After entering Confederate service on April 1, 1862, the unit was armed with two 6-pounder smoothbore cannons and two 12-pounder howitzers and was commanded by Captain Overton W. Barrett.

After spending the next several months moving around Tennessee, the battery supported a Confederate attack during the Battle of Stones River in December.

Rearmed with four 12-pounder howitzers, the unit was action in the 1864 Atlanta campaign as part of the Confederate reserve artillery, although two of the cannons were lost to attrition.

When the American Civil War began in 1861, the state of Missouri was politically divided, with substantial portions of the population holding either pro-secession or anti-secession beliefs.

On May 10, Jackson's men were dispersed by Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon of the Union Army; a pro-secession riot in St. Louis followed.

Jackson responded by forming the Missouri State Guard (MSG) and appointing Major General Sterling Price as its commander.

[2] On August 10, Lyon attacked the combined camp of the MSG and Confederate States Army elements commanded by Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch, which was near Springfield.

[4] In the Battle of Pea Ridge, fought on March 7 and 8, 1862, in northwestern Arkansas, Price and the MSG suffered another defeat while serving under Major General Earl Van Dorn.

[11] Confederate artillerymen were hampered by problems with gunpowder and artillery fuze quality, which often resulted in premature detonation of shells, sometimes while still in the cannon.

[15] During the early stages of the fighting at Perryville, Powell advanced his brigade onto the field, but deployed them too far to the rear, leaving the formation isolated on the Confederate left.

Once Powell's attack began, Barrett's battery opened fire on the Union artillery at a range of 0.75 miles (1.21 km).

[27] During the Confederate advance during the campaign, Barrett's battery successfully fought a Union cavalry detachment at LaFayette, Georgia, on September 7.

[29] Two days after the fighting on Missionary Ridge, Cleburne was again holding the Confederate rear guard, this time during the Battle of Ringgold Gap.

[33] Barrett's battery saw action at Ringgold Gap, with one section slowing the Union advance enough to receive praise from Cleburne.

[29] In the spring of 1864, Union Major General William T. Sherman was ordered to drive a large force into Georgia, in hopes of tying down Confederate troops that could otherwise be sent to the fighting in Virginia and capture the vital rail center of Atlanta.

In the battle, Major General James H. Wilson's Union cavalry attacked the Confederate defenders of Columbus, who were defeated.