Co B 3rd NC Light Art, The Edeton Bell Battery
Edenton NC is the home of a Confederate Artillery Battery that was eventually known as the Edenton Bell Battery. It was formed in Jan-Feb 1862 under the direction of William Badham Jr who became the units Capt. It was originally known as The Albemarle Artillery, and was mustered into Confederate service on 27 March 1862 and became Company B of the 1st North Carolina Light Artillery (which later became the 3rd Battalion North Carolina Light Artillery). At the time of muster this unit consisted of four companies; Company A (Northhampton Artillery), Company B (Albemarle Artillery), Company C (North Carolina Artillery), and Company D (nickname not known).
Shortly after muster the unit was moved to Camp Lee outside Richmond VA but there was just one problem, they had no artillery. An effort was soon made to disband the battery and place the men into infantry formations, but the men wanted to serve as an artillery unit. Badham's brother-in-law (also the units second in command) John Meredith Jones was sent back to Edenton to try and secure brass bells for use in making their cannon. In short order Lt. Jones was successful and four large bronze bells were secured, three from the town of Edenton and one from Columbia NC in Tyrrell County near by. The bells were transported to Tredeger Foundry in Richmond and melted down into two 6 pounders and two 12 pound field howitzers.
By May 23, 1862 the cannon were delivered to Badham and his men. The four guns were named in honor of those that donated them and the unit became the Edenton Bell Battery. The 6 pounders were named Edenton in honor of the Chowan County Courthouse which donated a bell and Columbia which did likewise in honor of the Tyrell County Seat (Columbia being the county seat). The 12 pounders were named Fannie Roulac after a prominent woman from the Edenton Methodist Church which gave their bell to the battery, and St Paul after the St Paul Episcopal Church which also donated theirs.
Company B "Edenton Bell Battery" had their cannon but they still lacked critical supplies to serve effectively in the field as an artillery unit. As such they were listed "not fit for service" and the threat of disbanding still loomed. To save the battery Capt Badham wrote to Jefferson Davis requesting to keep his unit in the field. The Letter:
Sir,
The guns of my battery were made from the bells of my town and have tolled to the resting place a great many of parents and relatives of my command. And sooner than part with these guns they had rather be taken out and shot. But if allowed to keep these guns they will stand by them until they die.
Your obedient servent,
William Badham Jr.
Captain
Company B 3rd Battalion North Carolina Light Artillery
The battery remained intact and served from June 1862 until 26 April 1865. True to his word the last of the units guns weren't surrendered until the bitter end. The battery was involved in the Seven Days Battle and Fredericksburg before transferring back to North Carolina where it took park in the Battles of White Hall and Goldsboro during Foster's Raid in December 1862. It was again transferred this time to Wilmington NC where it remained for some time. In early 1865 the battery took part in the Battle of Fort Fisher and Fort Anderson, and shortly after Town Creek, and in March 1865 the Battle of Bentonville which would be its last major action.
The St Paul and its gun crew was captured 20 Feb 1865 at Town Creek. In March of 1865 the Fannie Roulac and Columbia are said to have been dumped into the Eno River during the battery's retreat west of Raleigh NC after the Battle of Bentonville. The Edenton was the last gun of the Edenton Bell Battery to remain and was surrendered 26 April 1865 when General Johnson's army capitulated the Army of Tennessee.
The end of the Civil War and the loss of the guns wasn't the end of the Edenton Bell Battery though. In 1990 the 6 pounder Edenton was amazingly discovered intact and on display at Shiloh. If that wasn't amazing enough in 1999 the 12 pounder St Paul was likewise discovered stored at Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown NY. Both guns were transferred back to Edenton where they remain today on display for all to see.
The following photos are of the guns St Paul and Edenton on display in Edenton (the 12 pounder St Paul is unpolished, the 6 pounder Edenton is gleaming bronze), St Paul's church which donated its bell for the gun that bares its name, and a monument to the battery near by.
The St Paul and Edenton side by side.
The Edenton close up.
Note the inscription "EB" on the bottom of the gun tube.
The St Paul close up.
St Paul's Church in downtown Edenton, NC. St Paul's was built in 1736 and is the second oldest church in North Carolina.
Monument to Confederate soldiers in Columbia NC across the Sound from Edenton and home to one of the bells donated to the battery. The monument honors the Edenton Bell Battery as well as other units from the area.
The commander of the battery, William Badham, is buried at St Paul's shown above. He died in 1873.