Mr. Parsons:

I hope this will assist you in some manner.
The Artillery Units:
In February, 1862, the 1st North Carolina Light Artillery Battalion began formation at Camp Mangum, near Raleigh NC. The battalion was mustered into state service on March 27th, 1862 with three field artillery companies. The battalion was commanded by Major John W. Moore.
The battalion was accepted for confederate service and was mustered in for military service on May 20th, 1862 as the 3rd North Carolin Light Artillery Battalion. This change in number designation was because there was already existing a 1st and 2nd North Carolina Battalions, both of which were infantry battalions. The men were mainly from Tyrrell, Hertford, Chowan and Northampton counties. The three batteries were, Battery A the Northampton Artillery commanded by Capt. Andrew J. Ellis. Battery B, the Ablemarle Artillery ( also referred to as the Edenton Bell Artillery) commanded by Capt. William Badham Jr. Battery C commanded by Capt. Thomas Capehart from Hartford county. On July 23rd, Battery C was merged into Battery B and the battalion continued service as a two battery battalion until a new Battery C was formed on January 23rd, 1863. The new battery was commanded by Capt. Julian G. Moore and was formed at Wilmington NC.

After serving in North Carolina during the summer, the battalion was sent to serve in the defences of Richmond and camped at Camp Lee. Early in 1863, the Battalion was again transfered, this time back to North Carolina and served in the coastal regions, chiefly Wilmington and Fort Fisher. At the beginning of 1864, the Battalion, commanded by Maj. Moore was part of the District of Cape Fear with with Batteries "A" and "B", each of four unspecified guns was stationed at Fort Campbell and Battery "C" at Fort Caswell. With the fall of Fort Fisher on January 15th, 1865, the confederate troops joined the main army under General Johnston and went through the campaign in North Carolina. The role of the 3rd Light Artillery Battalion and it's three batteries, during the campaign in North Carolina and the Battle of Bentonville is unclear as information is lacking. The end came on April 26th, 1865, with the surrender of the confederate forces commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston. On the day of surrender, the 3rd North Carolina Light Artillery Battalion was in Greenville, still commanded by Maj. Moore. The Batteries were "A", still commanded by Capt. Ellis, with 45 men, Battery "B" Capt. Badham, with 63 men and Battery "C", Capt Sutton, with only 20 men. The battalion total was 134 men present for duty.

In December, 1864, Battery "A" was equipped with one 12 pounder Napoleon, one 3" rifle and two 6 pounder field guns. The equipment of Battery "B" included two 6 pounder field guns and two 12 pounder howitzers. Equipment of Battery "C" is unknown.

Why the name "Edenton Bell"?
Early in the civil war, the confederates called for the donation of church and plantation bells, along with other sources of donations of base metals needed to forge cannon and rifles for the war. In this manner, the scarcity of metal was answered, at least for awhile. Among the church bells donated was bells from the city of Edenton NC, hence the name Edenton Bells. For some time the origin of edenton bells was unknown but recent sources have supplied the answer. It appears that the Edenton Bell were sent to the Tradagar Foundry in Richmond VA for melting and casting as cannon for the confederacy. This production occurred between April 28th and May 4th, 1862 and they were of the type M-1841 models of smoothbore Bronze muzzlers cannon. The Tradagar casting book identifies numbers #1531 as a 6 pounder field gun cast on April 28th, #1532 as a 12 pounder howitzer cast on April 29th, #1533 as a 12 pounder howitzer cast on April 29th and #1534 as a 6 pounder field gun cast on April 29th. The same source identifies casting #1541 as a 6 pounder field gun partially composed of edenton bell metal. Presently today, #1531 survives on the Shiloh battlefield and #1541 is at Vicksburg battlefield.

I have many sources for this information including my own index card files, too many to list here today (I'm too tired). If anybody wants to known sources please send e-mail.
Ron