“Upon the discharge of the battalion, however, he changed his rendezvous to Jackson, Mississippi, and proceeded there to try and accomplish his object.  Many of those who intended to join him looked upon his enterprise as so hopeless that they abandoned it and joined other commands.  A sufficient number, however, rallied around him at Jackson, Mississippi, and, on the 4th of May, 1862, his company was organized by the election of officers, and on the 16th was mustered into service.  Meantime, the chance of getting an armament was hopeless indeed.  At last, however, Captain Fenner found, lying abandoned by the railroad, the ruins of a battery, which had been destroyed on the eve of evacuating New Orleans, under the apprehension that it would have to be left, but was subsequently brought off.  The guns were spiked and rammed with wads and balls, the spokes and felloes of the wheels were cut, the trails hacked to pieces, and all the ordinary means of disabling a battery had been resorted to.  The task of reconstructing this ruined battery was undertaken, and, after much difficulty, successfully accomplished.

“Then came the trouble of obtaining horses, harness, and other equipments, which had to be wrested from reluctant and ill-supplied quartermasters and ordnance-officers.  At last, however, all difficulties were overcome.  A few weeks of active drilling, and Fenner’s Battery was ready for the field.  On August 20, 1862, it received marching-orders for Port Hudson.  Arrived there just after the evacuation of Baton Rouge by the Federal forces.  Ordered on to Baton Rouge.  Remained there a few days, when the battery returned to Port Hudson with the exception of one section, which was left with one regiment of infantry to occupy the city.  Held it till retaken by the Federals in December, when our small force successfully evacuated it under the fire of the enemy’s gunboats, and before the advance of their infantry, which had landed.  The battery remained at Port Hudson, participating in all the operations of the forces there till May 1, 1863, when it was ordered to Williams’s Bridge to intercept Grierson’s raid, arriving there a few hours after the raid had passed.

“May 7.  Ordered to Jackson, Mississippi, with Marcy’s Brigade.

“Participated in the Big Black campaign of General Johnston.

“In position at Jackson, and engaged in the fighting around that place from 10th to 16th of July, losing several men killed and wounded.

“After the evacuation of Jackson, retreated with Johnston’s army to Forrest and Morton.  Thence to Enterprise, and from there to Mobile, and remained there till November 21, 1863, when ordered to the Army of Tennessee.

“Reached Dalton November 27, just after the defeat at Missionary Ridge.

“Spent the winter in building winter-quarters successively at Dalton and Kingston, which were evacuated before occupied.

“On the 1st of May, 1864, General Sherman advanced from Chattanooga toward Dalton, and the great Georgia campaign commenced.  From that time till the 1st of September following, the Army of Tennessee was almost constantly engaged with the enemy.