Great information! I wish we knew where Thomas Austin came from.

My question now is When did the nick name "Austin Artillery" start being applied to Trigg's Battery? Austin is a city in present Lonoke County, but Lonoke county was formed after the war and I believe that Austin was orgionally in Pulaski County but I might be mistaken.

John T. Trigg received a Militia Commission as Captain of a Volunteer Artillery Company of the 13th Militia Regiment of Pulaski County on May 22, 1861. The other origional officers listed in the battery were:
Hart Baswell 1st LT
E. J. Thurston 2nd LT
A. B. Trigg, 3rd LT.

Arkansas Military Department Records, List of Commissioned Officers in State Militia 1827–1862, Microfilm Roll 00000038-8, Page 258

The militia records don't included the name "Austin Artillery".

I wonder if the nickname "Austin Artillery" is associated with Thomas Austin instead of Austin Arkansas and the name is actually a post war development. \

This would be simular to the Arkansas Appeal Battery. The unit was never called that during the war. It was actually sponsored by the Memphis Appeal newspaper, but because it was formed mainly from Arkansas men, the name Arkansas Appeal Battery is often used on monuments.