Captain Dees' Artillery Company

In the fall of 1861, Alexander W. Dees, a recently widowed 38 year old draughtsman from Detroit, received a commission from Governor Austin Blair to raise a battery of horse artillery in conjunction with the Third Michigan Cavalry then being formed in Grand Rapids.[1]              

The rendezvous point for the Battery was at Camp Anderson - the Kent County Fairgrounds.[2]  While in camp recruits filled the ranks, and as the last faint notes of reveille drifted away on a cold, frosty morning of November 28, 1861, one hundred nine men from all walks of life prepared to take a step that would lead them to places that many had never heard of, and to sights that many of them would wish that they had never seen.  Some among that number would never return to  their homes, but those men who did come back to Michigan after the war could feel proud that they had done the duty that had been asked of them.  As the day slowly drew to a close, Captain Dees' Artillery Company of the Third Regiment Cavalry was officially mustered into service in the United States Army.[3]              

A number of men who had initially enlisted in the cavalry were transferred to the Battery because the allotted number of men had filled the roster for the Third Cavalry, which left Camp Anderson for the front on the same day.  During the next few weeks, the men began to adjust to army life.

Edward Pierson, Pvt. enlisted in the Third Michigan Cavalry August 28, 1861 at Grand Rapids, Michigan. Because the Third Cavalry had recruited more men than allowed, a number of the extra men were transferred to fill the ranks of Battery C. Pierson was transferred on December 1, 1861. He served until his term of service expired and then reenlisted December 28, 1863.

Sanford Smith enlisted in Company E, Third Cavalry on Sept. 17,1861 at Jackson, Michigan for 3 years.  He mustered out  Oct. 3, 1861 and transferred to Battery C, First Light Artillery, Dec. 1, 1861. He re-enlisted Dec. 29, 1863 at Prospect, Tennessee and mustered out Jan. 1, 1864. It was in Corinth, Mississippi on Oct. 3, 1862, that Pvt. Sanford Smith sustained a bayonet wound to his lower back when the battery was overrun by the Confederate forces.

Pvt. Smith never fully recovered from his injury and was in great pain but continued with Battery C until he was captured by Confederate forces at Goldsboro, North Carolina on March 24, 1865.  He was paroled on March 30, 1865 and sent to Camp Chase, Ohio and mustered out June 10, 1865.  There is also a reference in his Military Record that indicates he spent two weeks in the hospital at the infamous Andersonville Prison, Georgia.

Abraham Evans  enlisted in Battery C, Michigan Artillery on September 20, 1861 and was mustered into service on December 18, 1861. He is listed as a teamster in the Battery. He was discharged for disability on February 27, 1863.

On the 17th day of December, the men of the Battery boarded the cars of the Michigan Central Railroad for a two day journey to the army's training center at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri.  Along the way the train would stop for fuel and water in a number of towns and villages.  While awaiting refueling, often times patriotic citizens would bring food to the hungry soldiers, and on a number of occasions the young ladies would pass out their kisses quite freely to any soldier available.[4]              

Once the train left Michigan, it continued down through Springfield and on to Alton, Illinois, where the troops marched to a levee along the Mississippi River.  After embarking onto a steamboat, the men had a two hour ride to St. Louis, Missouri.  After disembarking, the cannoneers marched five miles to the Missouri State Fairgrounds and the whitewashed barracks that they would call home for the next two months.[5]

While the Battery was at Benton Barracks (named for Thomas Benton, the United States senator whose farmlands adjoined the fairgrounds), it was issued three M1861 rifled Parrotts (2.9-inch bore) and one M1841 bronze field howitzer (4.62-inch bore) along with the associated limbers, caissons, battery wagons, traveling forge, and harness.[6]  Horses were drawn, and the men began to train to become artillerymen.  While the Battery was at Benton Barracks, over 12,000 men from all branches of service were present, all under the watchful eye of General William Tecumseh Sherman, commanding the camp of instruction.[7]              

Toward the end of the Battery's training period, it was ordered out for a Grand Review.  Sgt. Mortimer Hempstead, of the 2nd Michigan Cavalry, entered this description in his diary:  

Grand Review at 11 o'clock.  3 regt's (2nd Iowa, 2nd Mich, & 3rd Mich. Cavalry and their battery's of artillery, making a column when marching by fours about 1/2 mile long.  Marched down to the city & through some principal streets & returned to camp, passing in review of General William Halleck.[8]

But the time for training and reviews would be brief.  Union forces were gathering for a new season of campaigning and the Third Battery would soon plunge into the midst of war.

Footnotes

[1]  Record of Service - Roster of Michigan Soldiers in the Civil War.  v. 42, p. 46.  

[2]  Diary of Mortimer Hempstead, Co.  , 2nd Michigan Cavalry.  Unpublished transcript, Marshall Historical Society, Marshall, Michigan.  

[3]  Returns of Capt. Alexander Dees' Battery.  National Archives, Washington, D.C. 

[4]  Hempstead Diary.  

[5]  Ibid. 

[6]  Summary Statement of Ordnance, July 16, 1863.  National Archives, Washington, D.C.  

[7]  Ewing, Joseph H.  Sherman at War.  Morningside Press, 1992.  

[8]  Hempstead Diary.