1st Missouri Field Battery

On December 7, the battery was engaged during the Battle of Prairie Grove in Arkansas.[10] During the fight, Roberts' Battery was part of Colonel Robert G. Shaver's brigade, along with several infantry regiments from Arkansas.[9] Shaver's brigade was initially held in reserve, but it was ordered from the Confederate left flank to the right flank by Army of the Trans-Mississippi commander Major General Thomas C. Hindman. Roberts' Battery then moved forward onto a ridge.[22] The battery's new position gave it a clear field of fire against Brigadier General Francis J. Herron's Union division. Of the battery's four cannons, only the two James rifles could be deployed due to the terrain,[10] although the two 6-pounders were still with the battery. The James rifles were the only rifled cannons available to the Confederates at Prairie Grove.[23] After deploying, Roberts' Battery came under heavy Union fire. In turn, the Missourians took up a new position further down the ridge.[10][23] Even in the new position, heavy Union artillery fire rendered the battery's position untenable, and the guns were withdrawn up the hill. Eventually, Roberts decided that the battery could not hold its position, and the gunners abandoned the pieces and took shelter in some nearby woods.[23] The battery had participated in the fighting at Prairie Grove for two hours, and damaged two cannons of Battery L, 1st Missouri Light Artillery;[10] one shot from the battery wounded a man riding near Herron.[24] The battle ended when night fell, and the Confederates retreated from the field. In order to mask the noises of retreat, the wheels of Roberts' Battery's cannons and caissons were padded with blankets. The retreat continued until the Confederates reached Van Buren,[25] a process that took two days.[26]

Map of key points in Arkansas, including Van Buren, Little Rock, and Pine Bluff

By January 6, 1863, the battery had been transferred to Little Rock, Arkansas, where Roberts resigned. Lieutenant Samuel T. Ruffner became commander of the battery, which adopted his name. In February, the unit boarded a steamboat for transport to the vicinity of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, which it reached on February 22. While near Pine Bluff, the battery was stationed at a position named Fort Pleasant under the authority of Brigadier General Daniel M. Frost. In June, the battery, as part of a formation commanded by Colonel John Bullock Clark Jr., moved to the area around the Mississippi River with the intent of interfering with Union shipping.[16] Ruffner's Battery, which was armed with four 6-pounders at this time,[27][28] was positioned in the vicinity of Gaines' Landing, along with the 8th and 9th Missouri Infantry Regiments.[27] After firing on Union Navy shipping on June 22 and 27,[16] Ruffner's Battery, along with the two infantry regiments, skirmished with the 25th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, the 4th Ohio Battery, and elements of the 5th Illinois Cavalry Regiment on June 28, in the Gaines' Landing vicinity.[27]

In late July, Clark's force was transferred back to Little Rock, as the city was threatened by the Union Army of Arkansas under Major General Frederick Steele. The Confederates abandoned Little Rock on September 10, without a fight.[16] On September 11, Ruffner's Battery was engaged during the Confederate withdrawal. Union cavalry were pursuing the Confederates, and encountered elements from the 11th and 12th Missouri Cavalry Regiments. Ruffner's Battery then fired at the pursuers with the unit's four cannons, inflicting casualties. After additional fighting between the Union cavalry and the 5th Missouri Cavalry Regiment and Elliott's Missouri Cavalry Battalion, the retreat continued without further pursuit.[29] After the retreat from the city, Ruffner's Battery was temporarily assigned to Marmaduke's cavalry division.[16]

Van Buren

Little Rock

Pine Bluff

Camden

Gaines' Landing

Relevant locations in Arkansas

After capturing Little Rock, Union troops occupied several points on the Arkansas River. Pine Bluff was occupied by the 5th Kansas and 1st Indiana Cavalry Regiments; the garrison was commanded by Colonel Powell Clayton. On October 25, Marmaduke attacked Pine Bluff. The Union cavalrymen barricaded the town square, which was then assaulted by Marmaduke's cavalry.[30] The attack quickly bogged down and Ruffner's Battery, which had remained in reserve with other Confederate artillery, was called into action.[31] The unit served on the right of the Confederate line,[16] and opened fire with three cannons on the Union position (near the local courthouse) from the grounds of a church.[32] While the artillery fire forced the defenders from some of their positions, the main Union line held up under fire.[33] Further Confederate cavalry charges failed to carry the makeshift defensive position, and Marmaduke's men withdrew after engaging in some looting.[30] On December 2, the battery's assignment to Marmaduke's division ended, and the unit left Marmaduke on the 5th. Ruffner's Battery returned to Fort Pleasant without its cannons, which were given to Joseph Bledsoe's Missouri Battery. Once the fort was reached, Ruffner's Battery was assigned the cannons of a defunct artillery unit known as Von Puhl's Missouri Battery: two 10-pounder Parrott rifles and two 12-pounder howitzers.[34]

The battery was later assigned to a new brigade commanded by Clark, which was part of Brigadier General Mosby M. Parsons's division. In March 1864, Parsons's division was transferred to Louisiana, where Major General Richard Taylor and his District of West Louisiana were confronting a Union thrust up the Red River. On April 9, Parsons's division, as part of Taylor's army, engaged the Union force at the Battle of Pleasant Hill, although Ruffner's Battery was in a reserve role and was unengaged.[16] While Confederate assaults at Pleasant Hill were repulsed, the Union army, commanded by Major General Nathaniel Banks, continued a retreat that had begun several days earlier.[35] After Pleasant Hill, General Edmund Kirby Smith, who was in overall command of the Confederate forces, moved his men back into Arkansas, where Steele had occupied Camden. Steele's supply line was tenuous, and he had suffered defeats at the battles of Poison Spring and Marks' Mills. Running low on food, the Union troops abandoned Camden on April 26, with hopes of retreating to Little Rock. The Confederates pursued, and caught up with Steele at the crossing of the Saline River on April 30.[36]

Map of Union movements during the American Civil War, the arrows designated 4 indicate the Red River campaign and the Camden expedition

That morning, as part of the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, Ruffner's Battery, along with Lesueur's Missouri Battery, positioned themselves to provide supporting fire for an attack by Parsons's Division.[37] When Clark's brigade, along with Colonel Lucien C. Gause's brigade of Brigadier General Thomas J. Churchill's division, attacked the Union line, Ruffner's and Lesueur's Batteries moved forward in support. Clark and Gause were repulsed, exposing the two batteries' positions.[38] Visibility on the battlefield was poor, and Ruffner's Battery stumbled into the 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment, under the erroneous perception that the Kansans were a Confederate regiment. The error allowed the 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry to capture either two[39] or three[40][41] of the battery's cannons, which were moved to the Union lines.[42] After the attack miscarried, Churchill's and Parsons's men were withdrawn.[40] The battery suffered 17 casualties at Jenkins' Ferry; seven of the losses were prisoners of war, some of whom were executed by African American soldiers as revenge for African American troops who had been killed by Confederate cavalry while trying to surrender at Poison Spring.[39]

Later that day, Steele's men escaped across the Saline River via a pontoon bridge; they arrived in Little Rock on May 2.[43] Ruffner's Battery was assigned four new cannons, all 6-pounder smoothbores. After Jenkins' Ferry, the unit saw no further action,[44] and spent the rest of the war stationed at various points in Arkansas and Louisiana. On November 19, the battery, which had previously borne the name of its commander, was officially designated the 1st Missouri Field Battery and was assigned to Major William D. Blocher's artillery organization.[39] Smith signed surrender terms for the Trans-Mississippi Department on June 2, 1865;[45] the men of the 1st Missouri Field Battery were paroled five days later, while stationed at Alexandria, Louisiana, ending their combat experience. Over the course of the unit's existence, roughly 170 men served in it at some time or another. At least six of them were killed in battle, and at least four more died of illnesses.[39]