About us

Reilly’s Battery of the 10th North Carolina State Troops was re-activated in mid-1995 and is part of the Carolina Legion. We are unique, for like the men we seek to represent, we pull the guns with horses! Our horses proudly and accurately represent their ancestors, many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice.

Our primary impression is Reilly’s Battery. We can also represent any of the Confederate Artillerymen in the five "Field/Light" batteries that made up the 1st Regiment North Carolina Artillery (10th North Carolina State Troops). Visit our history pages to learn more about the units we represent.

We galvanize! Our Federal impression is a Regular Army unit, Battery D (West Point Battery) of the 5th United States Artillery Regiment.  As an interesting side note, the two units we seek to recreate fired at each other during the Gettysburg Campaign in 1863.

We participate with other horse drawn guns at many major reenactments to include Shiloh, the 140th Antietam, and the 140th Gettysburg. This year we will participate in the 145th 1st Manassas.  We also participate in many local events as well.  In addition to reenactments, we continue to take part in numerous "living histories" at several national and private parks (to include Gettysburg, Appomattox and Pamplin Park). Our primary area of operation is in North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania.   We were proud to assist in the burial of the CSS Hunley crew.   Our teams and caissons pulled and carried the remains of the crewmen from North Carolina and Maryland.

Additionally, we have participated in the filming of the following:

• (for the National Park Service at Manasses) - a documentary to show how Artillery moved and operated during the Civil War
• (for PBS) - a special where only our guns participated. It has not yet aired.
• Hallmark Hall of Fame movie "Love Letters" - it aired on 7 Feb '98. Many of us and our guns appeared in the film.

The battery currently has 30 military members from all walks of life which include computer specialists, active duty military, automotive specialists, school teachers, etc.. Battery guns include one 1841 six-pounder, two 1861 ten-pound Parrott Rifles and an 1841 24-pound Coehorn Mortar. Support equipment includes two 1841 limbers, one caisson, 1862 harness and 20 horses. The battery can field one horse drawn gun and has a second team in training. We met our goal to have a fully operational section by mid-year 1999. Of the approximately 300 artillery pieces involved in Civil War re-enacting across the country only about 25 are horse drawn and of those only 15 are using the correct period horse harness. Ours is the only horse drawn section of guns in the East Coast.

Again, our organization welcomes the involvement of the whole family!

Please fill out our Membership form if you're interested in joining!