(information from Wendy Pitre Roostan, his great-great-grand-daughter,to whom we owe thanks)
John Benjamin Richardson was the 6th child of eight born to John M. Richardson and Mary Ann Keyes on the 28th of April 1833 at Florence, Alabama. His parents were Virginians. His father had been an Ensign in the Marengo Blues during the Indian War of the 1830's, and a personal friend of Gen. Andrew Jackson. John B. settled in New Orleans and by the time war broke out he was a partner in the house of John. F. Wyche & Co., involved in the cotton and sugar business.
At that time the Washington Artillery was one of the principal military organizations of the city, many of the society young men being members. At the opening of the war the Battalion, which then had about 500 members, volunteered for service in the Confederate Army and were immediately ordered to Lynchburg, Va. They did not go as State troops, but as an independent organization, and it is a matter of record that they furnished their own supplies and all the officers furnished their own horses.
John B. joined the Washington Artillery as a private Dec. 19th, 1859, and was elected First Lieutenant of the First Company of the Battalion that left New Orleans in May 1861 for Virginia. It was sent from Richmond at once to Manassas. He commanded a section of 3-inch rifles and it was there he received his baptism of fire at the battle of Blackburn's Ford, which was part of the battle of Bull Run July 18th, 1861, under Gen'l Jubal A. Early. To Lieut. Richardson's battery belongs the distinction of having fired the first guns of the Washington Artillery at Bull Run, which was the commencement of that historical artillery duel between the Washington Artillery and the United States regular batteries of Sherman, Ricketts and Sprague, all of which were silenced and captured. Lieut. Richardson's horse was killed under him in the engagement by a cannon shot. He received the personal commendation of General Beauregard for the bravery which he showed in the fight.He was also with the First Company at First Manassas, Hall Hill, Munson's Hill and front of Washington City.
He was promoted on 10th June 1862 to Captain and transferred to command the Second Company of the Battalion and commanded this at Mechanicsville, Rappahannock Station and Second Manassas. In the latter engagement the Washington Artillery was divided into a number of sections. John B.'s Second Company pursued a greatly superior force capturing one of the batteries of the Federal forces. Leaving their own guns and taking over the guns of the Federal battery, they turned them on their former owners. Other battles that the Washington Artillery took part in include Sharpsburg, defending the bridge over Antietam River, Fredericksburg, Chancellorville, Gettysburg, Williamsport, Fort Stevens, Drury's Bluffs and also the seven days engagement around Richmond. Va., Chicahominy and the siege of Petersburg, Va.
During the siege of Petersburg he built Fort Mahone, occuping this with his men and also Fort Walker. On the retreat to Appomattox they were almost continuously engaged. The night before the surrender at Appomattox, his battery brought up the rear and was engaged with the enemy cavalry until 11 o'clock at night near Appomattox Station, his battery firing the last gun of the battalion action.
He was not present at the surrender, for during the early hours of the morning he learned of the negotiations for the surrender, and at once ordered his men to bury their guns (four Napoleons) and disband. Most of his command made their way to Greensboro and joined the Confederate army under General Jos.E. Johnston. Captain Richardson was paroled after the surrender at Greensboro and at once returned to his home at New Orleans, where he again entered the cotton business.
At the end of the war he married Cornelia A. 'Nannie' Pugh on 17th May 1865 in Guildford, North Carolina. They lived briefly in Virginia where her parents had returned after the war, and where their first child was born in July of 1866. The couple then resettled in New Orleans, probably at about the time that Nannie's sister Otheana 'Ottie' R. Pugh married Capt. Andrew Hero. John B. worked as the treasurer and secretary for various railroad companies after the war but the continuance of the Washington Artillery was always foremost in his efforts with him becoming Colonel of the Battalion on Febuary 22nd 1880.
