One of his first acts was to order General Albert Pike, commanding the Indian Territory, to return Woodruff's Battery, also known as the Weaver Light Artillery to Arkansas.

Brown was promoted to captain and ordered to command a battery to be organized from details from the infantry regiments of Brigadier General James H. McBride's brigade.

[4] William J. Leonard was appointed Jr 1st Lieutenant of Captain Brown's Artillery Company by Special Order No.

Historians have assembled a roster of thirty four unit members by examining the muster rolls of the regiments which detailed men to the battery.

[14] The transfer of men from the 26th Arkansas to Brown's Battery was made permanent "by order of Gen. Hindman" as of August 12, 1862.

It is also, coincidentally, the date of a reorganization of regiments in Arkansas in which new elections of officers were held, and some companies were shifted around, consolidated, etc.

[17] Under Burbridge's command, the battery fought at the Battle of Clark's Mill on November 7, 1862 in Douglas County, Missouri.

[19] ...in November, 1862, while Burbridges regiment was ordered to proceed from Bennetts Bayou, Ark., and surprise and capture a small post, (the name of which I cannot recall) located in Douglas or Wright County, Mo., I remember this expedition as the severest of my war experiences.

The battery was light artillery, and the cannoneers were supposed to be mounted but they were not; only those acting as drivers, three to each gun and the Sargeant in charge of the detachment.

The post consisted of a block house surrounded by palisades and was defended by a battalion of home guards, a small detachment of regular volunteers, and two toy cannon.

At the second or third round from our battery they run up a white flag, and called for a conference, which resulted in their surrender as prisoners of war.

[20]General Thomas C. Hindman congratulated Burnbridge's command on their achievement; By December 1862, the battery, now apparently reduced to two guns, was assigned to Colonel Joseph C. Porter's Missouri Cavalry Brigade during General John S. Marmaduke's December 1862 through January 1863 expedition through southern Missouri.

On January 10, some of Porter's men raided other Union installations in the area before making contact with Marmaduke's column east of Marshfield.

Early on the morning of January 11 the Confederates under Porter made contact with Union Col. Samuel Merrill 's scouts and skirmishing commenced.

Merrill marched his force directly to Hartville where it took a strong defensive position on covered, high ground west of the courthouse.

Marmaduke was compelled to make a rapid retreat into Arkansas and then an arduous trek to winter camp.

The first man killed was Charley Alexander, a Cape [Girardeau] County boy, shot through the heart while charging into town at the head of the column.