Parker's Battery @ Sharpsburg "The Boy Company"

Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Our group is very honored to portray Parker's Virginia Battery at Antietam Battlefield for the NPS, in the exact position of 9/17/1862. A brief history of the battery, they were organized in Richmond, VA 3/14/1862 and due to the lateness of their organization they enrolled numerous young men, at least two were 14. There were numerous others 15 & 16, it has been said that since their Captain, William W Parker, was a physician in civilian life, he asked families of the young men he had delivered, to trust them to his care. William Parker had previous service in the 15th VA as a Jr Lieutenant, resigning after 6 months to form his battery.

After completing its organization at Richmond, Virginia, in March, 1862, it served in S.D. Lee's, E.P. Alexander's, and J.C. Huger's Battalion of Artillery, Army of Northern Virginia. The company was included in the surrender on April 9, 1865, but only 3 members were present. Captains J.T. Brown, Jr. and William W. Parker were its commanders.

During the battle of Sharpsburg, the battery lost 21 killed and wounded men or boys, plus over a dozen horses. They were positioned just East of the Dunker Church on the ridge that commands the battlefield. The commanding position was a blessing and a curse; they could see movements all around them, but were also a target for every enemy battery in the vicinity.

The famous Dunker Church photograph is testimony to the horror the battery experienced on that ridge:

Sharpsburg Dead.jpg

We will be there again on the anniversary weekend 9/18 & 9/19 (Parker's battery the 19th), so if you are in the vicinity come on out!

Parkers Battery.jpg
 
Congratulations on a great spot and job! I'm jealous.

It may have been in a reenactment, but in 2016 with others I got to man a 6-pounder in the exact spot where Palmer's Georgia Battery got hammered, (slaughtered may also be appropriate) at Perryville, KY. Its an awesome, and sobering experience to man a gun in a significant spot, and hard to recapture the feeling of it.
 
If anyone has the chance and is interested in ACW Artillery, pick up the book "Where Men Only Dare to Go, or The Story of a Boy Company, CSA" by Royall W Figg and forward by Robert K. Krick. Figg was a No 3 on a gun of Parker's Battery, his descriptions and story telling are unrivalled in books I have read about this branch.
The original version published in 1885 is available for free at Internet Archives. I just LOVE Royall Figg's story telling style. It's an amazing source with tons of well-written stories --- even if you aren't particularly interested in artillery. Here's the link

https://archive.org/details/00996884.3434.emory.edu
 
Exciting opportunity. As a former National Guard artillery officer (long ago), I picked up and a read a book in the 90s all about the employment of artillery at Antietam/Sharpsburg called "Artillery Hell." So I am/was pretty familiar with Parker's Battery, placement, and and knew/remembered they took a lot of casualties. I did tour the battlefield once in the mid-90s. Need to go again one of these days.
 
Exciting opportunity. As a former National Guard artillery officer (long ago), I picked up and a read a book in the 90s all about the employment of artillery at Antietam/Sharpsburg called "Artillery Hell." So I am/was pretty familiar with Parker's Battery, placement, and and knew/remembered they took a lot of casualties. I did tour the battlefield once in the mid-90s. Need to go again one of these days.
"Artillery Hell" is another must read for those interested in artillery of the ACW, unfortunately the authors did not include maps in their work, which greatly detracts from an otherwise well researched reference material.
 
They were in Lee’s Reserve Artillery

View attachment 414149
Technically they were in the Reserve Artillery attached to Longstreet's command and went with Longstreet when he was assigned to the Western Theater, but you are correct SD Lee commanded the reserve under Longstreet.
Battery's Chain of Command:
Army - Army of Northern Virginia
Corps - Longstreet's Command
Division - Longstreet's Corps Artillery
Brigade - 2nd Battalion, Longstreet's Corps Artillery
 
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