In the spring of 1864 the battery was assigned to a cavalry brigade commanded by Confederate General Wirt Adams which was operating in the Big Black and Yazoo Country of Mississippi. The unit was criticized by Major General Polk in February 1864 during the Meridian Campaign for failing to properly care for its horses, resulting in the need for replacements. It appears to have been part of the Confederate forces opposing Sherman's Meridan Campaign in early 1864 and it is mentioned in Margie Bearss' book "Sherman's Forgotten Campaign". The unit is mentioned in Ed Bearss three volume set of the Vicksburg campaign. The unit was assigned to Furguson's Brigade of General Nathan Bedford Forrest's Division.
On January 1, 1864, the battery is included in a list of light batteries assigned to the Army of the West, commanded by General Leonidas Polk and is listed as being armed with five 6 lb bronze guns and one 3.3 inch bronze gun. Johnston's Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana. Ferguson's cavalry brigade of General Joseph E. On November 20, 1863, the battery was assigned to Brigadier General Samuel W. īy June 30, 1863, the battery had moved back to Okolona, Mississippi. The are all in good condition, well clothed, &c. They also have 100 horses, 16 mules, and 3 baggage wagons. They have five 6-pounder guns (bronze), limbers and caissons for same one battery forge and limber, 500 solid shot, fixed 400 spherical-case, fixed 80 canister, fixed (all for 6-pounders) 3.3-inch shot, 3.3-inch rifle shell, 240 bank cartridges equipments nearly complete all in good condition. Ĭapt Owens' company of light artillery is stationed 1 1\2 miles north of Columbus, on the military road. The unit had apparently reverted to light artillery by January 1, 1863, when General Daniel Ruggles reported. Altogether the unit would spend almost a year assigned to Columbus. By June 30, 1862, the unit was at Columbus, Mississippi On August 29, 1862, the unit is mentioned as part of the Heavy Artillery at Columbus. An order dated Office Chief of Artillery, Corinth, Mississippi, May 2, 1862, directed Captain Owens, commanding Heavy Artillery, to "report with your company to Major-General Hardee for duty with the siege guns of his command." The unit left Corinth a month later and moved to Okolona, Mississippi.
In early April 1862 the battery was at Fort Pillow, above Memphis, and later that month the battery moved to Corinth, Mississippi. The Monticello Artillery was originally organized as a light artillery battery, but as of March 18, 1862, the unit was at Memphis, Tennessee without guns or equipment, but by May 1862 it was referred to as heavy artillery. The battery served east of the Mississippi River for most of the war. In May 1864, armed with two 6 pdr smoothbores, one 3.3" rifle and one 12 pdr howitzer. In the first quarter of 1864, the battery was armed with five 6 pdr bronze smoothbores and one 3.3" rifle. The battery was reorganized for the war on May 15, 1862. In the summer of 1863, a small number of Mississippians from Chickasaw, Lowndes and Monroe counties were recruited by the Monticello Artillery. The vast majority of the men were from Drew County, with smaller numbers from the neighboring counties of Ashley, Bradley and Desha. A total of 188 men served with the Monticello Artillery during the war. Owens served as commander of the battery from February 8, 1862, until his resignation on October 11, 1864, at which time Senior First Lieutenant William C. Based on the earliest dates of enlistment, the battery was apparently "organized at Monticello, Drew County, Arkansas, on February 8, 1862." The battery is occasionally referred to as either the Drew Light Artillery or "Drew's Battery", based on the units association with Drew County, Arkansas, but these references only appear in post war pension records and other articles.
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