The battery fought at the First Battle of Manassas, supporting the brigade in its defense of Henry House Hill on 21 July.

After the Confederate abandonment of Petersburg, the 1st Rockbridge Artillery joined in the retreat and surrendered at Appomattox Court House on 9 April 1865.

[1] The seventy men of the 1st Rockbridge Artillery were organized in April 1861 by VMI professor John McCausland.

[1] On 18 July, the battery moved east with the Stonewall Brigade to link up with Confederate general P. G. T. Beauregard's troops at Manassas Junction.

The battery was visited by Confederate president Jefferson Davis, who had gone to Manassas to watch the battle, during the Union retreat.