Also called Lookout Artillery: Lookout Battery
This company was organized at Chattanooga on May 15, 1862, and attached to Brigadier General D. Leadbetter’s Brigade. Leadbetter at that time was commandant of the Post at Chattanooga. Company reports state it was engaged June 6, 7, and 8 in the attack on Chattanooga, and that a detachment was sent to Battle Creek on June 12, and engaged there on June 18. The battery remained at Chattanooga until August 31, when it moved to Knoxville, where it remained until October 24, 1862, when it was ordered to Pollard, Alabama.
Here it was in Major General Simon B. Buckner’s Department of the Gulf, Eastern Division, commanded by Brigadier General James Cantey. On May 30, it was reported as attached to Brigadier General Abraham Buford’s Brigade, of Major General W. W. Loring’s Army of Mississippi and East Louisiana. On July 25 it was reported in Brigadier General John Adams’ Brigade, where it remained until early in 1864. It moved from Pollard, Alabama to Newton, Mississippi, left Newton September 7 for Meridian, then to Brandon, to Canton, Mississippi, at which point it arrived on October 17, where it was still stationed on December 31, 1863. During this period it was in the army commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston, who took over the command from Loring in August, 1863. On November 28, the battery reported an aggregate of 144 men, armed with two six-pounder smooth bore guns, two 12-pound howitzers, with 41 horses and 23 mules.
In January, 1864, Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk took command of the Army of Mississippi, with headquarters at Meridian, and on March 10 the battery was reported as a part of the Division Artillery, no longer attached to any specific brigade. The battery was stationed at Demopolis, Alabama in March, where it re-enlisted for the duration of the war on March 15, 1864. It left Demopolis for Montevallo, Alabama on April 3, arriving April 9. From there it moved to Resaca, Georgia, arriving May 10-12, 1864. On May 1, it was reported as equipped with four 12-pound Napoleon guns, and in the fighting around Resaca, Georgia May 13-16, Barry’s Battery was stationed on a high range of hills on line of Cantey’s Division.
On June 12, 1864, General Order Number 10 constituted Major John D. Myrick’s Artillery Battalion, composed of Barry’s Tennessee, Bouanchaud’s Louisiana, and Cowan’s Mississippi Batteries, and the battery remained in this battalion until September 28, 1864. On June 12, Polk’s Headquarters were at Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia; Polk was killed two days later, and Lieutenant General A. P. Stewart succeeded to the command of Polk’s Corps.
On July 20, the battery, under the command of Lieutenant Richard L. Watkins, in the Battle of Peachtree Creek, went into action on General Walthall’s line, and silenced an opposing Federal battery, sustaining 15 casualties. Company reports for September-October, 1864 state the battery left Atlanta September 1, for Lovejoy Station, from there on September 18 to the Chattahoochee River, near Palmetto, Georgia, where on September 28, Barry was ordered by General John B. Hood to turn over the battery, horses and equipment to Captain Darden, of the Mississippi Artillery, and report with his men to Brigadier General Marcus J. Wright, commanding the Post at Macon, Georgia.
The next and last report of the battery showed it, under the command of Lieutenant Watkins, in the Department of the Gulf, Major General D. H. Maury. On March 10, 1865 it was in the Artillery Reserve, Left Wing, Defenses of Mobile, with the Artillery under the command of Major Henry A. Clinch. Mobile was captured on April 12, but the Confederate forces had left the night before for Montgomery, Alabama, and were surrendered by General Richard Taylor on May 4, 1865.
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.