The Civil War Artillery Message Board

non-commissioned officer in artillery batteries

Cannoneers:

I am transcribing service records of MS CS soldiers buried in Lincoln [Grrrr!] County, MS, and keep running into corporals and sergeants in artillery batteries who do not have the degree of their ranks listed. In other words, I find "Sgt." Smith, but not as "1st Sgt." or "2nd Sgt.," etc. Same thing with corporals, whom I find as "Corp. Smith," but not as "3rd Corp.," "4th Corp.," etc. Were there degrees for the ranks of these non-commissioned officers in specifically Confederate artillery batteries or was there simply one Corp. and one Sgt. in each artillery battery, negating the need for degrees of rank such as "1st," "2nd,", etc.? Thanks for any information or clarification here! -- Jim Huffman, Egypt, TX, but Mississippi boy at heart