I feel compelled to come to the defense of Hutton's Artillery. The incident mentioned above happened at Fort DeRussy in March 1864. The fort, defended by around 350 Confederate soldiers, was attacked by a column of 10,000 Union soldiers. (For the mathematically challenged, that's about 28 to 1.) Captain Hutton and a portion of his company were in the Water Battery, separated from the main body of Confederate soldiers by about a half mile, and these men slipped off early in the fighting. The portion of the company that remained in the main redoubt were captured a few hours later.
The men in the fort had been supported by about 3,500 other soldiers a few days earlier. These men left the fort two days before the Yankees arrived. Nobody has ever suggested they were cowards. Some of the men in the Water Battery made their way up to the main redoubt after Hutton left, but the man who accused Hutton and his men of cowardice also left the Water Battery a short while after Hutton. Both Hutton and his accuser returned to serve during the rest of the Red River Campaign.
Hutton no doubt had a lot of shortcomings. He was regularly in trouble with his superiors. But he wasn't a coward. His position as Chief of Artillery during the capture of the Indianola prove this. (There were no cowards on the Confederate side during the Indianola incident. Their sanity might be questioned, but not their courage.) Hutton was captured at the Battle of New Orleans in '62, and apparently chose not to repeat the experience in '64.
Also, I have never seen any cross-connection between the Crescent Infantry and the Crescent Artillery.
Steve Mayeux