Governor Rector dispatched a battalion of militia from Little Rock to seize the Federal installation at Fort Smith, and ordered units on the eastern side of the state to rendezvous at Mound City (near present-day West Memphis, Arkansas).

[3] The original battery officers were: Many Confederate artillery units seem to have begun the war named for the city or county that sponsored their organization.

1st Lieutenant Calvert, who would assume command of the battery after the battle of Shiloh, had been a Sergeant in the United States Army prior to the war and had been a drill instructor for Cleburne's militia company before secession.

[18] All twelve-month units had to re-muster and enlist for two additional years or the duration of the war; a new election of officers was ordered; and men who were exempted from service by age or other reasons under the Conscription Act were allowed to take a discharge and go home.

Made cautious by the staggering losses at Shiloh, Halleck embarked on a tedious campaign of offensive entrenchment, fortifying after each advance.

Confederate morale was low and Beauregard, heavily outnumbered, and with a Typhoid epidemic raging in his ranks, held a council of war.

[23] During the Kentucky Campaign in the summer of 1862, Calvert's Arkansas Battery was assigned to Major General William E. Hardee's Left Wing (Corps) of the Army of Mississippi.

Key assigned to support Brigadier General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne's 2nd Brigade of Major General Simon Bolivar Buckner's Third Division and one section of two 12-pounder Howitzers under Second Lieutenant Sylvanus G. Hanley assigned to support Colonel Joseph Wheeler's Cavalry Brigade.

... a brigade which was concealed in a dark cedar grove and behind large rocks, and to dislodge them Colonel Hill sent to my battery for one piece of artillery, which was immediately dispatched, under charge of Lieutenant Fitzpatrick.

The next point of attack was near the Nashville and Franklin pike, where the Abolition infantry had ensconced themselves in a dense forest of timber, and were awaiting the advance of our forces to mow them down as they pursued over an open field.

This battery began shelling the woods, and routed the Abolitionists in front, but they rallied and renewed the attack on our left, and promptly we turned our guns upon them, and they were hurled back in confusion.

The fifth position was in the field west of the enemy's concentrated artillery, where we fought them until we had exhausted our ammunition, losing in this engagement one of our bravest and most expert No.

It was in this engagement that Lieutenaut Fitzpatrick lost his left hand by a canister, and a cannoneer's head was shot off, and a number of horses were killed, and one howitzer slightly damaged.

This relationship had apparently given Cleburne reason to save Calvert's career following a previous bout of drunkenness in Nashville earlier in the war.

[7] After the defeat at the Battle of Murfreesboro, General Braxton Bragg had his army occupy strong defensive positions around Tullahoma, Tennessee.

I caused my guns to be run by hand upon a small elevation to within 170 yards of the enemy's fortifications, and I poured double charges of canister into them so hotly and briskly that a brief space had elapsed before their battery was silenced and their infantry so demoralized that they fled in haste from their covering to the rear.

Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was given command of Union forces in the West and significant reinforcements began to arrive with him in Chattanooga from Mississippi and the Eastern Theater.

The Union Army of the Tennessee under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman maneuvered to launch a surprise attack against Bragg's right flank on Missionary Ridge.

On November 25, Sherman's attack on Bragg's right flank at Tunnel Hill on the east end of Missionary Ridge, which was defended by Cleburne's Division, with Calvert's Arkansas Battery.

... Key fired rapidly into the charging line as it crossed the open ground at the west foot of the ridge, but it was soon under shelter.

Key, were bravely fought and did great execution ...Hoping to distract Bragg's attention, Grant authorized Thomas's army to advance in the center of his line to the base of Missionary Ridge.

A combination of misunderstood orders and the pressure of the tactical situation caused Thomas's men to surge to the top of Missionary Ridge, routing the Army of Tennessee, which retreated to Dalton, Georgia, fighting off the Union pursuit successfully at the Battle of Ringgold Gap.

Bragg's defeat eliminated the last Confederate control of Tennessee and opened the door to an invasion of the Deep South, leading to Sherman's Atlanta Campaign of 1864.

During the Atlanta Campaign, Key's Battery was assigned to Hochkiss's Battalion, usually part of Major General Patrick Cleburne's Division.

[39] During the Battle of Pickett's Mill on May 27, 1864, Key's Arkansas Battery occupied a position with Major General Cleburne's Division.

Key's Arkansas Battery supported the attack of Brigadier General Daniel C. Govan's brigade of Cleuburne's Division.

[44] On September 1, 1864, at the Battle of Jonesboro, Georgia, the battery, along with the rest of Govan's Brigade of Cleburne's Division was overrun and captured.

The unit had been left behind to recruit and look for horses when the defeated remnants of the Army of the Tennessee were making their way back from the disastrous Nashville Campaign, and then moved to its ultimate surrender in North Carolina.

[50] Another set of paroles were signed by First Sergeant D. G. Johnson and a group of Key's men two weeks later on 4 May 1865, at Selma, Alabama.

Key's Battery was captured with most of the rest of Daniel Govan's Arkansas brigade in the fighting at Jonesboro, Georgia, on 1 September 1864.