7th Wisconsin Light Artillery

7th Wisconsin Light Artillery. The Badger State Flying Artillery. , The 7th Wisconsin Light Artillery did not fare well at the Battle of Parker's Crossroads; in fact, the battery was in trouble even before the battle began. As a result of the losses suffered in Forrest's raids on Humboldt and Trenton, the battery was short of men, ammunition, and horses. In addition, only three of the battery's six guns were present at Parker's Crossroads, the other three being detailed to Fuller's Ohio Brigade. Those three guns were no match for Forrest's eight or more., At Hicks' Field, one gun was disabled when most of its horses were killed. Its gunner, Sergeant Minott Marsden, was mortally wounded. After withdrawing from Hicks' Field, the battery took position east of the Lexington-Huntingdon Road. Although it fired repeatedly on Forrest's advancing column, it inflicted little damage., Throughout the battle, the 7th was caught in a crossfire from Confederate artillery. L.C. Halstead, the battery's surgeon, wrote his brother "...the shell, hard shot, and grape fell in uncomfortable proximity to us. Our horses, one by one, dropped." The men dropped, too. Sergeant Alfred Walworth, Corporal John Graham, and Private O. L. Clark fell at the guns, dead or mortally wounded. More fell with serious wounds. , "...yet did the boys right nobly stay to their guns drawing them with two horses...to the very mouth of the enemy's guns, giving them as good as received till their ammunition failed..." , L.C. Halstead., With no ammunition and no infantry support, the 7th had no choice but to withdraw their guns from the field. They spiked the guns and, defenseless, waited for the Confederates. They had been captured when the 122nd Illinois arrived and drove the Confederates from the scene. Moments later Fuller arrived on the field, ending the battle., One account states, "...the three pieces of artillery belonging to the command of Colonel Dunham had been literally knocked to pieces." The enemy fire the battery endured was so fierce that all but one of the battery's horses was killed during the battle., The 7th Wisconsin suffered heavy losses at Parker's Crossroads; out of less than 40 men engaged, 5 were killed, 16 wounded, and 10 taken prisoner. Dunham was correct in saying in his official report that the men exhibited the greatest bravery., (captions) , Lieutenant Arthur Wheelock. The battery that Wheelock commanded had no experience with light artillery in battle conditions. , Flying Artillery, 1862. In horse artillery, or flying artillery, all hands are mounted. In ordinary light artillery the cannoneers ride on the gun carriage or go afoot. , "After the Battle" by Edwin Forbes, ca. 1862