On March 16, 1861 the people residing in the southern half of the territory of New Mexico, today the southern halves of New Mexico and Arizona, voted to secede from the United States and join the Confederacy as a territory. Colonel John Baylor and his 2^nd Texas Mounted Rifles were dispatched from Franklin, Texas (today known as El Paso) to defend the new territory. Union Major Isaac Lynde held nearby Fort Fillmore with 97 men of the 1^st U. S. Mounted Rifles, 400 men of the 7^th Infantry, and four mountain howitzers. On July 24^th Baylor moved with a small part of his command, less than 100 men, to Mesilla, the Confederate territorial capital. On the 25^th Lynde moved with 400 men and the four howitzers to attack the Texans. The 7^th was formed to support the howitzers at the edge of Mesilla. The Texans were waiting for them behind thick adobe fences and walls. Lynde fired only two shells from his howitzers before sending the Mounted Rifles to attack, and these were at long range which limits the accuracy of the smooth bore considerably. The Texans fired a couple of volleys into the Mounted Rifles, killing one or two and wounding a couple more, but this was enough to send the unsupported horsemen retreating to Lynde's main force. Lynde quickly retreated with his whole force to Fort Fillmore. Seventy or so Texans had defeated a force of 400-500 because of Isaac Lynde's timidity.⁽¹⁾

At this point, according to Major Lynde, "Other officers, with myself, became convinced that we must eventually be compelled to surrender if we remained in the fort, and that our only hope of saving the command from capture was in reaching some other military post."⁽²⁾ At 1 a.m. on July 27^th the Union troopers abandoned Fort Fillmore and began heading northeast to obtain water at the San Augustine Springs and then head on east to Fort Stanton. The men were devastated by the intense summertime heat of New Mexico, and unable to resist when the Texans caught up with them. The Texans soon overtook the exhausted Yankees, and easily captured many men and the four howitzers which were being towed behind wagons. Lynde claimed he could only field 100 infantrymen to oppose the oncoming Confederates so he decided to surrender the entire command.⁽³⁾ With only one minor skirmish the Texans had secured a new Confederate territory for the time being, as well as obtaining four mountain howitzers, many stands of rifles and a lot of needed military stores.

In Missouri, Union General Nathaniel Lyon moved southward from the Union-held region of northeastern Missouri to attack the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard. On August 3^rd they stumbled onto James Rains's 8^th Division of the Missouri State Guard, just southwest of a wooded valley called Dug Springs. Lyons retreated to the northeastern end of the valley while leaving a battalion of regulars and a dragoon company to keep a watch on the enemy. Rains quickly moved forward the rest of his command, 700 or so men and two mountain howitzers, and then attacked the small Federal force. The Yankees beat back two assaults and then launched a counter-attack which broke the Missourians. However, just at this moment Lyon's sent orders for the Federals to retire. Rains assembled what men he could and attacked the retreating Yankees. They pursued the Federals for a while, but were driven off by the artillery of Lyon's main force. The Missourians then fled all the way back to the main Confederate body. This disgusted General Ben McCulloch and contributed a lot to the problems that would later plague the working relationship of McCulloch and his Confederate forces with the independent Missouri force of Sterling Price. The howitzers played only a small role in this skirmish, but proved their worth by keeping up with the mounted forces in the rugged, mountainous regions of southern Missouri.⁽⁴⁾

In Missouri and Arkansas both Union and Confederate forces were equipped with a large number of mountain howitzers, and would continue to use them long after the armies in the east had mostly replaced them with longer range weapons. Brigadier General Samuel Curtis launched a movement against the Confederates in Missouri throughout February. His force included over 9,500 infantry, 2,500 cavalry, and fifty artillery pieces, including four mountain howitzers. They skirmished with the Rebels every step of the way. For example, on February 12^th, when the advance Yankee units were fired on by Confederate skirmishers. Curtis's four mountain howitzers were always accompanying the advance units. The howitzers opened fire on the Rebels and forced them to continue retreating.⁽⁵⁾ At Flat Creek, near Chariton, Missouri, the Confederates set up a strong defensive position in an attempt to stop the Yankee force. They had several artillery batteries implanted in their works and these opened fire on the advancing Union cavalry. The howitzers fired back until more of the Union artillery could arrive on the field. These reinforcements drove the Confederates from their works and eventually led to their expulsion from most of Missouri.⁽⁶⁾

One mountain howitzer was attached to the 6^th Missouri (U. S.) Cavalry. They, and the 3^rd Iowa Cavalry, moved against Confederate infantry at West Plains, Missouri on February 19^th. Companies A and B of the 6^th and the howitzer attacked the town from the north. The Confederates fired only a few shots before they fled from the attacking cavalry. Union leaders believed the Confederates were holed up in the court-house, so they sent the howitzer to shell them out. According to Colonel S. N. Wood "Sergeant Moody opened fire upon the building with the howitzer. One shot with canister covered the entire front with bullet-holes. A shell passed through both walls and three partitions and then exploded."⁽⁷⁾ The Confederates lost 6 killed, 8 wounded and 40 captured. While the Yankees had no casualties at all. The howitzers moved quickly with the cavalry and helped to keep the Missouri Confederates off balance and easier to defeat. This forward movement by Union columns continued on into northern Arkansas.

One of the largest, and most influential, battles of the Trans-Mississippi Theater was the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas on March 6-8. Both sides would use several mountain howitzers in this fight. Brigadier Samuel R. Curtis had 10,500 Union soldiers and 49 artillery pieces, including 4 mountain howitzers, as he pursued General Sterling Price from Missouri into Arkansas. The Confederates, under Major General Earl Van Dorn, had about 15,000 men and 35-40 cannons, including several mountain howitzers. Van Dorn sent the Confederate forces on muddy mountain roads circling the Yankees to the north to be able to attack Curtis's force from behind. The Confederates attacked piecemeal, first Ben McCulloch on the Yankee left and later Sterling Price on the right. They drove back the Union soldiers, but they did not break. The loss of Ben McCulloch and James McIntosh caused many of the rebels to surrender. Curtis's men held on and the Confederates were forced to retreat, because their food and ammunition wagons were many miles away. In essence it was a draw, but the battle helped to secure Missouri for the Union.⁽⁸⁾ Much of the artillery with Price's Division was made up of mountain howitzers.⁽⁹⁾ The most important service in the battle was performed by those howitzers attached to Company A of Bowen's 10^th Missouri (U. S.) Cavalry.

The 10^th Missouri had been serving as part of the bodyguard force for General Curtis. They, and their howitzers, had skirmished with the retreating Confederates throughout Missouri in late February and early March. At the height of the main battle on the 7^th, the Union center was being overwhelmed by the Confederates and reinforcements were rushed to them. Curtis dispatched the two companies of the 10^th and its two howitzers to shore up the middle of the line. According to Major William D. Bowen:

[Colonel Eugene Carr] who instructed me to take position on the road between the Ninth Iowa and the Twenty-fourth Missouri. After firing 24 rounds my pack caissons were exhausted, and I fell back. Having resupplied [sic] myself with ammunition, took post about 300 yards to the left of my former position, and threw spherical-case shot into the ranks of the enemy until, finding their heavy guns had our range, we fell back.⁽¹⁰⁾

The only effective tactic for mountain howitzers when facing longer-range guns was to retreat or be cut to pieces. The fire of Bowen's howitzers had kept the line from collapsing and contributed a lot to the retreat of the rebels. They shored up the line long enough for more reinforcements to arrive and save the day.⁽¹¹⁾ General Curtis described the service of these howitzers with his forces saying most succinctly. "These did good service at a most critical period."⁽¹²⁾

After the battle was over Federal forces in southeastern Missouri moved to eliminate troublesome guerillas along swamps of the Missouri-Arkansas border. With 500 men and two mountain howitzers Brigadier General John McNeil hoped to stop the partisans's annoying and destructive raids. They left Bloomfield, Missouri on March 9^th, and on the 10^th they had arrived at the Saint Francis River at Chalk Bluff, Arkansas. The Confederate guerillas held the ferry on the far side of the river, and skirmished inconclusively for a couple of hours. The howitzers were soon brought up to shell the Rebels. Their fire forced the Southerners to keep their heads down for the most part, and after three hours some Union soldiers were able to swim the river and bring the ferryboat back. The Yankees were able then to cross the river and secure the heights above it. The next day they advanced to the main base of the "Missouri Swamp Fox" M. Jeff Thompson. They found that he had evacuated it the day before, but they kept Thompson off balance and impeded his raids for a while. In the short campaign McNeil's men captured 60 Southerners and 65 mules or horses, destroyed 250 guns and destroyed a large amount of forage and food in the farms around Thompson's area of operations. The mountain howitzers had moved easily through a swamp that would have prohibited the movement of any larger guns.⁽¹³⁾

Howitzers attached to the 4^th Iowa Cavalry shelled Confederates around Talbot's Ferry along the White River in Arkansas. In mid-April a brigade of cavalry was dispatched to raid Confederate defensive works and manufacturing centers in northern Arkansas. They destroyed a saltpeter works at Yellville, Arkansas. A Confederate force attempted to stop them at Talbot's Ferry. Two mountain howitzers were brought forward and they shelled the Confederates, who quickly withdrew. The Union cavalry eventually rejoined the rest of the Union army for the continuing advance into Arkansas.⁽¹⁴⁾ General Samuel Curtis reported that the Union cavalry and howitzers fought a small skirmish near Jacksonport, Arkansas on the White River. It was only a minor skirmish, as Civil War battles go, but 20 Confederates were killed and wounded.⁽¹⁵⁾

Howitzers were often assigned to infantry units guarding the supply wagons or railroads of the various Union armies. In June and July the 11^th Wisconsin Infantry was guarding a supply train in far northern Arkansas, and they had a mountain howitzer with them. This howitzer was assigned to the 1^st Indiana Cavalry. These infantry forces kept the guns when they advanced deeper southward into Arkansas. When General Steele's force reached the Bayou Cache on the Cache River he sent forward the four companies of the 11^th, three companies of the 33^rd Illinois and the mountain howitzer as advance scouts. On July 7^th around a half mile down the road to Des Arc the Yankees ran into a large rebel force marching towards Steele. The howitzer did deadly work on the advancing Confederate soldiers, so they sent a heavy force to silence and capture the piece. Captain Partridge succeeded in saving the piece and after a short retreat it aided the infantry in stopping the Confederates. The 1^st Indiana Cavalry soon arrived and put the Confederates to flight, but it was the fire of the men and their howitzer which stopped Colonel Albert Rust's force of over 1,000 Confederate cavalry from making a surprise attack on Steele's Union division. The 83^rd Illinois lost nine wounded and the 1^st Indiana had one killed and nine wounded. The 11^th suffered five killed and 39 wounded, mostly from the companies guarding and manning the howitzer, but reportedly just under 150 Confederate dead were found upon the field.⁽¹⁶⁾

Davidson's Peoria Illinois Battery used howitzers at Fayetteville, Arkansas on July 15^th. A force of 750-1,000 cavalry and mounted infantry, and the two howitzers, were sent to attack the Missouri State Guard units encamped near Fayetteville. The men made two long night-marches and hid out in the woods during the day to avoid detection. They made it to where the Missourians were encamped, a little over 75 miles, in 36 hours. The Union column approached the Confederate camp and shelled the camp with the two guns. This was quickly followed by a mounted charge which routed the Rebels. They pursued the fleeing Missourians for 12 miles to the Cane Hill area, and stopped as their horses were beginning to give out. The men returned to Fayetteville, having fought a battle and traveled over 100 miles in under 44 hours.⁽¹⁷⁾

On July 24^th a detachment of 300 Union cavalry was sent to intercept a group of Confederate infantry that was reported to be trying to cross the L'Anguille Creek, 4 miles southeast of Marianna, Arkansas. When they arrived early on the 25^th the cavalry encountered a Union infantry force that had been dispatched from another command on the same mission. From them Colonel Robert Rombauer learned that the company of Rebel infantry had been routed the previous evening by yet a third Union force sent after them. It had some mountain howitzers and easily chased off the Confederates, who fled across the L'Anguille Creek. Rombauer and his cavalry continued south in an attempt to catch the fleeing rebels, but for the next day and a half they chased reported Confederate forces and never ran into any groups of Southern soldiers.⁽¹⁸⁾

In mid-August a force of Union cavalry from the Trans-Mississippi, including part of the 10^th Missouri (U. S.) Battalion and its two howitzers, was sent on raids in Arkansas and Louisiana in support of one of U. S. Grant's early attempts to take the Confederate Gibraltar, Vicksburg. This force was to destroy supplies and ammunition, and to distract Confederate forces which might otherwise be free to combat Grant's movement down the Mississippi. On August 19^th Colonel William Bowen and the 10^th headed to Tallulah, Louisiana on the Vicksburg road. A mile from the town they discovered that the Confederates were drawn up in line-of-battle to stop their raid. The howitzers were brought up and after a few shells the Southerners retreated closer to Tallulah. 300 yards from the supply depot the Union soldiers discovered that the Confederates were once again drawn up to oppose them and this time they were heavily reinforced. Once again Bowen brought forward his howitzers and yet again the Confederates fled after just a few shots from the guns. The cavalry then preceded to destroy the depot which contained a large amount of food stores for the Confederate armies along the Mississippi. He also burned the telegraph station and a number of railroad cars. The men then retired to their transport boats and preceded back upriver into Union-held portions of Arkansas.

As they headed upriver they learned of a large number of Confederates near Greenville, Arkansas and decided to attack them. They chased the enemy for two miles, but the Rebels stopped and brought forward a four-gun battery to fight the Yankees. Bowen kept one of the howitzers in the road and opened fire, while the other was sent through a corn field to attack the Confederates flank. The Confederates retired without replying to the fire of the howitzers. The Union force retreated to their boats and continued upriver. On the 25^th, near Bolivar, Arkansas, they ran into another force of Confederates, and these were willing to put up a fight. The infantry occupied the town, but the cavalrymen landed a half mile away. There they were attacked by a much larger Southern force. The only thing that saved them was the two howitzers. The howitzers fired until they were out of ammunition, but they were reinforced by another section of artillery and a Union gunboat which forced the Rebels to withdraw. They pursued the Confederates for a mile, and then returned to their transports and continued upriver to their base at Helena, Arkansas. All in all the howitzers proved their worth. They kept up with a fast-moving cavalry force, and gave it fire support which turned the tide in the Union's favor in four separate engagements.⁽¹⁹⁾

The 9^th and 6^th Kansas Cavalries used howitzers at Newtonia, Missouri on September 30^th. Advancing Union cavalry attacked the Confederate-held town on September 29^th as part of a plan to take the last few Confederate-held towns in Missouri. Brigadier General Frederick Salomon rushed numerous units to the assistance of the attackers, including the 6^th and 9^th Kansas Cavalries and their attached mountain howitzers. For a little while the Yankees actually got into part of the town, but their howitzers were too short-ranged to reply successfully to the large Confederate guns, so they had to retreat. They pulled back a mile to wait for Salomon, who marched with two infantry brigades to assist in the attack. When Salomon arrived at the battlefield he moved units around, and placed the 6^th Kansas and its howitzers on the far-right of the Union line. Salomon believed he was outnumbered and kept the Confederates in check with artillery fire. At dusk he withdrew to the nearby Union-held town of Sarcoxie. Newtonia soon fell when other advancing units took other towns which forced the Confederate garrison to withdraw or be cut off from the South.⁽²⁰⁾

Company E, of the 2^nd Kansas Cavalry was detailed to man two mountain howitzers on September 10^th. They first used them near Old Fort Wayne, Arkansas on October 22^nd. In October the Union army was advancing southward, re-crossing the field where the Battle of Pea Ridge had occurred just a few months before. The 2^nd Kansas was assigned to obtain intelligence of the enemy's positions and numbers. On the 22^nd the Kansans approached Maysville, near the Arkansas/Indian Territory border. Several miles east of the town, near a small hamlet called Old Fort Wayne, they encountered a large Southern force. The 2^nd attacked rather than wait for reinforcements. The Kansans galloped across the field until they were within 300 yards of the enemy. There they dismounted, the howitzers opened fire near the right of the line, and then they charged the larger Confederate force. One of the howitzers was turned to the right to stop the fire of Confederate parties trying to flank the 2^nd. They penetrated the Southern lines and even succeeded in capturing a Confederate artillery battery, which was quickly sent to the rear. Brigadier General James G. Blunt dispatched most of his cavalry and four mountain howitzers to pursue the retreating Confederates.⁽²¹⁾

They saw action again on November 6-7 at Cove Creek, Arkansas. An outpost had been placed at the junction of the Fayetteville and Cane Hill roads. A large force of Confederate cavalry was moving north and they wanted to take the small force. If they did then they would be on the flank of the Union army and force them to withdraw back into Missouri. 100 men and two mountain howitzers were ordered to reinforce the garrison. At dawn on November 6^th the detachment from the 2^nd Kansas began moving to the outpost. After moving only four miles they ran into the garrison on the crest of a small nearby mountain range. The garrison had been driven from the outpost, but they were still fighting the advancing Southerners for every foot of ground. The detail of the 2^nd joined them and they dug in on the hillside. The howitzers and rifle fire kept the Rebels at bay for most of the day. Towards the end of the day they were pushed off the mountain, but the cavalrymen were reinforced by part of the 11^th Kansas Infantry and early on November 7^th they retook the hilltop. They held the hill, but Confederate forces bypassed them to attack the rear of the Union army. The 2^nd and the other Yankees joined the 1^st Division in fighting along the crossing of the Illinois Creek. The division was forced to retire, but it did so grudgingly. The howitzers were drug slowly to the rear by hand, firing often to slow down the Southerners. The Union army pulled back several miles, many units going back into Missouri, but they lost very few men, supplies or artillery and were intact so that they could re-invade Arkansas whenever they chose to.⁽²²⁾

By late November the Union army was moving back into the area around Cane Hill. On November 28^th the Confederate cavalry division, under John Marmaduke, dismounted and prepared to defend the intersection against the Yankees. Their artillery included Bledsoe's two 6-pound field pieces and four mountain howitzers in Shoup's Battery of Jo Shelby's Iron Brigade. The enemy artillery began the fight at such long range that only the two 6-pounders could reply. The two howitzers of the 2^nd Kansas advanced with the Yankee skirmishers and opened a hot fire on the Southern cavalry. Marmaduke's brigades were slowly forced back, but the enemy was often checked by flank attacks by one or the other of the brigades. They fell back to Newburg where they planned to make a stand. Twelve Union guns opened fire, which Shoup promptly responded to with all of his guns, even the howitzers. The duel lasted for thirty minutes with neither side doing any appreciable damage to the other. Marmaduke decided to retreat again along the Cove Creek Road, and seeing this the enemy made a rapid push to bag the cavalrymen.

At the forefront of this advance was a group of four howitzers, including the 2^nd Kansas's two pieces. Shoup's guns planted themselves atop a mountain crest and firing fast and furiously they were able to stop the Yankees and save Marmaduke's supply train. A couple of the howitzers were disabled in the fight, but the cavalry supports held on long enough for them to be placed on pack mules and saved to fight another day. The hill was so steep that the advancing Union soldiers had to haul any guns up by hand, and all they succeeded in moving were the four howitzers. The other pieces were much too heavy to be moved that way. At the intersection of the Fayetteville and Van Buren roads they made another stand. Once again the howitzers and cavalrymen kept up a hot fire, but a much-larger Union army forced them to continue the retreat. Marmaduke's men succeeded in determining the strength and composition of the enemy. This skirmish was a small opening portion of the advances of both armies which would lead to the Battle of Prairie Grove just a week or so later, in early December.⁽²³⁾

The second largest battle in the Trans-Mississippi Theater occurred at Prairie Grove, Arkansas on December 7. The Union Army of the Frontier continued to move south into northern Arkansas, while the Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi headed north to attempt to drive the Union army out of Arkansas and hopefully Missouri, too. To stop the advance of the Confederate forces Brigadier General James Blunt massed his forces in the area around Cane Hill and dug in. The 2^nd Kansas was placed at the Cove Creek Road Intersection where the Fayetteville and Van Buren roads intersected. There were only a few hundred of the Kansans and their two howitzers, and on December 5^th several thousand Confederates drove them away after only a slight skirmish. The Southern army was trying to flank General Blunt's position at Rhea's Mills and to keep his reinforcements from reaching him. Both armies maneuvered on the 6^th trying to discover the exact location of their enemies. The battle began at dawn on Sunday, December 7, when the Confederates shelled the Yankee skirmishers from the heights of the nearby Boston Mountains. Blunt replied with fire from two mountain howitzers, but neither side did any damage to the other. Blunt pulled back all of his force to Rhea's Mill so that the Confederates could not block the road that Union reinforcements would have to travel on.

General Blunt dispatched the 6^th Kansas Cavalry and two howitzers to harass the rear of the Confederate flanking force. They pursued the Rebels for two or three miles, firing on them with the howitzers the whole time, until the Confederates drew up for battle forcing the 6^th to withdraw. The regiment had done a good job though. They slowed the Confederates down and allowed reinforcements to come to Blunt unimpeded. The cavalry brigades, including the howitzers of the 3^rd Wisconsin, and the 2^nd and 6^th Kansas Cavalries, fought hard and kept open the lines of communications between Blunt's force and the approaching reinforcements under General Herron. Around 1:45 p.m. the two Union forces joined together near Rhea's Mills, called Prairie Grove. The battle settled down to a series of straight-forward charges by both sides which were cut to pieces by artillery and rifle fire. The 2^nd Kansas Cavalry was dismounted and joined in the fighting around a grove of woods in front of the Union right. Their two howitzers were sent forward to join in the fighting for these woods. They stopped on a small knoll to the right of the woods and opened fire. They poured canister into a large mass of Confederates until they had run out of ammunition and most of their horses had been shot down. The 2^nd's men then rolled the howitzers off the battlefield by hand. The Southerners moved farther to the Union right to flank the Yankees. Blunt rushed men and artillery to stop them, including the howitzers of the 3^rd Wisconsin Cavalry. A Union battery of six 10-pound Parrot Rifles was about to be overrun, but the 3^rd's two howitzers opened fire with double-charges of canister, which helped drive back the Confederates. The fire of the howitzers allowed the Parrot battery to concentrate on a Confederate battery, which it drove off after dismounting two of their guns and wounding a number of the cannoneers. The fighting continued all over the field until well after dark.

Around daylight on the 8^th General Hindman asked for a truce to care for his casualties on the field. Blunt later learned that the Confederates had begun retreating the night of the 7^th, and left behind a small group to care for their wounded friends. The Federals suffered 1,148 casualties, including 167 killed and 798 wounded. The Rebels suffered a little more, but they had fewer men to begin with and could not tolerate such heavy casualties. The howitzers performed admirably all over the field, from the cavalry attacks on the Confederate rear to fighting in some of the hottest spots all over the field of battle.⁽²⁴⁾

James Blunt's Army of the Frontier began to move forward after the Battle of Prairie Grove in late December when they learned that Confederate forces might be planning another offensive of their own. Blunt left behind his trains and rushed forward with 8,000 of his best soldiers and thirty artillery pieces. A few miles north of Van Buren the Union cavalry ran into two Southern cavalry regiments guarding one of the few decent fords in the area. They brought up four of their mountain howitzers and shelled Confederate positions at Dripping Springs, Arkansas on December 28^th. The Rebels soon fled and the Yankees seized the crossing. Here they took 100 prisoners, a large amount of supplies, four river boats and a ferry boat which were intended to move the Confederates across to attack Blunt's army. The ferry was captured trying to cross the river with retreating Confederates. A howitzer shelled it until it surrendered and returned to the Yankee's side of the river. The boats enabled the Union army to continue moving south and seize Van Buren, a central depot and concentration site for the Rebel forces in Arkansas.⁽²⁵⁾

Mountain howitzers also played an important part in the Confederate Campaign in the New Mexico Territory. This campaign was as important in its own way as the more famous campaigns back east. If the Confederates could conquer the New Mexico Territory then they would have access to the goldfields of Colorado and the ports on the Pacific coast of California. In January a brigade of Texans under Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley entered the territory to reinforce the secessionist government of the Confederate territory of Arizona. Sibley's Texans were moving up the east side of the Rio Grande near Fort Craig. They both skirmished on February 20^th with little accomplished by either side. On the 21^st 850 Union soldiers, and six artillery pieces, under Major Benjamin Roberts sortied out from the fort to attack the Texans and to hold the only ford over the river in the immediate area. Four of the six pieces were mountain howitzers under Lieutenant Alexander McRae. They ran into a force from the 2^nd Texas which was also attempting to secure the ford. The Yankees barely held onto the ford and sent to the fort for reinforcements, while the Texans pulled back to an abandoned river bed 500 yards away. The howitzers furiously shelled the Confederate line from the west bank of the river.

Both sides rushed more troops to the battle. Six mountain howitzers arrived with the new Texans to oppose the six Federal guns. Around 2:30 p.m. the Federals were able to cross two 24-pound field howitzers and McRae's four mountain howitzers. McRae was sent to the left of the Union line to pin down the Confederates while other Yankees attacked on the right. Two more field howitzers would join McRae later in the battle. Colonel Thomas Green of the 5^th Texas decided to attack first, going after the Union artillery opposite the Confederate right. The Texans moved a mountain howitzer forward by hand to support their assault. Just before the Texans attacked the Union forces had unwittingly abandoned the center, on McRae's right flank, to support the Union right. An assault by the Texans was barely stopped, and all available Union reinforcements moved to this part of the field. As the Texans on the left were retreating those on the right attacked McRae's position. Texas riflemen occupied the positions just abandoned by the Union center and began picking off McRae's cannoneers. The combination of the Texans onslaught and fire from the six Texas mountain howitzers was too much for the Union troopers who quickly abandoned the field, many running all the way back to Fort Craig. Lieutenant McRae was killed fighting for his cannons. This effectively ended the Battle of Valverde. The Union forces retreated to Fort Craig, which kept much needed supplies out of Sibley's hands. While the Texans would continue their march ever farther northward.⁽²⁶⁾ McRae's former battery was then sent back to Texas and eventually it went on to Louisiana with the survivors of Sibley's brigade. The battery would continue to gain fame as the Valverde Battery in the 1864 Red River Campaign through the end of the war.

Later in the campaign howitzers dueled again at Glorieta on March 28^th. The mountain howitzers of Sibley's 4^th and 5^th Texas Mounted Rifles opposed mountain howitzers manned by Lieutenant Claflin's 1^st U.S. Cavalry, Company G. Union forces, mostly Coloradans, were advancing south from Fort Union in northeastern New Mexico to stop the invading Texans. As they moved south along a road near Glorieta at Pigeon's Ranch they stumbled onto the oncoming Texans. The Union batteries were deployed on a small elevation on and to the left of the road. The Texans were located among a tree-line and their batteries opened fire on the Union guns. The artillery of both sides killed and wounded many of their enemy's men. Within an hour the Yankees were forced to pull back. Both sides kept up a steady fire and attempted to flank the other, but for four hours the lines stayed unchanged. The Yankees were forced to pull back once again to a third defensive position. The Texans made several assaults on the Union lines and their howitzers kept up a constant fire.

At one point it looked like the Texans were going to seize the battery of large field howitzers led by Captain John Ritter of the 5^th U. S. Infantry. The mountain howitzers were told to hold up the Texans long enough for the larger guns to escape, even to the point of sacrificing themselves if need be. Finally after fighting all day the Union forces pulled back to the camp that they had left that very morning.⁽²⁷⁾ The Confederates had won the battle, but they lost the war. Local militia under Major John Chivington had flanked the Texans with a daring march over a mountain pass and destroyed their wagon train. The Texans had to retreat because there were no supplies to be acquired in the area. In the end the lack of supplies, caused by New Mexico's sparse arid land and the locals who hid or burned their crops to keep them out of the hands of the Texans, led to the disastrous retreat of Sibley's brigade all the way back to San Antonio.

During Sibley's retreat southward mountain howitzers saw action at Albuquerque on April 8^th and at Peralta on April 15^th.⁽²⁸⁾ At Peralta Union cavalry overran part of a Confederate wagon train. They captured a mountain howitzer, seven wagons, loaded with much needed supplies, and killed six, wounded three and captured 22 of Sibley's men. Throughout June howitzers continued to participate in the pursuit.⁽²⁹⁾ Eventually the Texans abandoned most of their artillery. Three howitzers, one field and two mountain, were abandoned near the town of Polvadera.⁽³⁰⁾ Eight of their mountain howitzers were buried in Albuquerque and recovered long after the war.

In May Battery A, 3^rd U.S. Artillery under Captain John B. Shinn and Company E, 1^st California Infantry led by Lieutenant Thompson, both of the California Column, were equipped with howitzers for their movement towards New Mexico. Sections of howitzers moved with the supply trains into the rebellious territory to occupy Fort Yuma, just across the border between California and Arizona.⁽³¹⁾ In July the California Column moved into the western half of New Mexico, into what would soon be Arizona. On April 15 a dozen Californians skirmished with ten Confederates at Picacho Pass. It was over very quickly with three Confederates captured and a couple wounded. The Yankees had three killed and three wounded. Overwhelming numbers forced the Confederates, under Sherod Hunter, to retreat from Tucson. Colonel James H. Carleton delayed his entry into Tucson until the arrival Captain Shinn's 3^rd U. S., Battery B. The first time they were used was to fire a salute in Carleton's honor.⁽³²⁾

Union forces had been heading east from Tucson bound for Mesilla, the Confederate territorial capital. In early July a force of 126 men escorted 242 head of cattle and 22 wagons eastward. Water was very rare between Tucson and Mesilla, and every source of it was vital. Captain Thomas L. Roberts of Company E, 1^st California Cavalry moved ahead with 60 infantry, eight cavalry and two mountain howitzers to secure the vital water source at Apache Pass. The rest of the force followed them. At noon on July 15^th the advance force stumbled into the abandoned stage station with its nearby water source. Unbeknownst to them at least 200-300 Apache warriors under Cochise and Mangas Coloradas awaited them in the hillsides around the pass. The Apache launched their ambush just as the men moved towards the pass. One soldier was killed and a teamster wounded in the first Apache volley. The Union soldiers were pinned down 600 yards from the badly needed water. A couple of soldiers were killed trying to get to the water. Eventually the gunners were able to bring their howitzers to bear on the Apaches. This made all the difference and saved the column. Years later Cochise reportedly claimed that he was confident of killing every person in this column. The exploding shells of the howitzers soon scattered the Apache warriors and made the largest Apache against U.S. army battle in Arizona history a victory for the soldiers. In all the Yankees lost three killed and several wounded, while the Apaches losses have been estimated at anywhere between 10 and 70 killed. Apache warriors later told reporters that the howitzers were all that saved the soldiers. The Apache withdrew and Colonel Carleton set up a fort at the Pass to hold the vital water source.⁽³³⁾

A howitzer of the California Column was part of the occupying force for the captured Confederate territorial capital at Mesilla, New Mexico. Two of the mountain howitzers attached to the 1^st California Cavalry were stationed in the town for a couple of months to ensure that the townspeople did not try to oppose them. They never fired at any rebellious townspeople, because most of the rebellious citizens had fled when Sibley's Texas Brigade retreated to San Antonio. The fight had been knocked out of the remaining citizens.⁽³⁴⁾

Spaight's Texas Battalion used howitzers in its opposition of Union landing forces near Sabine Pass, Texas on October 29^th. Union forces regularly sailed past the town in the Pass as they sailed upriver in the course of making raids. Company A of Spaight's Battalion set up at the edge of the town awaiting the raiders. When the Union transport was within 100 yards of the company they opened fire with their rifles and two mountain howitzers. They wounded quite a few people packed onto the transport. The Yankees quickly withdrew and thereafter only raided at places clear of cover for the Confederates and within supporting range of the Union gunboats.⁽³⁵⁾

Mountain howitzers were to play a vital role in wars against the western Indian tribes in the Civil War years. In many states throughout the West the regular army units were pulled out when the Civil War started, to fight in the more important theaters in the East. Also, many of the men of these territories left home to join the growing Union armies. Many Indian tribes saw this as their chance to push the white man out of their home lands. In Minnesota the Sioux began attacking settlers in August. The winter of 1861-1862 had seen the Sioux reduced to near starvation by a poor crop the previous fall. To make things worse Congress delayed the payments owed to the Sioux for lost lands, and the traders would not extend any credit to the tribe. On August 4 a large Sioux force surrounded the headquarters of the Upper Sioux Reservation and the 5^th Minnesota Infantry along the Yellow Medicine River. Another force broke into the agency warehouse to get flour for their starving families. Lieutenant Timothy J. Sheehan aimed a mountain howitzer at the door to stop the theft, but at the same time he persuaded the local Indian Agent to issue flour and pork, and this ended the uprising for the moment.

In the Lower Sioux Reservation, below the Redwood River, things finally exploded into warfare on August 17^th. Four Sioux youths returning from an unsuccessful hunting trip decided to kill the Jones family because they seemed to have food when the Sioux did not. After refusals to give the Indians liquor the young men opened fire on the whites. In the end they had killed three men, one woman and a teenage girl. The next day all of the Sioux bands in the area went to war, fearing that the whites would attack them for the deaths of the women. They destroyed the Lower Sioux Reservation headquarters on August 18^th and killed 13 whites. White settlers fled to Fort Ridgely, 15 miles east of the agency. In 20 Minnesota counties the Sioux killed, took hostages, looted and burned without stop. In all more than 400 settlers died on August 18^th alone. By August 20^th Chief Little Crow assembled 400 or so warriors to attack Fort Ridgely which held only 180 men who could fight. The fort's biggest advantage was that it held a number of artillery pieces, including several mountain howitzers. The artillery held off the first attack on the south and east sides. Little Crow did not attack again until he had received around 400 new reinforcements. On August 22^nd he planned to overrun the defenders in a mass attack. Some warriors tried to use outlying buildings as places to safely fire on the settlers. The artillery destroyed these buildings and drove off the Indians near them. The all-out attack from the southwest was decimated by several pieces firing double charges of canister. The settlers had three killed and 13 wounded in the fighting, and an estimated 100 Sioux were killed or wounded. The failure to take the fort had confined the Sioux to the western portion of Minnesota and away from the more populated eastern valleys and the large city of St. Paul.⁽³⁶⁾

While the Sioux were rampaging throughout Minnesota the state government was assembling a large militia force to oppose them. Regiments were called up and assembled in the area around the capital of St. Paul. Former governor Henry Hastings Sibley, not to be confused with the Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley, was appointed to command the expedition against the Sioux. Soon they had assembled three regiments of infantry and an artillery battery equipped with mountain howitzers. Most of the good artillery and infantry rifles had left the state with their regiments heading to the theaters of the Civil War. The majority of the men were equipped with older European rifles, not as good as the British Enfield or the American Springfield, and it took a while to assemble a good amount of ammunition for the large number of different calibers. Finally in late August the 1,400-man brigade was trained and ready, and they advanced to relieve the besieged settlers.

On August 27^th they relieved Fort Ridgely and nearby New Ulm. A detachment of 200 searching for the Sioux camped at Birch Coulee on the night of September 1^st. Near dawn on the 2^nd the Sioux attacked the mounted force. The soldiers were pinned down without water for 31 hours. By the 3^rd a relief force of 1,200 arrived, including the 3^rd Minnesota Battery, which used its howitzers to quickly drive off the Sioux warriors. However, the soldiers had 24 killed and 90 horses dead, while later interviews with Sioux leaders indicated that they had only two killed in the fighting.

Fort Abercrombie, North Dakota saw howitzers used on September 3-29 by Vander Horck's Minnesota Volunteers. They had been surrounded early on in the uprising by large numbers of Sioux. The settlers and soldiers fought numerous skirmishes over the course of their siege, and many credited the artillery with being the reason that they were not overrun and destroyed. Also, many of the people had older .69 caliber rifles and were quickly running out of ammunition, which would mean the Sioux would soon be able to wipe them all out. However, they opened up some of the canister rounds for the howitzers, on the advise of an older soldier, and discovered that these older rounds contained .69 caliber bullets. This enabled the soldiers and settlers to hang on until relief arrived. Sibley had relieved all of the towns and forts that were under siege by mid-September and then continued in pursuit of the Sioux. More reinforcements continued to arrive in Minnesota to fight the Indians, including the veteran 3^rd Minnesota Infantry. This regiment had been captured at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, but the Confederates quickly paroled them so that they could return home to fight the Indians.

At dawn on September 23^rd Sibley and 1,600 men were surprised to find that they had been surrounded by the Sioux at Wood Lake, Minnesota. The 3^rd Minnesota Infantry discovered the Sioux and a fight began, ending the Sioux's planned ambush. 300 Sioux rushed the camp, but were quickly repulsed after hand-to-hand fighting in the midst of the camp. The cannons opened fire in all directions, cutting down many warriors and making many others flee from the battle. Nearby ravines, which the Sioux were using as ready-made defensive trenches, were eventually cleared by artillery fire and advancing skirmishers. The 3^rd Battery's howitzers fired hundreds of rounds, including many canister charges, in the course of the two-hour battle. The warriors tried to swarm up a nearby ravine, but the howitzers sprayed it with double canister rounds and easily kept the Sioux at a good distance. The Sioux withdrew when their chief, Mankato, was killed by a cannon ball. This battle was a decisive victory for Sibley and marked the end of organized Sioux resistance. Several months of punitive expeditions followed in Minnesota and the Dakota Territory where many of the Sioux had fled. By the end of October Sibley had captured around 2,000 Sioux men, women and children. He sentenced 303 to hang, but President Lincoln commuted the sentences of all, but 40 who were hung in December.⁽³⁷⁾

Howitzers would always be an important weapon in the theater most-neglected by the Washington and Richmond governments. The best of everything, including long-range field pieces, went first to the armies in Virginia and Tennessee. New cannons became even more scarce in the Southern army after the fall of Vicksburg and the cutting-in-half of the Confederacy. Patrick Connor's 3^rd California Infantry had two with them in a campaign against the Shoshone along the Bear River in Utah. In the mind of Colonel Connor they had been assigned to the state to ensure the loyalty of the Mormons. They were also ordered to stop any possible uprisings by the local Indian tribes. Connor seized on the slightest pretense of an uprising to build a reputation as a top-notch military leader and to gain a promotion. A report came in on January 19 that a group of miners had been attacked by a group of Shoshone and one of them was killed. The Indians had told other white settlers that they would continue to attack the locals to get revenge for their mistreatment by Major Edward McGarry, Connor's top lieutenant and rabidly anti-Indian. McGarry had executed four Shoshone warriors over an unproven report that they might have stolen some cattle. Connor assembled 69 infantrymen and two howitzers to attack the Shoshone village on the Bear River. Along the way they were joined by a similar number of cavalry.

The Indians had fortified their camp on a bluff. It had steep sides and the warriors had constructed steps to fire on the Union soldiers without exposing themselves to return fire. Connor left behind his wagons and artillery in his desire to win a quick and decisive fight over the Shoshone. He ordered his men to make a head-on assault, and they were easily repulsed by the entrenched warriors. Connor then sent the cavalry to attack from both flanks. After four hours of hard fighting they succeeded in routing the warriors from their defensive line. The village was destroyed with many women and children killed in the fighting. Connor claimed that his men had killed between 250 and 300 Indians, probably not that high, and suffered 21 killed and 46 wounded. The howitzers could have easily blasted the warriors out of their positions, but due to Connor's rush to gain fame the artillery had been left behind with the wagons. Thus many of Connor's men paid the ultimate price for their leader's ambition. The evening of the 29^th the soldiers had to camp on the sub-zero battlefield, and then trek back many miles to Salt Lake City through a large, fresh snowfall.⁽³⁸⁾

In the Trans-Mississippi most of the fighting was done by large forces of cavalry. Cavalry raids continually moved behind the front lines destroying the supplies of both sides. The newly formed militia battery, the Arkansas (U. S.) Light Artillery, participated in a Union raid through northwest Arkansas in March. They attacked supply depots, wrecked river-boats, destroyed bridges, killed livestock, and generally forced large numbers of Confederates to chase them all over Arkansas trying to stop their raid. The howitzers easily moved with the cavalry and shelled Confederate garrisons throughout the region, helping to drive away many Southern soldiers and making it much easier for the cavalry to continue on their raid unimpeded.⁽³⁹⁾

The 2^nd Missouri (U. S.) Cavalry and several attached howitzers fought at Chalk Bluff, near St. Francis, Missouri on March 10^th. The "Missouri Swamp Fox" M. Jeff Thompson had been raiding Union towns all over southeastern Missouri, so a large Federal force was sent to stop his raids. Thompson planned to attack the Union garrison at Cape Girardeau, but put off the plan when he learned that a large Union force was chasing him. Thompson moved to Chalk Bluff, near St. Francis on the Missouri/Arkansas border, to try and stop the advancing Federals. The Yankees tried to seize the ferry to get over to the other side of the river. Thompson with only 16 men, kept up a constant fire on the Federals and held them at bay. The Yankees brought forward two mountain howitzers, and with his men's rifles, they opened a heavy fire on Thompson's men. The Swamp Fox withdrew only after his men had exhausted all of their ammunition. They had slowed the Yankees down and were able to safely withdraw deeper into the swamps that they operated with relative impunity from.⁽⁴⁰⁾

Howitzers were always part of the arsenals of the under supplied Confederate Missouri forces, but from time to time the Missourians actually had better artillery pieces than their Federal opponents. In mid-March Missouri General John Bowen dispatched part of his division to assist Louisiana Confederates against Yankee forces pushing them back towards the last Southern bastion on the Mississippi River, Vicksburg. They found the Louisianans quickly falling back before the advancing Federals. Colonel Francis Marion Cockrell decided to attack the Yanks who were disorganized and divided as they moved through the swampy, flooded region. He found the Union soldiers at Joshua James's Ione Plantation near New Carthage, Louisiana. This was one of the few pieces of dry, solid land found for many miles. The Federals had spent their time fortifying the plantation, which they were using as a base for raids east towards Vicksburg, and throughout northeastern Louisiana. On April 8^th the Missourians and Louisianans attacked the Yankees. The Yankees quickly responded with fire from two mountain howitzers. The Federals held on for a while, but the devastating fire from the Southern field howitzers was too much for them. The Northern mountain howitzers were unable to take out the Southern guns, and soon had to retire from the field. The Federal infantry quickly broke and ran, and the Confederates occupied the plantation. Cockrell set up an ambush south of the battlefield for any counterattacking Yanks. Late in the day Federal soldiers returned and the Southerners left the plantation luring them towards the ambush. However, darkness quickly fell and the Union re-occupied the plantation without a fight. The Southerners had retaken a Federal advance post, but had then given it up without a fight.⁽⁴¹⁾

In the Indian Nations the Cherokee Legislature was planning to meet at Webber's Falls along the Arkansas River to coordinate the efforts of their warriors with the rest of the Confederacy's soldiers. Stand Watie's brigade was assembled to protect the legislators. Colonel Phillips led his brigade of Kansas and Indian cavalry and a battery of small howitzers to attack Watie and prevent the legislature from meeting. At dawn on April 25^th he attacked Watie's men. The howitzers opened fire and the Union cavalry charged the Southern camp. Within a few minutes Confederate Indians were routed, fleeing for their lives, and the legislators fled, having never started their assembly. Phillips kept the Assembly from coordinating and streamlining their efforts on behalf of the Confederacy. He then moved his command to the Lee's Creek Road to prevent Confederate forces in Arkansas from joining Watie's men to attack him.⁽⁴²⁾

On the same day Battery D of the 2^nd Missouri (U. S.) Artillery fought at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. John S. Marmaduke had led a large force of Southern cavalry and ten artillery pieces, including two mountain howitzers, on a raid into Union-held Missouri. Many Southern details were sent to pick up recruits and supplies or to destroy many Yankee depots, which they did with very little resistance. One of Marmaduke's targets was Cape Girardeau, held by around 500 men and a few artillery pieces. The Federals sortied out to meet the advancing horsemen on April 24^th. Three-quarters of a mile from Cape Girardeau they drew up to await the Southerners. At dawn on the 26^th Marmaduke's men attacked. The Northern field pieces and the larger guns of the Union fort opened fire on the Confederates. Many men were cut down and their assault stalled for a long while. They then tried to attack the Yankee's right flank, but here too they were stopped by well directed artillery fire. An attacking force on the Union left was also driven away. Two mountain howitzers on the left even drove off a Confederate battery. The Federals had taken only a few casualties and they held the field until nightfall ended the fighting. During the night Union reinforcements arrived and Marmaduke's men continued their raid, leaving the town's garrison behind them. The garrison and a number of other units pursued Marmaduke's men until May 2^nd. They skirmished the whole way with the howitzers of both sides being continually in use. The Southern mountain howitzers were too small to do any damage to the Union fortifications and the men sheltered behind them. However, the Yankee howitzers had helped an outnumbered Northern force stop the advance of the Southern raiders and hold out until reinforcements could arrive.⁽⁴³⁾

In late April Marmaduke's horsemen began returning to Arkansas after this relatively successful raid behind Union lines. They had captured a large number of Federal soldiers, seized weapons and supplies, burned forts and bridges, and they brought back a number of recruits and a large stock of desperately needed horses. Federal forces from all over Missouri had tried to run Marmaduke down and destroy him. On several occasions they fought with his rear guard. The Southerners first stopped at Crowley's Ridge, a few miles south of Bloomfield, Missouri. Yankee horsemen caught up and attacked the Rebels, quickly driving them from their camp. The guns of the 2^nd Missouri (U. S.) Light Artillery forced them to abandon three positions over several miles. Two mountain howitzers joined a mounted charge by a Union regiment that forced them from one of these positions. The howitzers moved rapidly, stopping every little bit to fire of the Confederates. The pursuit continued for many miles, but they ended up doing very little damage to Marmaduke's division and he soon was safely back within Confederate lines.⁽⁴⁴⁾

On June 26^th a small Union brigade of infantry, cavalry, and four artillery pieces was sent to accompany a supply train from Baxter Springs, Kansas to Fort Blunt in the Cherokee Nation. On July 1^st they found a Southern force posted to stop them across Cabin Creek in the Indian Nations. A 12-pound field howitzer of the 1^st Kansas Colored Volunteers and two mountain howitzers of Major Foreman's 3^rd Indian Home Guards opened fire on the entrenched Rebels. The artillery fire allowed Union scouts to check and see if the train could cross the river. Finding it too deep to ford the Yankees dug in and waited on its level to subside. Early on July 2^nd, having discovered that the river's level had gone down enough to allow the men to cross the creek they prepared to attack. The Confederates, including Stand Watie's and James McIntosh's Indian brigades and two Texas regiments. The Union howitzers were posted in the center and far right of the line. At 8:00 a.m. the Union artillery opened a brisk fire to cover the assaulting Federal soldiers. It continued for forty minutes without letup. The artillery stopped shooting and the men moved to attack. At first the Yankees thought the Rebels had already left their positions, but as they reached the far shore the Southerners suddenly rose up and delivered a devastating volley. Major Foreman of the 3^rd Indian Home Guards was seriously wounded in the opening volley and the Yankees pulled back in some disorder.

The Federals opened a heavy fire with rifles and all of the artillery for twenty minutes, and then kept up the fire to cover the assaulting column. The Yankees suffered only three or four wounded, and drew up in line of battle. The Southerners drew up 400 yards away to await the Yankees. Colonel Williams ordered one company of the 1^st Kansas to attack the center to determine the size and disposition of the Rebels. Surprisingly the one-company attack not only penetrated the Southern line, but also broke it and put the whole Confederate force to flight. They pursued the Rebels for five miles, killing a number and dispersing the rest. The artillery had shaken up the enemy who lacked any artillery of their own, and played a big part in helping a small number of Yankees to easily disperse a much larger force of Southern and Indian infantry. The Yankees only suffered one killed and twenty wounded. While the Rebs probably suffered many more killed, wounded and captured.⁽⁴⁵⁾

In Louisiana on March 30^th a Yankee force was ordered to explore the possibility of securing a road connecting Richmond and New Carthage on the Mississippi River. They hoped then to have an easier access to supplies. As the force moved towards Richmond they encountered a strong, mounted Confederate force, which they soon drove away. However, the Yankee commander felt he was not strong enough to hold the town so he retreated. A second, stronger Union force, consisting of the 6^th Missouri Cavalry and its two mountain howitzers, was sent out on April 2^nd to permanently occupy Richmond. On the 3^rd the Missourians were sent toward New Carthage, along with two Illinois cavalry regiments and two mountain howitzers attached to them. The Rebels burned every bridge before the Federals and slowed them down, but by dawn of April 6^th the Federals were approaching the town. At James's Plantation, a mile and a half from New Carthage, they ran into a small Southern force. The plantation was the only dry land for a ways around so the Yankees had to have it to continue their advance. The two Illinois mountain howitzers joined the 69^th Indiana Infantry in driving away the Confederates after an hour of fighting. They were left behind to hold the important plantation. The Missouri howitzers continued forward as the only remaining Union artillery. On the 7^th they shelled a Confederate force at Dunbar's Plantation and easily drove it away. By the 10^th of April more Union divisions were sent to assist General Osterhaus in securing the route. Infantry skirmishing continued every day until the 17^th. So many Union soldiers were in the area that the Southern soldiers had to abandon New Carthage without any more resistance. The howitzers performed well moving through the marshy region without bogging down, and providing artillery support which drove off many Confederate soldiers from in front of Osterhaus's division.⁽⁴⁶⁾

The Confederate's Valverde (Texas) Battery, captured from McRae at the Battle of Valverde in New Mexico, fought Union forces at Fort Bisland, Louisiana on April 12-13. They had taken many months to move east from New Mexico to San Antonio, and they stayed there for several months resting and recruiting more cannoneers. In late 1862 they were sent to Louisiana to stop any Union invasion of Texas from the east. On April 12^th Union commander of Louisiana, Nathaniel P. Banks, dispatched 12,000 men to attack the Confederate's Fort Bisland on the Teche River. By nightfall they were close to the fort and began shelling it. The Valverde Battery was posted in the trenches around the fort and fired back at the Yankee artillery. One section was heavily damaged, but they helped to repulse the infantry assault on April 13^th. The Federals were cut down in large numbers, and never got closer than 60 yards to the fort. After darkness the Union force retreated back down the river.⁽⁴⁷⁾

The 39^th Mississippi Infantry used mountain howitzers in its defense of Port Hudson, Louisiana on May 27^th. As a part of U. S. Grant's campaign to take the Confederate Gibraltar, Vicksburg, a second force was sent north from New Orleans to besiege and take another Southern bastion on the River, the river town of Port Hudson. Among the Union force moving towards the fortified city was a thousand-man Black regiment. They surrounded Port Hudson on May 25^th and the siege continued until July 7^th, three days after the fall of Vicksburg. Two days after surrounding the Port Hudson-Confederates General Banks ordered the first assault on their works. The Black soldiers were placed on the extreme right of the Union line. The battle began early in the morning and continued until well after dark. The Yankees advanced over a 600 yard wide clearing, continually under fire from Southern rifles and cannons. Two mountain howitzers were in the stretch of works held by the 39^th Mississippi Infantry. They served on the guns, which could put out more balls in one shot than if the men had been using their rifles. The howitzers fired hundreds of canister rounds into the advancing Federals and cut many down. The Blacks suffered over 40% casualties. The regiment was wrecked, and did not participate in any other assaults on the Southern fortifications. Over the four week siege Nathaniel Banks attacked the Confederate works three times, and cost the Union army 4,363 casualties with nothing to show for it. The Confederates lost 623 in the course of the siege, but they surrendered the entire of garrison of 6,300 men and 51 cannons. The fall of Port Hudson completely severed the Confederacy and reopened the Mississippi to Union armies and traders.⁽⁴⁸⁾

In Texas the Southern leaders were cobbling together a naval force to try and fend off the much more numerous Union fleet. Some were gunboats that they captured from the Yankees or bought in Europe and Mexico. Mostly they took common steamboats and re-equipped them with steel or cotton armor and whatever artillery happened to be available at the time of the conversion. Mountain howitzers were not used for ship-to-ship fighting by the Union navy, but the Southern navy often had no choice but to use the small guns. Two mountain howitzers on the C. S. S. Josiah H. Bell and the C. S. S. Uncle Ben participated in fending off Union attempts in the region near Sabine Pass, Texas on June 24^th. They did not fight pitched naval battles, but their presence ended the previously constant naval raids by the blockading fleet.⁽⁴⁹⁾

On July 17^th one of the most important battles in the far west occurred at Honey Springs in the Indian Nations. Mountain howitzers used by the 6^th Kansas Cavalry and Lee's (C. S.) Light Battery both saw action. At daybreak on the 17^th a force of Union cavalry, infantry and artillery ran into Douglas Cooper's brigade of Southern Indians and Texans posted under the cover of a stand of timber along Elk Creek. Skirmishers of the 6^th Kansas drove the Southerners from the trees after a difficult fight of an hour and a half. They turned the right of the Rebel line and forced them to pull back. The howitzers of the 6^th Kansas and three howitzers in Lee's Light Artillery fired continually, but the artillery were not much of a factor in the fight. The cavalry drove the Southerners from the tree-line, then mounted and pursued the retreating soldiers. Stand Watie's Indians and the Texans did not pull back far. They tried to make another stand in the same woods, but the mountain howitzers and some other artillery opened fire and quickly routed them. Cooper lost 200 men killed, wounded and captured, and one of Lee's mountain howitzers. The Southerners fled in some disorder and the Yankees gave up their pursuit after a few miles. Two Southern brigades neared the area and the Union army soon retreated. The war in the Indian nations had degenerated into a series of raids and counter-raids by the opposing armies.⁽⁵⁰⁾

The fighting against various Indian tribes had moved from Minnesota into North Dakota in late 1862. Nearly 4,200 men, mostly from Minnesota and Iowa, had assembled under Brigadier Generals Alfred Sully and Henry H. Sibley. Sibley led several Minnesota infantry regiments out on July 26^th in an attempt to run down the warring Indians. The 7^th Minnesota Militia Infantry marched with a battery of mountain howitzers. On the 27^th the Yankees skirmished with Indian warriors trying to steal or kill the teams pulling their wagons. They encamped near Stony Lake and began marching early on the 28^th. The 7^th was at the rear of the Union line. Indians appeared south of the lake and quickly circled to attack the 7^th and the Union rear. The 7^th occupied broken ground south of the lake, and posted a section of mountain howitzers on the nearest elevation. A few shots from the howitzers caused the Indians to withdraw quickly and quite a distance. Two other mountain howitzers and two 6-pounders fired from other points on the Union line, cutting down many warriors and chasing off many others. The Yankee column was able to continue its march and the Indians stopped attacking them for a little while. Neither side had the energy to continue fighting at this time.⁽⁵¹⁾

Later in the campaign the 3^rd Minnesota Battery fought at Killdeer Mountain almost continuously from July 28^th to August 12^th. Brigadier General Alfred Sully had led a separate column of Minnesota and Iowa militiamen in pursuit of the warring Indians at the same time as Sibley's force. At the same time Sibley was under assault Sully's force was also attacked on July 28^th at Killdeer mountain, by a very large force of Indian warriors. The Indians claimed a force of only 1,600 while Sully said he was attacked by 6,000. No matter which estimate was correct it was one of the largest forces of attacking warriors ever seen in the entire course of the Indian Wars. Sully formed a square with his men and placed the artillery, including four mountain howitzers, in the middle of the square. Each edge of the Union square was reported to be a mile long. The square marched 75 miles and by August 12^th they had reached a new supply base on the Yellowstone River. The artillery often fired exploding shot and canister to keep the Indians away and allow the square to move unimpeded. Artillery often saved outnumbered army forces throughout the course of the Indian Wars.⁽⁵²⁾

In late July the Union Army of the Frontier began moving forward to try and capture the Arkansas capital of Little Rock. Throughout the first week of August they pursued elusive Confederate detachments, but could rarely even encounter them, much less fight the Rebels. The cavalry division skirmished with a large Southern cavalry force at Brownsville on the 23^rd, and easily pushed the outnumbered Confederates out of the way. They continued pushing southward and pursuing the Rebel horsemen. On the 29^th a small Union force skirmished 12 miles south of Brownsville. On the 30^th Colonel J. F. Ritter's larger brigade and Stange's 2^nd Missouri (U. S.) Light Artillery, Battery M, made up of four mountain howitzers, were sent out in the same direction to drive off the Rebels. They fought at Bayou Meto, Arkansas only 8 miles from Brownsville. The howitzers blew gaping holes in the Southern lines and disheartened many others. Ritter's dismounted horsemen pushed forward and forced the Confederate cavalrymen to retreat. The Federals had only five wounded and the Rebels left nine dead on the field. The fire of the howitzers and the rapid attacks of Ritter's men enabled the Yankees to capture intact three bridges and the railroad over the Bayou Meto. The Federal horsemen continued to push southward, learning that the Southerners were entrenched north of Little Rock awaiting the Federals. The Yankee infantry pushed forward slowly and eventually took the capital after a series of short sieges and rapid maneuvers.⁽⁵³⁾

On August 31^st the Arkansas (U. S.) Light Artillery was called up to Federal service to help the Yankees fight Southern guerillas and it was equipped entirely with mountain howitzers. They were the only Arkansas Federal Battery formed in the course of the war. They served for almost a year and were mustered out on August 10, 1864. 25 members of the battery had died in their year of Union service.⁽⁵⁴⁾

The Union cavalry division had spearheaded the attempt to seize the Arkansas capital of Little Rock. They had a number of artillery pieces, including six mountain howitzers of Stange's 2^nd Missouri, Battery M and Lovejoy's Merrill Horse Artillery. Two of Stange's howitzers were sent to accompany the lead regiment of the Union advance. Outside of Arkadelphia they continued to find abandoned equipment, destroy arms and ammunition, and to capture a large number of Confederate stragglers. On September 10^th the lead regiment, the 8^th Missouri (U. S.) Cavalry, encountered stiffening resistance in the hard-to-cross Bayou Fourche, just a few miles from Little Rock. They found two artillery pieces and a large Confederate force, mostly Marmaduke's Cavalry Division, dug-in and awaiting them. Stange's two howitzers were brought forward and opened fire on the Southern guns. The fighting surged back and forth for a while, with the Confederates claiming they had captured Stange's two guns. However, after a bit the Confederates were forced to retreat again and leave behind the two Union guns. The Federals continued to pursue the Rebels ever closer to the capital. On the 11^th four mountain howitzers were sent along with the lead horsemen to continue the pursuit, but they found that the Southerners had not stopped retreating from the fight at the Bayou the night before. The Confederates had pulled out of the works before Little Rock without a fight and continued to head south. On the 12^th the horsemen continued to pursue the Rebels, picking up a large number of prisoners. Every time that the Southern rear-guard tried to make a stand Stange's mountain howitzers quickly broke up their resistance.⁽⁵⁵⁾

On October 4^th Major General James G. Blunt, his staff, and two companies of cavalry left Fort Scott, Kansas for Fort Blunt in the Cherokee Nation. At dawn on the 7^th as they neared a fortified camp at Baxter Springs, Kansas they were attacked by Missouri guerillas under the notorious William Clarke Quantrill. The camp and the column were attacked at the same time. The column was wiped out quickly and easily by the tough horse raiders, with only 10 of the 100 men and General Blunt escaping to the camp. Many of the corpses were later found scalped, castrated and with single bullets through their heads. The camp was attacked, but the fire of the black garrison, the dismounted white cavalry, and the mountain howitzer of the 3^rd Wisconsin Cavalry killed a lot of the guerillas and ended any chance of the garrison being slaughtered. The first attack before dawn on the 7^th actually got some of Quantrill's men through the breastworks of the camp, but they were driven off after some hard hand-to-hand fighting. After being repulsed Quantrill reformed his men for a second assault. This was to be a more careful assault by the raiders. Quantrill formed his men in a more-traditional line of battle, but before they could move forward the garrison opened fire with its cannon. The howitzer had been quickly rolled outside of the camp and its fire broke Quantrill's men and ended the attack. The fighting in Missouri and Kansas was some of the most vicious of the entire Civil War and Quantrill's men were some of the toughest and meanest. But the fortitude of the black garrison and the fire of the howitzer decimated William Clarke Quantrill's attack and saved the lives of most of the garrison.⁽⁵⁶⁾

Union corps and armies made repeated forays into Louisiana throughout the fall. The Confederate cavalry was pushed back in late October by one such Federal advance. Washington, Louisiana fell to the Yankees on October 23^rd and Richard Taylor rushed infantry and artillery to help his hard-pressed horsemen. Among the forces rushed to the area was the Valverde Battery, which included in its arms a pair of mountain howitzers. The Valverde Battery and the remnants of Sibley's Texas Brigade from New Mexico had reported to Louisiana in early March, some of the few reinforcements that Richard Taylor had ever received. Taylor formed his 11,000 or so men in line-of-battle near Moundville and dug in to await the expected Federal advance. The Southern artillery was planted to cover the road that the Yankees would have to take to move their wagons and cannons. They also wanted to fire on any large, solid pieces of land where infantry could form to attack him. After waiting for a while Taylor sent two infantry regiments forward to Washington with the cavalry. Here they found that the Yankees were already retreating towards Opelousas, rather than futilely attacking Taylor in a strong, prepared position. Taylor was a genius at maneuvering his outnumbered men so that the Federals had to attack him on ground he had chosen and had dug tough, defensive trenches. Many Yankee generals learned not to attack Taylor, even when they outnumbered him, unless they had no choice, or both sides had blundered into each other and were not already entrenched.⁽⁵⁷⁾

In late 1863, General Frederick Steele occupied the Confederate Arkansas capital of Little Rock. The Confederates were driven many miles south of the town by the superior numbers and arms of the Federals. The Southern cavalry division of John Marmaduke, always one of the best Confederate units in the Trans-Mississippi, was sent to attack the large Union advance post at Pine Bluff. This would hopefully encourage other Yankees to retreat if it fell. The division crossed the Saline River between their base at Princeton and the targeted town. Soon after dawn Marmaduke sent a demand for surrender to the town's garrison, but the 600 Yankees showed their defiance by fortifying the public square at the middle of the town. They placed cotton bales as defensive walls to fight behind, and they planted six mountain howitzers and three steel rifled guns so that they commanded every street leading into the square. Marmaduke's 2,000 men and eight cannons hastily occupied the Yankee's camp and all the rest of the town. The brick courthouse in the square was filled with sharpshooters and the Confederates discovered that in combination with the nine Federal guns the square could only fall to a massed assault. The Southerners exchanged fire for a while with the Yankees, but the Union guns kept them at bay.

By 2:00 p.m. Marmaduke decided the cost of overwhelming the Yankees would not be worth the gain. As they pulled back the garrison advanced from their works and attacked the Southern horsemen, but were quickly and easily driven off. The Yankees reported 11 killed and 27 wounded, and the Southerners suffered 40 casualties in the brief skirmish. Marmaduke failed to capture the garrison, but he showed the Yankees that the Southern army still had the ability to mount a major attack. Steele ended the random, widely scattered Union forays southward. Instead, he kept his army more concentrated and left more of the farmlands of Arkansas in Confederate hands.⁽⁵⁸⁾

Richard Taylor's army continued its pursuit of the various Yankee divisions raiding Louisiana throughout late October and early November. General Thomas Green led his cavalry division and an infantry brigade in pursuit of the Yankees who had attacked Washington, Louisiana just a week previously. Early on November 3^rd Green's force continued moving on the Federal camp eight miles south of Opelousas. The Federals were 5,000-6,000 men of the XIII Corps serving as the Union rearguard and awaiting the Southerners, while the rest of the Union army was four miles farther south. Green planned for one brigade to move from the east and distract the Yankees, while other units, including the Valverde Battery, attacked from the northwest. The infantry began the battle by driving down the only road and clearing it for the movement of artillery. The dismounted horsemen and the infantry continued their assault on the main Union lines, while all of the Confederate guns, including the two mountain howitzers of the Valverde Battery, opened fire on the Yankees who were using a nearby ditch for a defensive trench. Green had unknowingly stumbled upon a much larger Federal force than he thought. His men attacked the blue coats several times, but the numbers told and the Yankees forced them back little by little.

For a time the soldiers of both sides halted and an artillery duel ensued, but neither side's guns did much damage to their enemy. Union cavalry got behind the Confederates and tried to cut them off so that they could capture or destroy Green's infantrymen. Green's cavalry kept the road open and allowed the infantry to successfully leave the field. The Yankees pursued the Rebels, but were held at arms length by the fire of the light batteries. In all the infantry lost 21 killed, 82 wounded and 38 captured out of 950 men, but they captured 600 and killed or wounded 200. The short, little battle was a tactical draw, and the artillery never had a chance to produce a victory.⁽⁵⁹⁾

At Fayetteville, Arkansas on November 7^th the 1^st Arkansas (U. S.) Cavalry and its two mountain howitzers were sent out to rout a Southern brigade at nearby Yellville. The Union horsemen moved quickly, skirmishing several times with guerillas. On the 9^th they learned that the Rebels had moved towards Huntsville and they raced off in pursuit. Around noon they encountered the Confederates. The howitzers and the dismounted Yankee horsemen moved forward to attack. The Southerners beat them to the punch and attacked first, but were easily driven off. Five exploding case rounds from the guns and three volleys from the horsemen caused the Confederates to flee in great panic from the field. The 1^st Arkansas raced after them for many miles. An hour after sunrise on November 10^th they attacked the Rebels again. Five rounds from the guns again sped the Southerners on their way. Seven miles below Kingston the Confederate horsemen attempted to make a stand near the base of a mountain. They skirmished for a while, but when the howitzers came up the Rebels left without waiting to be shelled again. The Yankees pursued them until dark. On the 11^th the Union horsemen stopped and fed the men and the horses. Early on the 12^th they pursued the Rebels again. The command was split up, with 136 men and one howitzer continuing the pursuit. The pursuit went on for a couple more days, but they only caught some scattered stragglers. The rapid pursuit of the 1^st Arkansas and the destructive fire of the howitzers demoralized this Southern force and ended their ability to fight the Yankees for a long time.⁽⁶⁰⁾

Fighting in the Indian Territory had descended into a series of retaliatory hit-and-run raid by Union or Southern Indian forces in late 1863. In mid-December the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd Indian (U. S.) Regiments headed, and one mountain howitzer, into Southern-held parts of the Territory. Early on December 18^th the Yankees found Stand Watie's men formed up in line-of-battle to receive their attack. The Union force quickly brought their howitzer to the front. After a couple of shots by the howitzer the Southern line broke. The Yankees pursued them for a mile or so, but the Confederates soon rallied and launched a counter-attack. The rebels were easily driven off by the howitzer, but the Southern soldiers stayed on a nearby hill and sniped at the Union soldiers for several hours with no real damage being done to either side. The Union commanders acted like they were retreating to lure the Southerners out into the open. They then rushed up the howitzer, and after a couple of rounds the Confederate Indians again broke and ran. However, this time they made no appreciable attempt to rally. In spite of driving off Watie's raiders the Union had little to show for the affair. The raids by Watie, and others, continued without letup. The war descended from this point into a series of strategically useless, but almost unstoppable, raids and would continue this way throughout the rest of the Civil War in the Indian Territory.⁽⁶¹⁾

Howitzers were used constantly against various Indian tribes during the course of the Civil War. Mostly because their light weight allowed them to keep up with cavalry chasing the fast moving Indians and required few horses or men to move them. Also, the bigger guns were mostly reserved for the more vital theaters of the war, not for attacking rebellious Indians. In California several tribes used the distractions of the war in the east to allow them to attack the white settlers. California officers learned where a large number of these raiding warriors were encamped in mid-December. On December 25^th one company of the 1^st California Mountaineers, from Fort Gaston, was sent against the Indians. The volunteers moved to surround the warriors, but they pulled back after one of their men was seriously wounded. A mountain howitzer and another company were sent to reinforce them on the 26^th. The Indian warriors were holed up in several log-cabins in a forest clearing 25 miles north of the fort. They kept up a heavy fire on the soldiers and the thick log wall prevented the Volunteers from doing much damage Wto the Indians.

The howitzer was rushed forward, and after a couple of practice rounds it began to play with great effect on the cabin walls. The soldiers decided to use the howitzer to destroy the Indians, rather than take the cabins by storm, which would have resulted in many of them being injured or killed. Overnight, while the soldiers awaited more howitzer ammunition, many of the Indian warriors escaped in the darkness. Two Indians were found dead in the houses, and evidence indicating that several more were wounded. The Californians found horses and mules, saddles, rifles, swords and numerous other objects stolen in raids in all of the cabins. The howitzer's fire taught the Indians that thick walls could not protect them from the fire of American soldiers, so they were forced to turn increasingly to hit-and-run raids and ambushes.⁽⁶²⁾

One of the strangest and most unique uses of a mountain howitzer came in Montana. Vigilantes started rounding up and hanging any criminals they found around Bannack, Montana in January 1864. On one day alone they hung three members of the Plummer Gang, including its leader. When no more of Plummer's men were found the Vigilante Committee started looking for other criminals. On the 13^th the townspeople learned that Jo Pizanthia, a Mexican that they believed was a wanted bank robber, was holed up in a log cabin built against the base of a hill above the town. A large group headed for the cabin, and two leaders went up and demanded that Pizanthia surrender himself. They got no answer and decided to go into the cabin to look for him. Just after the two men entered the cabin shots rang out and they both came stumbling out with gunshot wounds. One man soon died of his wound. This enraged the citizens and they wanted Pizanthia's head. The cabin had thick walls which would stop bullets and the people were unwilling to risk themselves in storming the place. Several years before all of this a mountain howitzer barrel had been left behind by a wagon train when its carriage broke. The townspeople drug it close to Pizanthia's house and set it on a box. The first round they loaded was exploding shot, but they forgot to cut the fuze and it went completely through the cabin before burying itself in the ground without exploding. The second exploding shot also went all the way through without exploding.

The exasperated citizens decided to try solid shot to drive the wanted man out. The would-be cannoneers aimed at the chimney of the cabin which they believed was where the man was hiding. The shot knocked a large hole in the side of the house, and the citizens poured their fire through the hole, but there was no return fire. A small party rushed the cabin, where they found an unconscious Jo Pizanthia pinned under the door which the cannon had knocked loose. One vigilante emptied his pistol into the unfortunate criminal, and then the crowd drug his body outside and hung it from the nearest telegraph pole. They then turned back and completely demolished the cabin. It was then set on fire and Pizanthia's corpse was tossed on the impromptu pyre. It is surprising that the vigilantes did not injure themselves, firing a cannon with heavy recoil sitting loose on top of a box, or that they did not kill someone on the far side of the cabin as their shells punched through it.⁽⁶³⁾

Mountain howitzers were a common sight in the various Indian conflicts that occurred during the Civil War. The better guns were mostly reserved for the Civil War fighting, and the short range howitzers were shunted off to the less important theaters of battle, especially to units fighting rebellious Indian tribes. From mid-1863 to mid-1865 the 7^th Iowa Cavalry was one of the regiments assigned to protect Americans from Indian attacks. For most of their service in the West they had two or more mountain howitzers assigned to posts they were stationed at. They rarely used them in any battles, but the mere presence of the howitzers often served to scare off any potential attacks by hostile Indian warriors. Captain Eugene Ware worked his men on the guns often so that they would know how the howitzers worked, and how to gauge distances and flight times for their shells. The guns were set up to be visible to any tribesman and used as a veiled warning to Sioux and Pawnee chiefs during 1864 peace negotiations. The cavalrymen appreciated the light weight of the howitzer, which enabled it to move quickly, and the added firepower it gave outnumbered soldiers defending a fort against hostile Indian warriors.⁽⁶⁴⁾

From March 10^th to May 22^nd a large number of mountain howitzers served on both sides in the Red River Campaign in Louisiana. Major General Nathaniel Banks led portions of the XIII, XVI, XVII and XIX Corps, and a huge flotilla of ironclads and transports, from New Orleans, intending to cut Louisiana off from Arkansas and to eventually invade Texas from the newly captured heart of Louisiana. At the same time Major General Frederick Steele was leading his army deeper into Arkansas so that the Confederates could not concentrate their scattered garrisons to try and stop Banks's invasion. Early on Banks's men encountered only small Southern garrisons and quickly captured many key Red River forts, such as Fort De Russy. By April 2^nd the Federals had arrived at Natchitoches, Louisiana, in the northwestern part of the state. As they neared the Grand Ecore area the river began falling threatening to trap the boats, especially the deeper-draft gunboats.

On April 7^th at Carroll's Mill the Confederates had finally concentrated enough manpower that they made their first serious stand against Banks. The Southern horsemen and the Valverde Battery, with its mountain howitzers, stopped along the Ten Mile Bayou. The Union cavalry attacked. The artillery of both sides poured shot and shell into their enemy. Twice the Yankees pushed the Confederates across the stream, and twice the Southerners pushed them back, with the help of the Valverde Battery. When darkness fell the Confederates held the only source of drinkable water for miles around. The Union cavalry suffered a number of casualties, and its failure to secure the water forced many Yankee soldiers to fight the next day with no water to drink. Richard Taylor used the time that this battle bought him to assemble all of his available forces, including reinforcements from Arkansas and Texas, to stop Banks's advance on Shreveport and eventually Texas.⁽⁶⁵⁾

On April 8^th Union howitzers were used at the Battle of Pleasant Hill or Mansfield. Several batteries of Iowa and Missouri howitzers accompanied Bank's Union forces. They were opposed by several Confederate howitzers, including those of the Valverde Battery. Once again the Yankees finally pushed the Rebels from the field of battle. Late in the day the Yankees were pushing for the vital Sabine Cross-roads, but here the Confederates dug in to stop them. The Union soldiers were rushing for the junction when the Southerners opened a hail of lead on them from the infantry and cavalry, as well as from all the cannons that could be placed to stop the Union push. The rapid fire of the men and the artillery cut huge wholes through the ranks of the Yankee soldiers. This time it was the Yankees who were forced to retreat, pursued the whole way by Taylor's men. Banks decided erroneously that he was opposed by the whole 22,000-25,000 Confederate army in the Trans-Mississippi theater. He decided to retreat to New Orleans. The Federal army's steamboats were trapped by the falling water and Banks almost had to lose or destroy them. Eventually Union engineers dammed off part of the river, raising the water level so that the ships could escape the shallows.

By mid-May Banks's army had returned to New Orleans, but with nothing to show for it other than a large number of casualties. They had captured 23 cannons and 1,500 Confederate soldiers He had not succeeded in any of the campaigns objectives and held no new portions of the state. He also lost a large amount supplies and ammunition, a number of cannons and wagons, including two mountain howitzers and 16 larger guns lost with the cavalry's wagon train. The mountain howitzers used by both sides proved their worth in this campaign. The howitzer was light and small, so it fit better into Union transports than bigger guns did. Its light weight allowed it to move through the dense forests and swampy marshes of northwestern Louisiana where bigger artillery pieces would have been prohibited from going or easily trapped. The best service the guns did was in the close-in fighting of early April. The thick stands of trees in the battlefields prohibited much long range shelling of the enemy. The howitzers discharged a hail of 150 or more .58-caliber musket balls when they were firing double-canister. This load was devastating to the soldiers it was aimed at. Howitzers helped Banks's cavalry push rapidly through any Southern resistance early in the campaign and they helped Richard Taylor blunt Banks's advance, and save northern Louisiana and east Texas for the already beleaguered Confederacy.⁽⁶⁶⁾

While Richard Taylor was defeating Banks in Louisiana, the Confederates were forcing Union General William Steele to retreat northward rather than keep pushing south to link up with Bank's army. Steele, desperately in need of supplies, had sent out a number of expeditions around Camden, Arkansas to gather all the food and forage they could find. The Southern cavalry worked to stop these expeditions and starve Steele out of middle Arkansas. On April 18^th the Rebel horsemen lay in ambush for the Union foragers at Poison Spring. A Union cavalry force, with a battery of four mountain howitzers, advanced to attack the house that spies had told them was Jo Shelby's headquarters. Shelby expected them and had prepared an ambush.

Collin's Battery was masked in the trees and the howitzers set up in front of it at almost point-blank range. The Yankees opened fire on Shelby's headquarters, but were greatly surprised when Collin's guns opened up on them. The howitzers were facing the worst fears of every artillery battery, but especially of any battery of short-range mountain howitzers. They were driven off so quickly that they never even had a chance to respond. According to John Edwards, Shelby's chief of staff, "There never was a fire more effective, and never a battery more rapidly silenced and driven away." Union infantry attempted to break Shelby's men, but Shelby's hard-fighting horsemen and Collin's surprisingly accurate battery decimated the Federals and drove them away. Steele was forced to return to Camden without his much needed food, and soon he gave up the campaign and returned to Union positions in northern Arkansas.⁽⁶⁷⁾

In late March the 5^th Kansas Cavalry and its two mountain howitzers were sent to scout the Confederates in the area around Camden and Monticello, Arkansas. A small detachment discovered that the Southerners were making preparations to leave Monticello. The 5^th's commander, Colonel Powell Clayton, planned to move to Mount Elba, Arkansas to block the Confederate movement. On March 28^th he had assembled a force of 500 infantry, 600 cavalry, four mountain howitzers and two steel rifled guns to oppose any Rebel movement. The entire Yankee force arrived near Mount Elba around 4:00 p.m. and drove off their pickets. At dawn on the 29^th Clayton took most of the cavalry and three of the cannons, at least one being a howitzer, and advanced in the direction of Camden and Monticello, leaving the infantry and three of the guns at Mount Elba. Various detachments of horsemen were sent out to destroy any of the Southerners's depots, pontoon bridge and wagon trains that they might encounter. The raiders returned by the next day having successfully destroyed a large number of wagons and capturing over 250 prisoners.

Early on the 30^th the Southern horsemen assaulted the infantry at Mount Elba and demonstrated against a small Union force left to watch them near Monticello. Realizing the Monticello detachment was in no danger, Clayton immediately rushed reinforcements to the Mount Elba force, but found that the infantry and artillery had easily repulsed the Confederates. He massed all of his artillery, and a few rounds sped the retreating Rebels on their way. The Southerners broke and raced away in "the wildest confusion," according to Colonel Clayton. They pursued the Rebels for five miles, capturing a number of prisoners, but the Confederates tore up a bridge over the Big Creek and halted their pursuers. Two Confederate brigades were involved in the fighting and lost over 400 men killed, captured or wounded. The Yankees had destroyed 35 wagons loaded with stores and ammunition, a pontoon bridge over the Saline River and captured 300 horses and mules. All the while they lost only two killed and eight missing. The howitzers and the rest of the artillery broke the attack on the infantry at Mount Elba, and demoralized the Southerners so that their retreat turned into a total rout.⁽⁶⁸⁾

After this rout of the Southern brigades the Union army kept up continual pressure on the rest of the Southern army in northern Arkansas. From April 10^th through the 15^th the two armies were continually fighting with each other from Prairie D'Ane to White Oak Creek. Among the Union forces engaged was the cavalry and Captain Gustave Stange's 2^nd Missouri Light Artillery, Battery M, both equipped with mountain howitzers. On the 12^th the Federals outflanked the Confederates and forced them out of their works on the Prairie, and pursued them as they retreated several miles to the White Oak Creek. Early on April 15^th the Yankees attacked the Southerners again. The Rebels opened fire with five artillery pieces on the advancing Federals, and the Union mountain howitzers of Stange and the cavalry were among those that replied to the fire with impressive accuracy. The cavalry moved to attack the Southerners flanks. The combined pressure of the frontal assault and the flank movements forced the Confederates back. The fire of the mountain howitzers, which advanced with the infantry skirmishers, pushed the Southerners back two miles. The Yankees pursued the Confederates the rest of the day until they came to Camden. The pursuit was halted when night fell. The Federal mountain howitzers helped to drive the Confederates from many miles of fertile and important Arkansas farmlands and hay fields with a relatively small number of casualties.⁽⁶⁹⁾

In late August Sterling Price mounted a large-scale invasion of Missouri. He destroyed large stretches of railroads, numerous bridges, and captured many, scattered Federal garrisons. He also wanted to recruit men and gather horses to replenish his depleted brigades. It took the Union leaders a while to make a concerted effort to destroy the Southern raiders. By mid September they began moving to encircle and destroy Price's horsemen. On October 12^th the 5^th Missouri (U. S.) State Militia Cavalry was sent to scout the Confederate-held town of Boonville, Missouri. A few miles from the town he ran into 300 Southern cavalry, and after a short fight drove them back on their second line which had 800-900 more men. The 5^th had two mountain howitzers and brought them up to the battle line. After a few rounds the Confederates withdrew to a third line, where they had two artillery pieces of their own. The 5^th held up and awaited reinforcements, but were soon ordered to rejoin the rest of their division at California, Missouri. They only lost 2 killed and 4 wounded, while the Southerners reportedly suffered a lot worse in the fighting. The pursuit of Price would continue for a long while.⁽⁷⁰⁾

Cavalry raids deep behind enemy lines depend on rapid movement and the surprise it brings. However, Sterling Price had encumbered himself with a huge train of captured wagons, refugees and unarmed recruits. All of these greatly slowed down his column. He refused to destroy the wagons so that they could move faster, until it was too late to save many of his men.

Jo Shelby's Iron Brigade led the advance of Price's army on the Union bastion at Lexington, Missouri. In the afternoon of October 19^th they discovered 2,000 cavalry and eight mountain howitzers drawn up to stop them, several miles from the town. The veteran Southerners slammed into the inexperienced garrison and militia force. The fight was brisk for a while, with many men being cut down in the flying storm of shot and shell, but the Yankees were soon broken and pursued for many miles.⁽⁷¹⁾ On October 21^st the 11^th Kansas Cavalry rushed with its two howitzers to rescue a the remnants of this force at the Little Blue River. The Confederates were attacking this small force to destroy them and to gain the vital ford so that they could delay their pursuers. The four howitzers of the 11^th Kansas and the 10^th Missouri opened fire on the attackers, and soon drove them back. The 11^th's guns were pulled back from an open position in a field because the Southern sharpshooters were killing many of the cannoneers. In spite of their losses the larger Confederate force kept coming and eventually flanked the garrison, forcing it to retreat once again. The howitzers were often moved by hand, keeping up a continual hail of lead on Price's men. The fire of the small cannons allowed the Union soldiers to escape from what might have been their encirclement and capture.⁽⁷²⁾

The Federal pursuers were able to catch up to Price's men because of this and other stands made by small garrisons at all of the possible river fords. The 5^th Missouri fought at the Big Blue River on October 22^nd. They caught up to the retreating Confederate column and attacked its rear-guard. The howitzers opened fire on the Southerners, and demoralized the defenders at the river. The fire of the cavalrymen's repeating rifles and the canister of the mountain howitzers soon broke the rear-guard and chased them for five miles. They captured a large number of prisoners and a couple of artillery pieces, including a mountain howitzer. Samuel Curtis withdrew the rest of his army to Westport and allowed the Confederates to pass.⁽⁷³⁾

On October 23^rd the single largest battle west of the Mississippi River was at Westport, Missouri. Samuel Curtis marched his massed army out of the town to attack the Confederate rear-guard and try to destroy Price's force. Twenty-nine thousand men on both sides collided in battle. The redoutable Jo Shelby was acting as Price's rear-guard once again. Although outnumbered, the rapid fire of the cavalry's artillery and the accuracy of the veteran Southerners soon drove off the Federals, killing and wounding a large number of them. Shelby and Fagan's men won this battle, but elsewhere Sterling Price's other units were losing the war. At the Big Blue River, Alfred Pleasanton attacked John Marmaduke's division and quickly routed it. Shelby and Fagan raced southward to save the rest of Price's wagon train and the army. They slowed Pleasonton and allowed the army to continue its escape. As the days wore on the Federal commanders tightened the noose around Price's three divisions. Sterling Price's refusal to burn the 500 or more slow wagons or leave behind the horseless recruits only helped the Union's efforts to catch him.

As the force made its way back to Texas Jo Shelby's division led the way, because he was the best fighter and was expected to quickly brush aside any Yankees that got in the way. John Marmaduke's and James Fagan's divisions brought up the rear. Price had only around 13 artillery pieces, several of which were mountain howitzers. Two much-larger divisions of Samuel Curtis's Army of the Border chased the Missourians. In all Curtis had about 8,000 men and 38 artillery pieces, of which 22 were mountain howitzers. Price's forces stopped to rest about 20 miles into the southwestern corner of Missouri. They planned to move again at midnight, but the continually troublesome train took many hours to get sorted out and start moving. The slow train would allow the Yankees to soon catch Price's army again, and almost led to its annihilation.⁽⁷⁴⁾

On October 25^th at the Battle of Mine Creek, near Charlot Prairie, Missouri just a few miles from the Missouri/Kansas border, the Federal cavalry again closed with Price's retreating army. James Fagan's and John Marmaduke's divisions were attempting to stop the Yankees for the rest of the army to continue fleeing. Part of the wagon train got across Mine Creek, but some wagons overturned and hopelessly blocked the crossing. Fagan and Marmaduke dug in to try and stop the Yankee cavalry. Twenty-six hundred Federals hit the Confederates like a tidal wave, and quickly routed them. 500 Confederates were killed or wounded and another 560 captured, including Generals Marmaduke and Cabell. Jo Shelby's division had been leading Price's advance and they were rushed to the rear to save the day. The Southern horsemen dug in behind a stone wall two miles north of the Marmaton River and awaited the Union attack. Around 3:30 p.m. the Union soldiers attacked without artillery support and were repulsed easily. A section of mountain howitzers and one of 3-inch Rodman rifles soon arrived and began shelling the Southern lines. Shelby had only three cannons remaining after the numerous earlier skirmishes in the campaign, and he was slow to use them for fear that they would be captured like most of the rest of the Southern artillery. Many of Shelby's tough veterans began leaving the field on their own, including his own celebrated Iron Brigade. The Federal horsemen received no reinforcements since they were so far ahead of the rest of the army and in spite of the demoralization of many of his men, Shelby had succeeded in holding up the Yankees for the rest of the day. By midnight the wagon train finally got across the Marmaton River. It was at this point that Price ordered the train destroyed, further demoralizing the men who had bled to save it.⁽⁷⁵⁾

On October 28^th a small part of James Blunt's 1^st Cavalry Division used mountain howitzers at Newtonia. He had only a 1,000 men, two large artillery pieces and two mountain howitzers, but the Rebels were not expecting to be attacked and panicked. The howitzers were placed in Blunt's front line. Jo Shelby was once again called on to save Price's army. His force outnumbered Blunt, and was moving on both of his flanks. However, the rapid and destructive fire of the cannons stopped the Rebels. Shelby sent a massed charge against the center of Blunt's thin line, but the fire of the cavalrymen's repeaters and the canister of the 1^st Colorado Battery's howitzers broke the charge. Both sides had suffered a large number of casualties in the fight, and that evening the Southerners withdrew into northwest Arkansas. This was the last major battle of Price's disastrous Missouri Campaign. By November 7^th Sterling Price led what was left of his command across the Arkansas River in the Indian Territory and later on to Texas. At the river the Yankees stopped their pursuit, but Price was never much of a threat to them again. By December 15^th Sterling Price had only 3,500 of his original 12,000 men remaining. Price had taken some of the elite units of the Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi with him, and by the time the expedition was done many of his men were either captured, killed, or too burned out to fight any more.⁽⁷⁶⁾

In the pursuit of Price the Federals hounded him out of northwestern Arkansas and into the Indian Territory. A mountain howitzer was used by the 1^st Arkansas (U. S.) Cavalry in an attack on Fayetteville, Arkansas on October 28^th by some of Price's men trying to get into southern Arkansas. Several hundred rebels moved in on the eastern side of the town and dug in on the steep bluffs of the East Mountain. Several companies of the 1^st were sent to attack the heights, and the howitzer supported them by shelling the Confederates and forcing them to change their positions several times. On the third assault the Yankees drove the Rebels from the heights, finding 12 dead Southerners that had been left behind. The Confederates gave up and headed southwest, towards Texas.⁽⁷⁷⁾

The 1^st California Infantry used its howitzers against the Comanches at Adobe Walls, Texas on November 25^th , and Colonel Kit Carson credited the small guns with saving their lives. Kit Carson led 400 men, and two howitzers, into northern Texas to pacify several of bands of the Kiowa and Comanche tribes. On November 24^th Carson's Ute and Apache scouts discovered that the Kiowas and Comanches were encamped nearby. Kit Carson's men attacked a relatively small encampment of Kiowas on the Canadian River and quickly routed or captured most of the Indians. Unbeknownst to the soldiers there was a large Comanche village, missed by the scouts, just a few hundred yards down the river. Carson had his men unsaddle their horses and prepare for breakfast, planning to destroy the Kiowa village and then rejoin his wagon train and its infantry escort. Around 1,000 Comanche and Kiowa warriors attacked the soldiers and chased them to a nearby hill that served as a natural fort. At this time the howitzers came up and opened fire on the Indians. The accurate fire of the guns stopped several massed, mounted charges by the Comanche on the Yankee soldiers. The warriors soon began to stay out of their range and stay spread out, so that they would not make an easy target for the "guns that shot twice," as the Indians referred to the use of exploding shells. The gunners loaded them at the base of a nearby hill and then rolled them up to the top. Only a gunner remained with the pieces, aiming them and then lying flat on the ground to avoid the Indians's fire.

When the howitzers were fired they would roll, sometimes flipping over and over, all the way back to the bottom of the hill. Carson marched upon the second village to try and keep the Indians from saving their horses, shelters and supplies. The warriors set fire to the grass behind Carson's men, and it forced him to retire to a nearby hill. The Indians soon attacked the soldiers again, but the howitzers cut down many of them and forced them to leave the soldiers alone. The howitzers also kept the Kiowas from being able to rescue very much of their tents and supplies. The fire of the howitzers kept the Indian warriors at bay, and eventually caused them to give up and retreat once the rest of their tribes had gotten a safe distance away. Carson lost two killed and 10 wounded, and the Kiowa and Comanches probably losing quite a few more. The soldiers had destroyed a large amount of tents and supplies of the Kiowa, which eventually forced them to accept a treaty and go onto a reservation.⁽⁷⁸⁾

As soldiers had been pulled east to more vital theaters of war various Indian tribes saw this as their chance to drive off the white settlers who were taking their lands. The Cheyennes and Arapahoes, among others, killed large numbers of settlers all over the western territories. Local Union forces were too small to do much good against them. Governor John Evans of Colorado forced the United States government to let Colonel John M. Chivington lead a large force of Colorado volunteers out to destroy several warring Indian tribes in late October. The troops moved out in a driving snowstorm. When they got to Fort Lyon in southeastern Colorado they learned of a nearby Cheyenne encampment. At dawn on November 28^th what would come to be known as the infamous Sand Creek Massacre began. The men rushed the village from all sides while four mountain howitzers used by Company C of the 3^rd Colorado Cavalry and the 1^st Colorado Cavalry dropped shells among the Indians. The warriors were surprised, but they did not panic and run as expected. The warriors formed a line along the bluffs beyond the creek in crudely-made rifle pits. Their fire cut down many of the Colorado soldiers for a while, but they were soon driven off when the howitzers began dropping shells on top of them.

The Cheyenne warriors kept up their resistance alone or in small groups, but none of it was as massed or as destructive to the soldiers as the line on the bluffs. The soldiers went through the camp killing or capturing a large number of old men, women and children. They also destroyed much of the tribe's horses, shelters and supplies intended to see them through the winter. Around 500 Cheyenne were killed, mostly non-combatants, such as women, children or old people. The Coloradans suffered nine killed and 38 wounded. The settlers of the region mostly applauded Chivington's expedition and many wanted all of the warring tribes to receive a similar treatment if they would not stop attacking the settlers. American newspapers in the east disdainfully described Chivington's massacre of a peaceful group of Cheyenne. The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War called him before them. John Chivington was censured for not bothering to find out that this tribe was already at peace and under the government's protection, but no other punishment was handed out for this shameful and needless episode.⁽⁷⁹⁾

Even in the far west the war was beginning to wind down. Sterling Price's men had been used up in his disastrous raid in late 1864. In Arkansas and Louisiana the war settled down to a series of raids with few large battles being fought. Most of the fighting done in this theater for the rest of the war was against rebellious Indian tribes. The C. S. S. Josiah H. Bell used howitzers in its defense of the Sabine River throughout the last months of the war. The converted steamer was armed with two mountain howitzers and one 32-pound howitzer, and it helped to keep the Union navy from attacking the area.⁽⁸⁰⁾

An unidentified U. S. regular infantry force used mountain howitzers at Julesberg, Colorado on January 7^th and again on February 18, 1865. Warring Cheyenne and Arapahoe attacked the small town in January, mostly in revenge for the Sand Creek Massacre. The settlers and a detail of soldiers quickly withdrew to the nearby Camp Rankin, later renamed Fort Sedgwick. The warriors assaulted the fort, but were driven off by the fire of two mountain howitzers assigned to the fort. Fourteen soldiers were killed in the fighting that day. The Indian warriors had learned early on not to assault an American fort that had artillery support. In mid-February most of Sedgwick's garrison was sent to Fort McPherson, Nebraska, and the Indians unknowingly had their best chance to attack the town again. One group attacked the town while two others waited to fall on any relief column from the fort. The remaining garrison was too small to come to the town's assistance. Once again the townspeople fled to the fort, and this time the warriors torched the town. Fifteen men of the McPherson detail returned to the fort during the fighting, and using a mountain howitzer they cut their way through the warriors to get into the fort. The Cheyenne and Arapahoe surrounded the fort and tried to set it on fire with flaming arrows. During the evening the Indians gave up and withdrew. The town was gone, but the mountain howitzers had helped to save the lives of the townspeople and they soon rebuilt their town.⁽⁸¹⁾

On June 2nd at Fort Rice, North Dakota the 1^st U. S. Volunteer Infantry, ex-Confederates who were better known as Galvanized Yankees, used howitzers. At dawn the fort was surrounded and attacked by hostile Indian warriors. Colonel Dimon led part of his men out of the fort to occupy some bluffs behind the fort, and the warriors offered no resistance. They withdrew from the area and Colonel Dimon sent his mounted infantry, 60 allied Indians, and a mountain howitzer in pursuit. At the Crystal Palace Bluff, a couple of miles from the fort, the Indians tried to make a stand. The howitzer rushed up, threw a few shells their way and the Indians fled in a panic. For several miles small groups of hostiles opened fire, without doing much damage, while losing a small number of their own warriors killed or captured. Colonel Dimon respected the usefulness of the howitzer. He also realized it could save an outnumbered fort without having to fire at Indians who knew the damage it could do to them.⁽⁸²⁾

The 11^th Kansas Cavalry used them on June 3^rd along the Platte River in the Dakota Territory, now a part of Wyoming. Six Indians appeared on the opposite side of the Platte River from the small outpost, hoping to lure soldiers out after them. Instead of chasing them the 11^th opened fire with its mountain howitzer. After a few rounds, and the loss of two horses, the warriors withdrew behind some nearby bluffs. Then a group of the soldiers left the post to speed them on their way. This post was on a main army supply route and the fort was to be the scene of some of the hardest fighting of the Indian Wars.⁽⁸³⁾

Fort Rice was attacked a second time on July 28^th. The 1^st and 4^th United States Volunteers were still stationed at the fort with two mountain howitzers. When the infantry discovered early in the morning that they were surrounded the two cannons were quickly rolled outside the walls of the fort. Lieutenant Colonel John Pattee knew that attacking Indians would have no chance against the walls of a fort defended by artillery and rifles. The fighting was heavy for three hours, but the fire of the mountain howitzers quickly drove off the hostile, Sioux warriors. By late in the morning the Sioux withdrew from sight, suffering a heavy number of casualties while the fort had only one killed and a few wounded. The soldiers kept on guard throughout the evening. Around midnight Pattee ordered the guns to fire "fireballs," an early version of flares consisting of saltpeter, sulphur and antimony, out over the prairie. They saw no hostiles, and at 2 a.m. the battle was declared officially over and most of the men were allowed to return to their quarters.⁽⁸⁴⁾

On July 25^th a force of Cheyenne again attacked the Platte Bridge Station garrison. Once again the soldiers refused the attempt to lure them from the safety of their fortifications and instead opened fire with the 11^th Ohio Cavalry, Company G's howitzer. The soldiers soon learned that a small wagon train was surrounded about 25 miles from the fort. At 7:30 a.m. Lieutenant Caspar Collins led only 25 men of the 11^th Kansas, about a fifth of the fort's manpower, out to relieve the train. A second group of 10 men went to the far side of the bridge to keep it open in case the detail had to return quickly. Collins's detail never got near the train. They were surrounded by the Cheyenne and attacked him on all sides. After several of the soldiers were wounded Collins ordered a retreat. Three men were killed as they raced for the safety of the main garrison. Collins was killed trying to buy time for his men to escape. The 10-man detail at the end of the bridge kept up a brisk fire to cover Collins's retreating men and then they all raced for the protection of the fort. Later in the morning a detail was sent to repair the telegraph lines, but the howitzer soon fired to warn them to return quickly to the fort. The Indians attacked any scattered soldiers they found, killing the few they found. The wagon train was soon seen nearing the fort from the west, but its 20 remaining men were soon surrounded and wiped out.

By early evening the soldiers had suffered 28 killed and many wounded, but they got word out to a nearby