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A Brief History of the two batteries that bore the title of Fluvanna
Fluvanna County was proud to organize two light artillery batteries in the
spring of 1861. After being trained at Richmond, the two units were sent to
Manassas and were assigned to the reserve artillery. They did not see action
until the beginning of the Seven Days Battles, and even then were engaged only
sporadically. The "Sons of Fluvanna" (1st Battery), commanded by Capt. Charles
Huckstep, and the "Fluvanna Light Artillery" (2nd Battery), commanded by Captain
John J. Ancell, missed the battles of Second Manassas and Antietam, though
Huckstep's command lost a gun and a caisson at Shepherdstown on September 19,
1862.
The 1st and 2nd Fluvanna Batteries were consolidated in early October 1862 as
part of Lee's program to revitalize his artillery. The Fluvanna Consolidated
Artillery was present but not heavily engaged at Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville and Gettysburg as part of Nelson's reserve battalion. Its
heaviest losses during this span occurred at the lesser known engagement at
Waterloo, Pennsylvania, during the retreat from Gettysburg, and at Kelly's Ford
that fall.
The last twelve months of the war brought the Fluvanna Artillery into the center
of the action. Commanded by Captain John L. Massie, the battery was heavily
engaged from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor and became one of Early's most
reliable units from Monocacy to Cedar Creek. This heavy campaigning cost the
battery almost fifty combat casualties, including Captain Massie who was
mortally wounded at Tenth Legion Church on September 24, 1864. Captain Charles
G. Snead led the remnants of the brave battery, who were barely enough men to
man two guns, until the unit was captured at Waynesboro on March 2, 1865.