The Woodruff Gun
Annotations to the Margreiter Article
1st Battery of Artillery, Missouri State Militia
The following image from Abstract of Issues of Ordnance Stores to the Missouri State Militia From December 13th 1861 to March 26 1862 At the St. Louis Arsenal Mo. Part 2. (Microfilm, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Mo.) shows on line 32 six Woodruff guns; six Woodruff Carriages and Limbers; one Portable Forge; six Buckets, Sponge, Iron; six Buckets, Tar, Iron; six Buckets, Watering; six Gunner’s Gimlets; one Chest, Smith’s Tools; one Chest, Carr. Maker’s Tools; and six Axes, Felling, issued to Capt. H. B. Johnson, M.S.M., St. Joseph, Mo., on 9 April 1862 by Voucher number 32. Click on the image to enlarge.
According to the 1863 Missouri Adjutant General’s Report, p. 33, H. B. Johnson was captain of the 1st Battery of Artillery, Missouri State Militia, mustering 90 men.
The same report, p. 153, shows:
Horace B. Johnson, Capt., Co. L, 1st Missouri State Militia Cavalry,
Rank as of March 15, 1862, effective May 15, 1862.
The same report, p. 157, has the following order:
HEADQUARTERS STATE OF MISSOURI, ADJUTANT GENERAL’S OFFICE,
ST. LOUIS, March 28, 1863.
Special Orders, No. 55.
V. Paragraph one of Special Orders, No. 18, (present series) from these headquarters, consolidating Captain H. B. Johnson’s company of cavalry with the light artillery company, commanded by Captain Albert Waschman, is hereby revoked, and said company of cavalry is hereby attached to the 1st Regiment of Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, as Company L. Captain Johnson will report by letter, without delay, to Colonel James McFerran, commanding the 1st Cavalry, at Lexington, Missouri.
By order of the Commander-in-Chief :
JOHN B. GRAY, Adjutant General
It is unclear whether the Woodruffs of the 1st Battery were transferred with the men at the reorganization. The historical memoranda of the 1st Missouri State Militia Cavalry do not mention actions involving any artillery. See 1865 Missouri Adjutant General’s Report, pp. 445-9.
