Starr's Battery

Starr's Battery. Harriet's Chapel Battlefield Park. In front of you is the position held by Capt. Joseph B. Starr’s Battery. Starr’s Battery defended this position against the Union advance on December 14. Finally, his ammunition exhausted, Starr withdrew across the Neuse River., Capt. Starr had lost one gun at Southwest Creek the day before but his remaining fire smoothbore cannon fought tenaciously that cold December Sunday. The Confederates deployed artillery at key positions along the line to aid the thinly stretched infantry. A South Carolina soldier witnessed it effectiveness: “The enemy first attacked our right and were repulsed several times by our artillery and infantry. Our artillery did good execution, sending the vandals back at every onset…”, Starr and the rest of the Confederate line held for hours against the much larger Union force. A soldier in the 17th Massachusetts wrote of the Confederate artillery fire as it pounded them: “The fire of the rebels upon our attacking columns was rapid and well directed, and did great havoc among them…”, Capt. Starr held until his ammunition was exhausted. With no ammunition and Union infantry pressing them Starr had little choice but to pull back across the Neuse River. Starr abandoned one gun, all of its horses killed by Union fire., (captions) , (upper left) A Confederate battery at Charleston, South Carolina, (upper right) Starr’s battery probably looked much like this captured Confederate fortification., (lower right) Each gun in a battery had eight horses, six to pull the gun and caisson and two spare.