Howdy ya'll. We're a Confederate unit out of St. Joe portraying Capt. John C. Landis' artillery unit formed in late 1861 in St. Joseph, Missouri. The unit was formed as part of the Missouri State Guard (Known then as the St. Joseph Light Artillery), under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, during the Battle of Lexington in September 1861. There it was given four guns to be placed in battery, two 12-pound field howitzers and two 24-pound field howitzers. From there, the battery traveled South with the M.S.G. to take part in the fightin' at Elkhorn Tavern. This was the last struggle for Missouri that our unit would take part in. Thereafter, the M.S.G. was disbanned and the units were mustered into the Confederate Army where the battery took it's formal name as the Landis Battery. We were attached to the 1st Missouri Brigade in the Army of the Mississippi and we saw fightin' at Corinth, Tupelo, Iuka, Chattanooga, Champion Hill, and several other battles while fightin with them boys of the 1st Missouri. The battery saw it's final action at the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863, where it put up quite a scrap! There the battery's captain, John Landis, was brevreted a Colonel and placed in command as Chief of Artillery. The unit also enjoys the little known title of "Hero of Champion Hill" as they were both the first unit in and the last to leave, covering the retreat of the army. After the fightin at Vicksburg, the unit was consolidated with Wade's and Guibor's Missouri Batteries to become the 1st Missouri Light Artillery. This newly consolidated battery was transferred to the Eastern theater where it saw action 'til the war's end.
The Landis Battery unit was formed by our Colonel, Russell Hatzenrader, in the 1980s to commemorate the brave men who fought for their families, their state, their country, and above all... their freedom. We've been a fightin' them Yanks ever since! The unit has only one gun (a 6-pound field gun) as of yet, but we're lookin to add another, possibly two more. We are a very close knit, family type unit. Very friendly, as is the Southern way. We are very proud of our heritage, and we display it with pride as we honor our ancestors who fought bravely under the starry Southern banner and gave their all for what they believed in.
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