1st Rockbridge Artillery

The First Battle on Masassas, 1861.
The Army of the Shenandoah, 1st Rockbridge Artillery

The Seventy men of the 1st Rockbridge Artillery were organized in April 1861 by Virginia Military Institute professor John McCausland. William N. Pendleton took command of the battery in late April after McCausland was transferred to command another unit.

The battery was initially equipped with two 6 pounders from VMI and two guns from Richmond.

Pendleton named the first four guns “Mathew”, “Mark”, “Luke” and “John”, after the Apostles.

On 18th July the battery moved east with the Stonewall Brigade to link up with Confederate general P.G.T. Beauregard’s troops at Manassas Junction. On 21st July during the First Battle of Manassas, Pendleton’s Battery was among the Confederate batteries defending the key position of the battle, Henry House Hill. The Battery was visited by Confederate president Jefferson Davis, who had gone to Manassas to watch the battle, during the Union retreat. In the aftermath of the battle, the battery received captured Union cannon.