6th Maine Battery was an artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 battery

Artillery battery

In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...

 that served in the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

.

Service

The 6th Maine Battery was organized in Augusta, Maine

Augusta, Maine

Augusta is the capital of the US state of Maine, county seat of Kennebec County, and center of population for Maine. The city's population was 19,136 at the 2010 census, making it the third-smallest state capital after Montpelier, Vermont and Pierre, South Dakota...

 and mustered in for three years' service on January 1, 1862 under the command of Captain Freeman McGilvery

Freeman McGilvery

Freeman McGilvery was a United States Army artillery officer during the American Civil War. He gained fame at the Battle of Gettysburg for taking the initiative to piece together a line of guns that greatly contributed to the Union victory.-Biography:McGilvery was born in Prospect, Maine...

.

The battery was attached to 2nd Division, II Corps, Army of Virginia

Army of Virginia

The Army of Virginia was organized as a major unit of the Union Army and operated briefly and unsuccessfully in 1862 in the American Civil War. It should not be confused with its principal opponent, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by Robert E...

, to August 1862. 3rd Division, III Corps, Army of the Potomac

Army of the Potomac

The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.-History:The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was then only the size of a corps . Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen...

, August 1862. Artillery, 1st Division, III Corps, to September 1862. Artillery, 2nd Division, XII Corps, Army of the Potomac, to June 1863. 4th Volunteer Brigade, Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac, to September 1863. 1st Volunteer Brigade, Artillery Reserve, to April 1864. Artillery Brigade, II Corps, to November 1864. Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac, to June 1865.

The 6th Maine Battery mustered out of service June 7, 1865 at Augusta, Maine.

Detailed service

Duty at Augusta until March and at Portland, Me., until April 1. Moved to Washington, D.C., April 1-3. Camp at East Capitol Hill and at Forts Buffalo and Ramsey, and at Falls Church, Va., until June. Ordered to report to General Banks at Harpers Ferry, W. Va. Duty at Harpers Ferry, Cedar Creek, and Little Washington, Va., June to August 1862. Battle of Cedar Mountain August 9. Pope's Campaign in northern Virginia August 16-September 2. Fords of the Rappahannock August 20-26. Battles of Groveton August 29, and Second Bull Run August 30. Chantilly September 1. Maryland Campaign September-October. Crampton's Pass, South Mountain, Md., September 14. Battle of Antietam, September 16-17. Duty at Sandy Hook, Md., and at Harpers Ferry, W. Va., until December. Reconnaissance to Winchester December 2-6. Action at Dumfries December 27. Duty at Dumfries until May 27, 1863, and at Falmouth until June 13. Gettysburg Campaign June-July. Battle of Gettysburg July 1-3. Pursuit to Williamsport, Md., July 7-14. Frederick, Md., July 13. March to Warrenton Junction, Va., July 18-August 2, and duty there until September 16. At Culpeper until October 12. Bristoe Campaign October 12-22. Culpeper October 12-13. Bristoe October 14. Advance to line of Rappahannock November 7-8. Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2. Mine Run November 28-30. Campaign from the Rapidan to James River May 3-June 15, 1864. Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7; Spotsylvania May 8-12; Spotsylvania Court House May 12-21; "Bloody Angle," Spotsylvania Court House, May 12. North Anna River May 23-26. On line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Totopotomoy May 28-31. Cold Harbor June 1-12. Before Petersburg June 16-19. Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864 to April 2, 1865. Jerusalem Plank Road June 22-23, 1864. Deep Bottom July 27-28. Mine Explosion July 30 (reserve). Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, August 14-18. Garrison, Fort Davis, until October 20. At Fort McGilvrey and Battery 9 until March 15, 1865. At Fort Sampson until April 3. Assault on and capture of Petersburg April 2-3. Ordered to reserve artillery at City Point April 3. Duty there until May 3. Ordered to Alexandria and duty there to June 4. Ordered to Augusta, Me. for muster out.

Casualties

The battery lost a total of 40 enlisted men during service; 13 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 27 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

• Captain Freeman McGilvery
• Captain Edwin B. Dow - commanded at the battle of Gettysburg as 1st Lieutenant
• 1st Lieutenant William H. Rogers - commanded during the Bristoe Campaign

See also

• List of Maine Civil War units
• Maine in the American Civil War
  Maine in the American Civil War
  During the American Civil War, the state of Maine was a source of military manpower, supplies, ships, arms, and political support for the Union Army...
  
  

External links

• 6th Maine Battery monument at Gettysburg