In Lexington, Missouri, Samuel Churchill Clark enrolled into the State Guard as a private and was appointed to the 8th Division of the MSG under James S.

On October 23, 1861, Samuel C. Clark was officially appointed captain of the 1st Battery of Artillery in the 4th Division of the Missouri State Guard under Gen. William Y.

Fighting in Arkansas's first Civil War engagement, Clark's Missouri Battery took part in the Battle of Dunagin's Farm, south of Little Sugar Creek.

Gen. Sterling Price assigned the artillery battery to Col. Louis Hébert's infantry brigade in Gen. Benjamin McCulloch's division, which was acting as the rearguard for his army retreating from Springfield, Missouri.

Amid the end of the battle, Union troops then pressed a counterattack, forcing Clark's battery, as well as the rest of Price's division, to retreat.

[3] On March 17, 1862, the 1st Division of Gen. Price's Army of the West was reorganized, temporarily assigning Clark's battery to the Third Missouri Brigade under Brig.

[14] In May, the Army of the West was transferred to Corinth, Mississippi on the state line with Tennessee where the battery mostly served on outpost duty.

Houston King assuming command of the battery, he led it through the various campaigns in areas east of the river, including Corinth and Iuka.

The battery participated with the cavalry in the Battle of Corinth with minimal engagement, and subsequently aided in covering the Confederate retreat in October 1862.

[16] Following their defeat in Corinth, the men evaded capture by a detachment of Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee at the Battle of Hatchie's Bridge.

[17] Ordered to report to Gen. Van Dorn at Okolona, Mississippi, the battery received two 12-pounder howitzers and two captured 3-inch ordnance rifles.

[20] Ordered by the Department of Tennessee on May 26, 1863, Jackson's cavalry division with Whitfield's brigade including King's battery were sent to Northern Mississippi.

They were ordered to support Gen. Joseph E. Johnston near Jackson, Mississippi, as he attempted to relieve John C. Pemberton during the Vicksburg Campaign by Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.

Upon arriving, Gen. "Red" Jackson's cavalry division established headquarters near Canton, Mississippi, on June 4, 1863, and the battery mustered 89 artillerymen.

[20] After Pemberton's surrender on July 4, 1863, Johnston's Confederate forces fell back toward Jackson and engaged the enemy until leaving for Enterprise on the 16th of the month.

[22] By February 1864, Cosby's brigade was reassigned to the Department of East Tennessee and West Virginia, but the battery remained in the Army of Mississippi.

Engaging in skirmishes throughout the summer of 1864, they faced the Union cavalry of Hugh Judson Kilpatrick in August, which was targeting Macon and Western Railroad.

[24] On November 29, 1864, the Farris Battery of Jackson's division accompanied the Forrest's Cavalry Corps at the Battle of Spring Hill.

The officers of the battery provided artillery support to initiate the retreat of Maj. Gen. John Schofield's Army of the Ohio to Nashville.

[26] In the days following after the Confederate defeat in Nashville, Forrest commanded the rearguard composed of his cavalry corps and a few infantry brigades in skirmishes against the Union Army.

The remaining elements of Hood's army eventually managed to escape across the Tennessee River and regroup in Northern Mississippi.