This was a purely temporary organization, lasting only about three months in the fall of 1861. Captain George H. Monsarrat was appointed to the command of the Harding Artillery which was organized at Nashville in May, 1861. He apparently attempted to expand this into a battalion, for this battery was later divided into two companies, one of which under Captain H. Baker was later mustered as Company “A”, Monsarrat’s Battalion; the other under Lieutenant (later Captain) Ed Baxter, was mustered as Company “B”, Monsarrat’s Battalion. This company was better known in later days as Freeman’s, and finally as Huggin’s Battery. The Maury Artillery, Captain Robert P. Griffith, later Sparkman’s Battery, was mustered as Company “C” of Monsarrat’s Battalion.
The battalion, or part of it, was stationed at Camp Lookout, near Chattanooga, Tennessee, on November 20, 1861, where mention was made of three artillery companies, under captain Monsarrat, being in Brigadier General William H. Carroll’s command. In December, Monsarrat’s Battery was spoken of as being in East Tennessee, and Captain Monsarrat was assigned to Post Duty at Knoxville by December 27, 1861.
The subsequent history of these companies will be found under that of the individual companies.
This unit history was extracted from Tennesseans in the Civil War, Vol 1. Copyrighted 1964 by the Civil War Centennial Commission of Tennessee and is published here with their permission. This history may not be republished for any reason without the written permission of the copyright owner.