1st Alabama Artillery Battalion, CSA

1st Artillery Battalion, organized at Fort Morgan, Alabama, in February, 1861, entered Confederate service in March. Containing six companies, members of the unit were recruited in the cities of Mobile, Selma, and Montgomery. It served in or near Mobile throughout the war and was placed under the command of Generals Shoup, Higgins, and Page. During August, 1864, more than 400 men were captured when Fort Gaines and Morgan fell, but a detachment continued the fight at Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely . In March, 1865, a small number moved to Choctaw Bluff and were included in the surrender of the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana. The field officers were Lieutenant Colonels Robert C. Forsyth and James T. Gee, and Major J.M. Cary.

Partial Roster

Ward's Battery (attached to Storr's Battalion in April 1864)

John James Ward, a former mayor of Huntsville, began raising the only artillery battery from this area in the spring of 1862. However, the Union Army occupation from April to September 1862 halted Ward's recruiting. The battery was completed shortly after the Union retreat. The men came from both Huntsville and Athens and mustered on 10 October 1862. Ward's Battery was first sent to the defenses of Mobile and attached to the 1st Alabama Artillery Battalion at Fort Morgan. In April 1864, before the fall of Fort Morgan, the four-gun battery was ordered to the Army of Tennessee and attached to Major George S. Storr's Battalion of Artillery.

ACORD, Christopher Columbus (1837-1915) Private, Madison County, Alabama. Son of David Acord and Elizabeth Hartley. Enlisted in Huntsville, captured at Caswell (Caldwell?), Georgia, sent to Rockport Prison, Illinois. Released just prior to the surrender of the Confederacy. Burial: Maplewood Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama.

ACORD, William C. (c1837-??) Private, Madison County, Alabama. Son of David Acord and Elizabeth Hartley, husband of Mary A. Lewis.