2nd Arkansas Light Artillery - Battles

Battles

During the Battle of Shiloh, a.k.a, Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, Sunday, April 6, 1862 – Monday, April 7, 1862, the battery, was listed as unattached. The unit became involved in the largest concentration of artillery in North American up to that time. By the afternoon of Sunday, April 6, 1862, men of Prentiss's and W. H. L. Wallace's divisions had established and held a position nicknamed the Hornet's Nest. The Confederates assaulted the position for several hours rather than simply bypassing it, and they suffered heavy casualties during these assaults. It was not until the Confederates, led by Brig. Gen. Daniel Ruggles, assembled over 50 cannons, including Robert's Arkansas Battery, into a position known as "Ruggles's Battery" to blast the line at close range that they were able to surround the position, and the Hornet's Nest fell after holding out for seven hours.

On May 25, 1862, Captain Roberts resigned, and Jannedens H. Wiggins, who had risen from first sergeant to first lieutenant, was appointed as captain. The battery would hereafter be known as Wiggins’ Battery, and the compiled service records of the men are filed under this designation at the National Archives.

During the Battle of Stone's River, the battery was assigned to Brigadier General Joseph Wheeler's Cavalry Brigade.

Equipped as a "horse artillery" unit, the battery was fully mounted, making it extremely mobile and capable of fast movements during battle actions. For this reason was placed under the command of Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest, so that it could support Forrest's fast moving cavalry. To support Forrest's rapid fluid movements, the battery generally operated in three widely separated cannon sections, which enabled their effective support of the cavalry, but left them in a dangerous position and exposed to attack if the cavalry moved too far from the battery. They operated in this capacity from late 1861, seeing action during the Battle of Fort Donelson and the Battle of Shiloh, in addition to smaller actions.

During a minor action near Shelbyville, Tennessee, on June 27, 1863, a section of the battery commanded by Captain Jannedens H. Wiggins was cut off from the main force, and left vulnerable to attacking Union forces. The battery was overtaken, resulting in the capture of their artillery and thirty soldiers. Twenty nine of those would remain prisoners of war until well into the summer of 1865, after the war's end, before being released in a general parole. However, Captain Wiggins was sent to an officers' prison, and was released during a prisoner exchange in the early summer of 1865, before the war ended. Thus, he was able to return to duty for the unit's last action.

The artillery battery was augmented with replacements twice during the war, to replace casualties suffered. In late 1862 they received a number of replacements from the 1st Alabama Cavalry. In April 1865, Captain Wiggins, recently released from his prisoner of war status, reunited with his battery, which was by this time attached to the 14th Georgia Artillery Battalion in North Carolina.