Captain John C.

Landis, formerly an officer in the Missouri State Guard, was authorized in

December 1861 to recruit an artillery unit for official service in the Confederate States Army. Landis's
recruiting operations were centered near Osceola, Missouri, and the men recruited were former
members of the Missouri State Guard. Despite not being able to enlist enough men to bring the
battery to full strength, the unit traveled to Des Arc, Arkansas in January 1862 to be equipped
with cannons. The battery was assigned two 12-pounder Napoleon field guns and two 24-pounder
howitzers;[3] all four cannons were made of brass.[16] The unit joined the Army of the West in March
1862 after the Battle of Pea Ridge; more men joined the unit afterwards. [3] Archaeological evidence
suggests at least a portion of the battery may have been engaged at Pea Ridge, as part of
a cannonball that could have been fired only from a 24-pounder howitzer was recovered at Pea
Ridge National Military Park in 2001. As Landis's Battery was the only Confederate artillery battery
armed with 24-pounder howitzers to serve west of the Mississippi River, this would likely indicate
that at least a portion of the battery participated in the fighting, [2] likely as part of Brigadier
General William Y. Slack's brigade.[17] However, other sources indicate that the battery did not see
action in the battle.[3][18] Around this time, the battery was assigned to Brigadier General Daniel M.
Frost's artillery brigade and followed the rest of the Army of the West across the Mississippi River in
mid-April.[3]
On May 1, while stationed in the vicinity of Memphis, Tennessee, the battery officially elected its
officers. A muster conducted on May 5 at Corinth, Mississippi, found 62 men in the battery;[3] it also
noted that the battery was armed with four cannons. [19] Union troops had previously occupied
positions near the city on May 3, beginning the Siege of Corinth.[20] During the siege, Landis's Battery
held a strong redoubt with its four cannons, dueling with Union batteries at a range of 800 yards
(730 m).[21] The battery also fought in a skirmish in the vicinity on May 28 before the Confederates
abandoned the city on the night of May 29/30.[22][20] Landis's Battery then spent the next several
months stationed at various points in Mississippi. [22] In September 1862, Price, now commanding the
Army of the West, was preparing for an offensive designed to support the Confederate Heartland
Offensive. On September 14, Price occupied Iuka, Mississippi, as part of his movement; additional
Confederate forces under the command of Major General Earl Van Dorn were only a four-days'
march away. Major General Ulysses S. Grant, one of the top Union commanders in the region,
wanted to avoid the possibility of Price and Van Dorn joining forces. To accomplish this goal, Grant
sent troops commanded by Major General E. O. C. Ord to attack Iuka from the north, and others
under Major General William Rosecrans to attack the city from the south.[23] During the ensuing Battle
of Iuka on September 19, Landis's Battery fought as part of Brigadier General Martin E. Green's
brigade, assigned to Brigadier General Lewis Henry Little's division of the Army of the West.
[24]
 Although the battery came under hostile fire at Iuka, it did not fire its cannons. [22] Price was able to
fend off Rosecrans, and an acoustic shadow prevented Ord from learning of the fight until after it
was over. By September 20, the Army of the West had escaped from Iuka.[23]
Price and Van Dorn then joined forces; Van Dorn commanded the combined army, as he
had seniority over Price, who was relegated to corps command. Rosecrans responded to the
Confederate consolidation by moving his army to Corinth on October 2. The Union position at
Corinth consisted of an exterior line of fortifications built by the Confederates earlier in the war and a
new inner line built as the result of orders by Major General Henry Halleck. On October 3, Van Dorn
attacked, beginning the Second Battle of Corinth.[25] Landis's Battery was part of Green's brigade of
Brigadier General Louis Hébert's division of Price's corps during the battle.[26] During the battle,
Landis's Battery continued to operate two 12-pounders and two 24-pounders. [27] On the first day at
Corinth, Landis's Battery, as well as Guibor's Missouri Battery, participated in an artillery duel with
two Union batteries from the 1st Missouri Light Artillery: Battery I and Battery K. After two more
Confederate artillery batteries joined the fighting, the Union artillery was forced to withdraw, allowing
the infantry of Green's brigade to attack the Union line. [28] Later that day, while the Confederate
infantry was still fighting along the Union main line, Union infantry approached the Confederate flank,
and advanced towards Landis's and Guibor's batteries. Artillery fire from the two batteries stopped
the progress of the Union advance, and the Union infantry withdrew as darkness began to fall.[29]
The Confederate infantry assaults on October 3 had driven Rosecrans's men from the outer line, but
the inner line was still in Union hands.[30] That night, Landis's Battery fired at the interior Union lines,
as the battery's guns had a longer effective range than most of the other Confederate artillery.[31] Van
Dorn then ordered another assault the next day. The October 4 fighting briefly carried portions of the
inner Union line, but the gains could not be held. The Confederates withdrew from Corinth that night
in defeat.[30] Landis's Battery suffered ten casualties at Corinth. [1] The unit formed part of the
Confederate rear guard, avoiding capture at the Battle of Davis Bridge. The battery's equipment had
been damaged during the Corinth campaign, so the unit was detached to Jackson, Mississippi, for
repairs. On November 29, Landis's men rejoined the Army of the West and they spent the rest of
1862 at Grenada, Mississippi.[22]