The Helena Artillery (1861–1865) was a Confederate Army artillery battery during the American Civil War. The unit was known by several other designations during the war including Clarkson's Battery, Company A, Shoup's Artillery Battalion, Calvert's Battery, and Key's Battery. The unit was occasionally assigned to artillery battalions from other states, so the Arkansas unit was at various times designated as Company C, 20th Alabama Light Artillery Battalion and later as Company H, 28th Georgia Artillery Battalion.National Park Service, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, Confederate Arkansas Troops, Key's Battery, Arkansas Light Artillery, Accessed 27 January 2011Sikakis, Stewart, Compendium of the Confederate Armies, Florida and Arkansas, Facts on File, Inc., 1992, , page 118.Gerdes, Edward G., "Helena Artillery (Key's Battery).", Edward G. Gerdes Civil War Page, Accessed 1 November 2011, http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/keysbatt.html
Organization The unit was organized on 27 April 1862 at Helena, in Phillips County Arkansas, and enrolled in State service two days later. Governor Henry Rector had called parts of the Arkansas State Militia into state service following the Confederate firing on Fort Sumter, but before the state had formally succeeded from the Union. Governor Rector dispatched a battalion of militia from Little Rock to seize the Federal installation at Fort Smith, and ordered units on the eastern side of the state to rendezvous at Mound City (near present-day West Memphis, Arkansas).David Walker, Journal of Both Sessions of the Convention of the State of Arkansas, Arkansas Convention (1861), Accessed 1 March 2019. There are no records of the unit being organized in the Arkansas State Militia before it was inducted into state service.Arkansas Military Department Records, List of Commissioned Officers in State Militia 1827–1862, Microfilm Roll 00000038-8, Page 2260 Many of the enlistments in the battery appear to have been from the Irish immigrants who worked in the dockyard at Helena. Approximately 50 of the names of the battery appear to be of Irish nationality. As the war progressed, the battery was replenished with transfers from other Arkansas units with in Cleburne's command and by conscripts from states east of the Mississippi river, including Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee.
The original battery officers were:
Captain A. W. Clarkson Senior 1st Lieutenant John H. Calvert Junior 1st Lieutenant James Hamilton and 2nd Lieutenant Robert Fitzpatrick
Many Confederate artillery units seem to have begun the war named for the city or county that sponsored their organization. In the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, artillery units are most often referred to by the name of their battery commander. After Capt Clarkson, the Helena Light Artillery was commanded by Capt John H. Calvert and Capt Thomas J. Key. The battery would retain a close association with Patrick Cleburne throughout the war. 1st Lieutenant Calvert, who would assume command of the battery after the battle of Shiloh, had been a Sergeant in the United States Army prior to the war and had been a drill instructor for Cleburne's militia company before secession.Irving Ashby Buck, Thomas Robson Hay, "Cleburne and his command", McCowat-Mercer Press, 1959, page 81
Service By 7 May 1862, the battery, along with the companies that would eventually comprise Col Patrick Cleburne's 1st Regiment, Arkansas State Troops (Later re-designated as the 15th Arkansas Infantry Regiment was encamped at "Camp Rector" near Memphis.) The battery spent three months in states service before being inducted into Confederate Service. During this time the battery moved east of the Mississippi River with the rest of Col Cleburne's forces and cooperated in an effort to defend the Mississippi river in an operation that would lead to the construction of Fort Pillow north of Memphis. During this expedition, the battery was inducted into Confederate service on 6 July 1861 at Memphis Tennessee.United States. War Dept. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 3., Book, 1881; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth154606/m1/697/?q=Arkansas Battery : accessed February 13, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries, Denton, Texas. The battery would re-cross the river and accompany Cleburne's command on its move to Pitman's Ferry, near Pocahontas in Randolph County and was assigned to a brigade commanded by Confederate General William J. Hardee. On July 14, 1861, Brigadier General Hardee arrived in Little Rock to assume unified Confederate command in the state. The following day the state Military Board signed an "Article of Transfer", which provided that all state forces would be transferred on a voluntary basis to the command of the Confederate States of America. The Articles of Transfer included Major Francis A. Shoup's battalion of artillery;.Confederate military history: a library of Confederate States history, Volume 10, Page 327, Accessed 21 February 2013.
Company A, Captain Clarkson's Helena Light Artillery,The National Archives Publication Number: M317, Publication Title: Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Arkansas, Content Source: NARA, National Archives Catalog ID: 586957, National Archives Catalog Title: Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Confederate Organizations, compiled 1903 - 1927, documenting the period 1861 - 1865, Record Group: 109, Roll: 0039, Military Unit: Hart's Battery, Light Artillery AND Key's Battery, Light Artillery, Accessed 21 February 2013, http://www.fold3.com/image/#20|219834366 Company B, Captain John T. Trigg's Arkansas Battery; and Company C, Captain George T. Hubbard's Jackson Light Artillery. During the war, efforts were made to organize artillery units into battalions and regiments, but the battalions seldom functioned as a consolidated organization, in fact batteries were often broken out and fought as one or two gun sections. Shoup's battalion would be an exception to this rule.Confederate military history: a library of Confederate States history, Volume 10, Page 334, Accessed 21 February 2013.
Shiloh