The 8th Arkansas Field Battery (1862–1865) was a Confederate Army artillery battery during the American Civil War. Also known as: Shoup's Mountain Battery or Hughey's Battery.
Organization:
After the battle of Pea Ridge, General Earl Van Dorn was ordered to move his Army of the West across the Mississippi and cooperate with Confederate forces in Northern Mississippi. Van Dorn stripped the state of military hardware of all types, including almost all the serviceable artillery. When General Thomas C. Hindman arrived 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. Hindman's first order, dated May 31, 1862 at Little Rock, General Hindman announced his staff, including the appointment of Major Francis A. Shoup, Chief of Artillery.[1] Shoup had served as chief of artillery under General William J. Hardee. He was involved in the formation of the artillery position known as "Ruggle’s Battery" during the Battle of Shiloh. Shoup, and his son, James C. Shoup came west across the Mississippi with General Hindman in May 1862. Hindman ordered guns which the United States Arsenal had decommissioned and buried as property markers around the Arsenal in Little Rock, to be dug up and refurbished as best possible as serviceable weapons.[2] Hindman was almost totally destitute of military quality weapons. And could hardly arm or issue ammunition to the few troops that he had in June of 1862. And that until the shipments of arms in August of 1862, Hindman struggled to arm his conscripts.
Hindman sent numerous requests for arms back across the Mississippi River. In one report he requested that he be sent twelve Model 1841 12 Pound Mountain Howitzers. These guns were considered useless in other theaters because of its short range. Most of the weapons transferred to the Trans Mississippi District from Vicksburg in the "Fairplay Affair" were the castoffs and unusable weapons from the various state armories which had been returned to the those armories after the Confederate armies east of the Mississippi had been re-equipped from the "Battlefield Quartermaster" of 7 Days, 2nd Manassas and Harper Ferry.
Hindman also drew on ordnance from Fort Washita in Oklahoma where General Albert Pike complained that he ten fine Parrot Guns which could not be used for lack of Limbers and harnesses. The muster rolls of the 24th Arkansas contain notes regarding a detachment being sent on detach assignment to Oklahoma to bring artillery to Camp White Sulphur Springs, near Pine Bluff.
When Gen M.M. Parson's Brigade returned to Arkansas from Van Dorn's Army in Mississippi in August 1862, he brought with him a wagon Train of quartermaster supplies and twenty five pieces of unattached artillery and supplies. At the same time a shipment of 11,000 arms arrived at Pine Bluff from Vicksburg by way of Monroe, La. out of a shipment of 18,000 that were originally sent. 5,000 of those 18,000 were captured on the steamer "Fair Play" by the Union and 2,500 of them went to General Richard Taylor's army in Louisiana. These weapons had come from the arsenal of eastern Confederate States that had been returned to state arsenal as the Confederates had reequipped themselves with the better captured Union arms. It is reported in the Official Records of the "Fair Play" that some of those weapons had come from captured Union weapons at the Battle of 2nd Manassas. The movement of the twenty-five pieces of artillery to Arkansas by Parsons Brigade in reported in Bull's "Missouri Brothers in Gray" and the Hindman Telegraphs about "secret" moves of wagons and a wagon train with Parsons Brigade being sent to Little Rock when it reached Pine Bluff in early August 1862. The quanity of guns supplied by Parrson’s led to the sudden organization and reorganization of several Artillery batteries in August and September of 1862 in Arkansas.
On September 29, 1862, General Hindman issued Special Order No. 8 from Little Rock which directed F. A. Shoup, now a Colonel, to take charge of the organization of the artillery from North West Arkansas and assigning certain "suitable officers to duty in the company now unorganized, and recommend them for appointment." These suitable officers included Lieutenants Huey (sic) and Miller. The organization of the battery was apparently completed by November 8, 1862 when Special Order No. 35, from Camp on the Mulberry River, assigned the following officers to duty in “Shoup's Mountain Battery”:
J. C. Shoup Captain
W. M. Huey(sic) 1st Lieut.
W. A. Miller Jr. 1st Lieut.
G. F. Halliburton 2nd Lieut.[3]
The battery was organized by details from various Arkansas regiments – mostly the 26th and 39th Arkansas Infantry, and 4th Arkansas Cavalry; also a handful of Missouri and Texas details. There are no muster rolls in the Compiled Service Records from Hughey's Battery.
Battles:
Shoup's Mountain Battery apparently saw it's first action on November 28, 1862, during the Battle of Cain Hill, in the opening moves of the Prairie Grove Campaign. Col. Charles A. Carroll took note of the battery's preformance in his report of the preformance of his Cavalry Brigade during the engagement:
....I have the honor to make the following report of the conduct of the forces of my command in the engagement of the 28th instant;...
Of the mountain howitzer battery attached to my brigade, and commanded by First Lieutenant Hughey, only one section was serviceable... In moving the battery from the first position taken in the morning, the carriage of one of the pieces was so badly broken as to render impossible to moving of it by horses. Notwithstanding the gun thus dismantled was under a galling fire of the enemy’s artillery, shells bursting by the minute around it, the cannoneers dismounted, and, under the direction of their officers, bore the piece, crippled but triumphant, to the rear. Just before reaching the second position taken by my brigade, as alluded to in the above report, Captain Shoup, the commander, and Lieutenant Halliburton, of the battery, met me. The captain at once took command of his company. There was now but one serviceable gun of the four-gun battery, which was placed in position frequently during the day with a skill and energy deserving a more substantial battery. After passing some little distance beyond the top of the mountain, this gun was placed in position and opened on the enemy. Notwithstanding the energy with which it was handled, it was dismantled by the enemy’s artillery, the carriage being broken to pieces by their heavy shot. This casualty was followed by a cavalry charge made with great energy. The officers, unwilling to leave any trophy in the hands of their country’s enemy, took the gun from the shattered carriage and bore this, too, to the rear....
The loss the brigade sustained is as follows: Colonel Monroe’s regiment, 3 men slightly wounded, 4 horses killed and 1 wounded; Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston’s regiment, 5 men were wounded and 2 men are missing; Captain Shoup’s battery, 3 men were wounded and 4 horses killed.
Chas. A. Carroll,
Colonel, Commanding Brigade[4]
The performance of Shoup's battery at Cain Hill also caught the attention of Colonel Joseph O. Shelby:
"I noticed also with much pleasure the gallant conduct of Captain Shoup, who commanded his little howitzer well and delivered his fire with great coolness, effect, and precision. With this battery was a brave and fighting driver, who was conspicuous for his daring and the readiness with which lie obeyed all orders." [5]
Following the Battle of Prairie Grove, Francis Shoup, now a brigadier general, moved back across the Mississippi River and served at Vicksburg and later during the Siege of Atlanta. His son James Shoup apparently accompanied his father on the move back east and command of the battery fell to 1LT Hughey.
On April 2, 1863, General Cabell wrote from Clarksville Arkansas to General Cooper:
...requesting that Lt Hughey late of Capt Harris’ btry be appointed Capt of Artillery and ordered to report to me for duty. He was elected 1st Lt in Dec, 1861...He came west of the river with Gen Hindman... He is now in command of a 3 gun battery in my command and I find him competent, faithful and industrious...
William M. Hughey lived in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, when the war began. He enrolled in a local mounted volunteer company very early in the war, but the company disbanded, and Hughey joined the "McCown Guards Artillery," commanded by Capt. D. Whitaker Harris, a company organized in Lafayette County, Arkansas, and eventually attached to the Tennessee Artillery Corps. Sometime in 1862, Hughey returned to Arkansas. Hughey may have accompanied M.M. Parrson's Missouri Infantry Brigade and the artillery train that Parrsons brought with him in his crossing of the Mississippi.
According to a Goodspeed biographical sketch, "An artillery company was raised and placed under his command, and he served under General Hindman in this capacity in the several engagements that took place in Arkansas following that date."
The battery accompanied General Cabell on his raid against Fayetteville in April 1863[6]. The battery was reorganized on June 8, 1863, and reinforced with a couple of dozen details from Monroe's Cavalry Regiment. By July 30, 1862, Hughey was signing for forage at Fort Smith as Captain, commanding Battery. In the Compiled Service Records of the 26th Arkansas Infantry Regiment there are a handful of entries indicating that some infantrymen had been assigned to Hughey's battery on Sept. 1, 1863 – the day of the Battle of Devil's Backbone. It is unclear if the assignment preceded the battle, took place during the battle, or occurred to facilitate the retreat of Cabell's force after the battle.
General Cabel's report on the Battle of Devil's Backbone mentions "the gallantry of Captain [W.M.] Hughey, commanding the battery...."[7] It appears that Monroe's regiment, Hughey's battery and a company of Morgan's regiment performed quite well in the engagement:
"General Blunt, finding out that I had abandoned the position I had on the Poteau, sent Colonel Cloud, with 1,500 cavalry, six pieces of artillery, and 40 wagons, loaded with infantry, in pursuit of me. They followed, and attacked the picket I left at Jenny Lind about 9 o'clock on the 1st day of September. The picket skirmished with their advance until they reached the foot of Backbone Mountain, about 16 miles from Fort Smith, where I had formed my command for battle. I placed Monroe’s regiment in ambush at the foot of the mountain, and placed all the different regiments en echelon along the sides of the mountain, near the road; the battery being placed so as to command the whole field of operations. The enemy came dashing up, yelling and shouting, confident of success, their cavalry in advance. When they came within gunshot, Monroe's regiment opened fire on them, and dismounted every man except two in the front companies. The action soon became general, and, after a heavy fire of nearly three hours and a half, especially of artillery, the enemy were repulsed, with a loss of about 30 killed and from 100 to 150 wounded. My loss was 5 killed and 12 wounded. The number of missing I cannot state, as eight companies of Morgan's infantry regiment, Hill's and Thomson's regiments, and Woosley's battalion of cavalry ran in the most shameful manner. Hill's regiment, in running, ran through the provost guard, where I had 80 prisoners under sentence for treason and desertion. These men in running carried all the prisoners off with them. Thomson's and Hill's regiments acted in the most disgraceful manner. The eight companies of Morgan's regiment acted but little better. There was nothing to make these regiments run, except the sound of the cannon. Had they fought as troops fighting for liberty should, I would have captured the whole of the enemy’s command, and gone back to Fort Smith, and driven the remainder of the enemy's force off, and retaken the place. As it was, I was forced, on account of the smallness of my force, to content myself with repulsing the enemy and protecting the public property. Leaving a party to bury the dead and take off the wounded, I, after posting a heavy picket on the battle-field, withdrew in good order, and marched to Waldron, Scott County, arriving there on the 2d of September." I must mention the gallantry of Captain Hughey, commanding the battery, and his two lieutenants, Miller and Henley, as well as all his men. Captain Hughey and Lieutenant Miller particularly distinguished themselves with their old iron battery....
Hughey's Battery, attached to Colonel William A. Crawford's Brigade, of Major General James Fleming Fagan's Division was engaged in the Camden Expedition in the spring of 1864, particularly in the action at Battle of Prairie D'Ane.
According to Colton Greene's reports for May and June of 1864, Hughey's Battery was attached to Marmaduke’s Brigade, Colton Greene commanding. This time period would include the battle at Ditch Bayou. It seems that Colonel Greene thought highly of this unit.
The Battery took part in Price's Raid in Missouri during the fall of 1864, assigned to Brigadier General William L. Cabell's brigade of Major General Fagan's Division. During this operation, it engaged in the following battles:
Price's Missouri Raid, Arkansas-Missouri-Kansas, September–October, 1864
Battle of Fort Davidson, Missouri, September 27, 1864
Fourth Battle of Boonville, Missouri, October 11, 1864
Battle of Glasgow, Missouri, October 15, 1864
Battle of Sedalia, Missouri, October 15, 1864
Second Battle of Lexington, Missouri, October 19, 1864
Battle of Little Blue River, Missouri, October 21, 1864
Second Battle of Independence, Missouri, October 21–22, 1864
Battle of Byram's Ford, Missouri, October 22–23, 1864
Battle of Westport, Missouri, October 23, 1864
Battle of Marais des Cygnes, Linn County, Kansas, October 25, 1864
Battle of Mine Creek, Missouri, October 25, 1864
Battle of Marmiton River, Missouri, October 25, 1864
Second Battle of Newtonia, Missouri, October 28, 1864
On November 19, 1864, General E. Kirby Smith, commanding the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department, issued Special Orders No. 290, organizing the artillery of the department into battalions. The component batteries rarely, if ever, operated together. They were usually assigned individually to an infantry or cavalry brigade to provide fire support. In this reorganization, Hughey's Battery, armed with 4 guns, and commanded by Capt. John G. Marshall was re-designated as the 8th Arkansas Field Battery and assigned to the 2nd Artillery Battalion, commanded by Major J. H. Pratt.[8]
Surrender:
The unit was surrendered with General Kirby Smith on May 26, 1865.