"The Loud Mouthed Dogs of War Were Unleashed"

"The Loud Mouthed Dogs of War Were Unleashed". The Battle of Richmond Began At An Artillery Duel. , The Battle of Richmond began about 5 AM on August 30, 1862, as pickets from Gen. Mahlon Manson's Union brigade and Gen. Patrick Cleburne's Confederate division exchanged shots. With the initial rattle of musketry both side began shaping their lines, Lt. Edwin O. Lanphere's artillery opened fire at the column of Confederate infantry and artillery marching up the Old State Road. In response, Cleburne placed Douglas' 1st Texas Battery on a hill just north of the Crooksville road and ordered it to return fire. By 8 AM the artillery duel had begun., Cleburne had two artillery batteries, Marion's Florida Artillery and Douglas' 1st Texas Artillery, a total of eight guns. He used his artillery skillfully, first deploying the Texans north of Crooksville Road and moving them forward as needed. After the Texans were in place he ordered Marion's Florida Light Artillery forward. After initially deploying too far north, the Floridians settled in and began to bombard the Union line in earnest, while the rest of the Confederate infantry was brought forward., By 8 AM Cleburne had ordered his artillery to "fire slowly and not waste a single round." At this point Cleburne was using his artillery to keep the Union forces occupied while Gen. Thomas J. Churchill advanced his division north through the ravine from which he could hit the exposed Union right. The slow and deliberate fire of the Confederate artillery proved effective, but also costly. Over the course of the morning both batteries lost officers and men killed and wounded and at one point volunteers from a nearby infantry regiment were required to come forward to man the guns., The Confederate gunners fired for two hours before the infantry was able to break the Union line.