Plans of Encampment
The artillery camp at Fort Pillow was not set up according to regulations.
Most of the time the guns were placed in battery, either in fortifications or in field works,
and the camps were located a short distance away.
This was the case in every long-term camp the battery set up with two specific exceptions.
The camp at Tupelo, Mississippi, in June 1862, and at Camp Wright at Shelbyville,
Tennessee, in the spring of 1863 had a large area where the guns were parked in the camp.
According to regulations, the plan of encampment called for an eighty-two-yard front and a one
hundred ninety–yard depth for a six-gun battery.
A four-gun battery would need only a fifty-eight-yard front.
The officer’s area took up the first thirty yards of depth and was separated from the enlisted men
by a twenty-three-yard area where the enlisted men’s mess area was.
The enlisted men’s tents were grouped with eight tents for each section of guns.
These tents were in line with about eight yards distance separating the sections. Sixteen yards away
from the enlisted tents was the picketing of the horses. Twelve yards beyond that was a parking area for the forge,
battery wagon, and baggage wagons all in line. Sixteen yards from that was the line of caissons, and sixteen yards beyond the
caissons were parked the line of pieces. A guard tent was then placed at the back of the encampment. During times of drill,
the area used for the parking of all of the vehicles was used as the drill field.
Source: U.S. Army Field Manual, 1861, Plate 4.
This information is taken from the book Courage and Devotion
A History of Bankhead's/Scott's Tennessee Battery
By Bruce R. Kindig
Copyright 2014 by Bruce R. Kindig All Rights Reserved.
"Last Updated 4/28/2016"
Copyright © 1999-2016 by Scott's Tennessee Battery, Inc
