In the early hours of August 30th, 1862, Patrick Cleburne would bring his command onto what would become known as the First Phase of the Battle of Richmond. He would deploy his first arriving brigade to the east of the State, or Richmond, Road. The first Confederate battery to reach the field was Douglas's Texas Battery, equipped with two M1841 six pounder field guns and two M1841 twelve pounder howitzers. Current interpretation places their deployment along the high ground east of the Hays Fork Church. But is that truly where the battery goes into action?
The M1841 series, while an effective field gun during the Mexican War, was obsolete by 1861. The advent of improved smoothbores and rifled guns meant that the 1841 models were no longer desired field pieces. The six pounder field gun, depending on source, had a range of 1,500 yards (keep in mind that a mile is 1,760 yards). However, at 1,500 yards any level of accuracy was difficult to achieve. The twelve pounder howitzer had a shorter range, just 1,072 yards. Please make a mental note of these ranges.
Let's go to the map for a moment.
The two opposing gun lines, according to the excellent Blue and Gray Magazine issue from 2009 (Volume XXV, Issue 6), were near the churches of Mount Zion and Hays Fork. Those two wartime structures were approximately one and a quarter miles apart (or 2,200 yards). If we accept the article and measure the distance of where the guns were placed, that distance decreases to 1,900 yards. That range is beyond the aforementioned effective range of the Texan guns.
The Seventy-First Indiana Infantry, approaching the battlefield from the north, took their first casualties near the Mount Zion Church, casualties that were caused by overshots from the Confederate guns that had been focusing on the Federal artillery. That would mean that Douglas's guns were reaching distances of over 2,000 yards, if we accept that the Texan battery was deployed on the ridgeline east of Hays Fork Church.
We do not have to rely solely on modern measurements to show that the guns might have been much closer than current interpretation - the participants themselves had something to say on the distances between the opposing lines:
"Half a mile north of the village of Kingston the cavalry encountered the advance guard of the enemy and soon after discovered their line of battle about 500 or 600 yards in rear of their advance guard. Going forward to reconnoiter I could distinctly see their first line facing us at right angles to the Richmond road, with one regiment to the right of the road, the others in the timber to the left. They had a battery masked near the Richmond road. I immediately placed Colonel Hill's brigade in line behind the crest of a low hill which ran parallel to and about 500 yards from the enemy’s line. I placed Douglas’ battery on the crest near my center. I ordered Smith’s brigade to be formed in line within supporting distance; he accordingly formed his brigade in line behind the crest of a second hill in my rear."
-Brigadier General Patrick R. Cleburne, OR Volume XVI, Part I, page 945.
This distance between the Confederate and Federal lines is also mentioned in the report of Preston Smith, albeit indirectly:
",,,the enemy, some half a mile north of the town, opened fire upon us with his field battery."
-Colonel Preston Smith, OR Volume XVI, Part I, page 946.
Smith, writing over two weeks after the battle, would mistakenly call the town Rogersville, but he clearly meant Kingston based on how he described his brigade movements.
Just where was Kingston during the Civil War? According to this 1897 map it was located a short distance south of the intersection of the State Road and the Crooksville Road. Even if we make the generous assumption that Kingston was at the crossroads proper (which is was not), a half mile from that position would place the Federal guns near the Battlefield Park, which is more than 1,300 yards from the currently interpreted Federal line a short distance south of Mount Zion Church. Smith must be incorrect in his mention of "...half a mile north of the town,..." as that places the Federal guns well south of the Mount Zion Church, and the terrain near the entrance to the Battlefield Park is not conducive to proper artillery placement (having low ground on either side of the road).
Colonel Benjamin J. Hill, leading the other brigade in Cleburne's division, would mention that the Federal line was three quarters of a mile north of Kingston. Again, assuming that Kingston was located at the crossroads, this would place the Federal line in the northern portion of the Battlefield Park. Hill would also write:
"The guns of our battery were thrown into position upon an uncovered field about 600 yards from the enemy’s line of battle, which was formed some 50 yards in rear of their batteries."
Hill will go onto mention this telling piece of information:
"In pursuance of an order from General Cleburne I here detailed a company from the Second Tennessee, under command of Capt. J. J. Newsom, as sharpshooters, to occupy a position near the barn, situated upon a hill to the left of the pike, for the purpose of picking off the horses and gunners from the enemy’s battery."
-Colonel Benjamin J. Hill, OR Volume XVI, Part I, Page 949.
Notice that Hill does not mention that the skirmishers were sent forward but simply to a hill to the left of the pike which is the Armstrong Barn on the west side of the State Road, which could imply that they were already as far forward as the barn. This of course does not mean that the skirmishers did not move northward in this deployment, but the absence of a forward movement being mentioned might provide us with a more logical position for the Confederate line, farther north than the Hays Fork Church.
Let's map these possible Federal locations based on Smith's and Hill's reports:
There are issues with accepting these reports as well as the assumption that the Confederate guns were deployed on the high ground east of the Hays Fork Church. First, Smith's report, as mentioned, would place the Federal guns in a low area (as reports clearly indicate the Federal guns were deployed astride the State Road), and east or even southeast of the Armstrong house. Second, Hill's report gives the distance as three quarters of a mile north of Kingston, placing the Federal guns along the north edge of the Battlefield park. This is a possible location, but would once again place the Federal artillery in a low area on either side of the State Road. This position also would not coincide with the Seventy-First Indiana taking its first casualties near the Mount Zion Church from overshots as the distance would be over a half mile from the position mentioned in Hill's report to the church. I do believe that the Blue and Gray article to be correct in its placement of the Federal guns as indicated on the map, but that makes the distance from the Texas battery to the Federal gunline well beyond the Confederate's range.
Conclusion - The Confederate guns simply could not have been placed east of the Hays Fork Church and have the range to reach the Federal artillery positioned a short distance south of the Mount Zion Church. This would also mean that both Smith's and Hill's reports have the distance from Kingston incorrect. So just where were the Confederate guns deployed?
Kenneth Hafendorfer, author of the definitive book on the battle (The Battle of Richmond, Kentucky - August 30, 1862, KH Press, 2008), places the Confederate guns much farther north than the Blue and Gray article, which would be more aligned with the effective ranges of the M1841 series. But does Hafendorfer have the correct location? We will discuss that possibility in Part II.
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