By: Cooper Smalls (Blue and Gray Education Society)
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the most famous named artillery pieces in American history. Col. Keith Gibson, director of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Museum, noted:
"When it comes to 19th-century artillery pieces, these guns are some of the most important and historical in the entire nation. We can point to these guns and know that Stonewall Jackson used the guns himself and trained cadets on the guns. … When he was VMI a professor and an instructor of artillery tactics."
The smoothbore six-pounder cannons were delivered to VMI in 1848 and were specially cast to be lighter than standard field artillery. As Kelly Nye explained in a January 13, 2017, article:
"A standard cannon tube, at the time weighed 800 pounds, which would have been nearly impossible for the cadets to pull up VMI's steep hill [by hand] to the parade ground. The VMI tubes were specially made to be a comparatively light 562 pounds, with smaller carriages to fit accordingly."
How did the cannons acquire their apostolic nicknames? In 1861, the four VMI training guns became part of the Rockbridge Artillery, a Confederate States Army unit commanded by William Nelson Pendleton of Lexington, Virginia. Pendleton, an Episcopal minister before and during the Civil War, reportedly named the cannons after the four apostles for spiritual or symbolic reasons.
One story holds that he believed his artillery would “preach the gospel” by striking fear into the hearts of Union soldiers. Another theory links the names to the old children’s bedtime prayer known as the “Black Paternoster”:
"Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
Bless the bed that I lie on,
Four corners to my bed,
Four Angels round my head;
One to watch and one to pray,
And two to bear my soul away."
Or perhaps Pendleton simply believed that, like the four Gospel writers, these cannons would “speak a powerful language.”
The Apostle cannons were present at the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) on July 21, 1861. It was during this engagement—while former VMI professor Thomas J. Jackson commanded the guns—that Confederate Gen. Barnard Bee is said to have shouted the famous line: “There stands Jackson like a stone wall!” Thus, the name “Stonewall” was born.
Because the VMI cannons were non-standard in size, the Rockbridge Artillery replaced them with larger guns by 1863. By the war’s end, the original four had made their way to Richmond, where they were captured by Union forces when the city fell.
Returned to VMI in 1874, the Apostle cannons were retired from training use in 1913 but continued to be fired ceremonially into the 1970s. Today, they remain prominently displayed on the VMI parade ground—well-docuented as the very weapons once used by VMI Professor Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson, who taught natural and experimental philosophy.
Statue of Stonewall Jackson and the Four Apostles. This photo was taken before 2021, when the statue was relocated to the Virginia Museum of the Civil War at the New Market Battlefield State Historical Park.
VMI Archives Photographs Collection
