Hiram Bledsoe's Missouri Battery was an artillery battery that served in the Missouri State Guard and the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The battery was formed when the Missouri State Guard was formed as a pro-secession state militia unit in response to the Camp Jackson affair. As part of the Missouri State Guard, the unit was engaged in the Engagement near Carthage and the Battle of Wilson's Creek during mid-1861, before fighting at the Battle of Dry Wood Creek and the Siege of Lexington later that year when Major General Sterling Price led the Guard northwards towards the Missouri River. After the Missouri State Guard retreated into Arkansas in early 1862, Bledsoe's Battery served during the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Pea Ridge in March. The battery, as part of the Army of the West, transferred across the Mississippi River into Tennessee in April, where it left the Guard to enter Confederate service on April 21.
The battery served in Mississippi during much of the rest of 1862, serving as part of the Confederate rear guard after the Battle of Iuka in September and seeing action at the Second Battle of Corinth. In early 1863, the unit became part of Brigadier General John Gregg's brigade, and was briefly stationed at Port Hudson, Louisiana. After Major General Ulysses S. Grant landed Union troops in Mississippi in April, Gregg's brigade transferred to Jackson, Mississippi to aid Confederate forces attempting to stop Grant. As part of Gregg's brigade, Bledsoe's Battery served at the Battles of Raymond and Jackson in May. In September, the battery was part of the Confederate Army of Tennessee when it repulsed Major General William Rosecrans' offensive into Georgia at the Battle of Chickamauga.
After Chickamauga, the battery next saw action at the Battle of Missionary Ridge in November, where it had its cannons captured during a Union charge. Beginning in May 1864, Bledsoe's Battery resisted Major General William T. Sherman's drive south during the Atlanta campaign, seeing action at the battles of Resaca and Kennesaw Mountain. After Atlanta fell to Union forces in September, the battery moved north with General John Bell Hood. Under Hood, the battery fought at the Battle of Nashville in December. Nashville was a Confederate defeat, and Bledsoe's Battery was part of Hood's rear guard after the fighting. While the rest of Hood's army transferred to North Carolina after Nashville, Bledsoe's Battery remained in Georgia, where it surrendered on May 1, 1865, ending the unit's combat career.
Background and formation
At the outset of the American Civil War in 1861, the state of Missouri did not secede, despite being a slave state. The state's governor, Claiborne Fox Jackson, supported secession, and mobilized the pro-secession state militia. In response, Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon of the Union Army attacked the militia camp on May 10, which was outside of St. Louis, dispersing it in the Camp Jackson affair. On May 12, Jackson formed the Missouri State Guard as another pro-secession militia unit, and selected Major General Sterling Price to head the organization. As part of the development of the Missouri State Guard, Hiram Bledsoe began recruiting an artillery battery for state service in May. The unit's first action was a small skirmish in Jackson County on June 13; it officially joined the Guard on June 16. Originally, the battery was assigned two cannons: a 6-pounder smoothbore and a 9-pounder smoothbore that was a relic of the Mexican-American War; the latter piece was given the name "Old Sacramento". After another artillery unit was consolidated with Bledsoe's Battery, the unit gained a third cannon, a second 6-pounder smoothbore. This piece was given the name "Black Bitch".