted as present on the regiment ' s muster rolls in for April / May 1863 . Six other unit members had been discharged from the service on March 23 , 1863 . While these figures only account for 23 of the 120 men originally ordered to be transferred to the battery from McBride ' s Brigade in the summer of 1862 , they seem to point to the conclusion that the battery was disbanded in April / May 1863 . The unit is not mentioned again in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies .