Chew's Ashby, Shoemaker's Lynchburg and the Newtown Artillery

CHEW'S ASHBY, SHOEMAKER'S LYNCHBURG AND THE NEWTOWN ARTILLERY
by Robert H. Moore, II

(Published by H.E. Howard, Inc., 1995)
126 pages including maps, photographs, rosters, statistics and bibliography
ISBN 1-56190-076-1

For pricing and availability contact:
H.E. Howard, Inc.
Rt. 2 Box 496H
Appomattox, Virginia 24522

About the Book:

The American Civil War brought about several units that went down in history as hard fighting and heroic. Among those at the top of the list were the batteries of the Stuart Horse Artillery.

The concept of the horse artillery battery had been judged since the Mexican War as obsolete and costly in its expense of “good horse flesh.” However, the idea still stirred famous cavaliers like Turner Ashby and J.E.B. Stuart to form such batteries for the support of their cavalry. By the middle of spring 1862, horse batteries had reemerged as a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. With all of the men mounted and accustomed to being constantly on the move with the cavalry, the batteries were always in the thick of the fight in the very midst of the enemy. To unlimber, fire, limber and move to unlimber in another position several times in one battle set the horse artillery apart from their counterparts who supported the infantry.

Roger Preston Chew’s battery was the first such horse battery developed by Turner Ashby in November 1861. Chew’s battery proved indispensable to Ashby and “Stonewall” Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley in 1862. As the war progressed, the guns were commonly assigned to and praised by such leaders as Thomas Munford, “Grumble” Jones, and Thomas Rosser. By the close of the war this amazing battery had accumulated a service in battles that was matched by very few others and had raised the names of Chew and James Thomson to immortality among the history of the Southern Sons of St. Barbara.

The Beauregard Rifles or Moorman’s-Shoemaker’s Lynchburg Battery had opened its career as a zouave company before obtaining cannons at Norfolk during the summer of 1861. Engaged in such battles as Frayser’s Farm, Malvern Hill and Sharpsburg, the battery was well recognized as a unit that could stand up in a fight. In November 1862, the Lynchburg battery was converted to a horse battery for service with John Pelham’s Stuart Horse Artillery; an honor which the Lynchburg men relished. Regularly assigned to Rooney Lee’s Brigade, the Lynchburg battery served with distinction through several engagements from Brandy Station to the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign before being disbanded in January 1865.

The Newtown Artillery, formed of men from the Winchester area, was a short-lived battery. Participating in only one major battle at 1st Manassas, Grove’s battery suffered most severely from a large number of desertions by the fall of 1861. Within that same time frame, young Lieutenant John Pelham was assigned as battery commander. Though the life of the company was rapidly coming to a close, Pelham brought with him his notoriety for fighting spirit and gallantry that had been well recognized by J.E.B. Stuart. Stuart, like Ashby, had sought his own horse battery and fount it in Pelham and the Newtown Artillery that served as the very nucleus for the Stuart Horse Artillery.

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