Battery B, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery

Battery B, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery 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 battery was organized in Providence, Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

and mustered in for a three year enlistment on August 18, 1861 under the command of Captain Thomas F. Vaughan.

The battery was attached to Stone's Brigade, Division of the Potomac, to October 1861. Artillery, Stone's (Sedgwick's) Division, 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...

, to March 1862. Artillery, 2nd Division, II Corps, Army of the Potomac, to June 1863. Artillery Brigade, II Corps, to June 1865.

Battery B, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery mustered out of service on June 13, 1865.

Detailed service

Left Rhode Island for Washington, D.C., August 23. Duty at Camp Stone and along Upper Potomac until February, 1862. Operations on the Potomac October 21-24, 1861. Battle of Ball's Bluff October 21. March to Harpers Ferry, W. Va., February 25-26, 1862, and duty there until March 7. Moved to Charlestown, thence to Berryville March 7-10. Advance toward Winchester March 13-14. Return to Harpers Ferry, then moved to Washington. D.C., and Hampton, Va., March 22-April 1. Siege of Yorktown April 5-May 4. Battle of Fair Oaks (Seven Pines) May 31-June 1. Seven days before Richmond June 25-July 1. Peach Orchard and Savage Station June 29. Charles City Cross Roads and Glendale June 30. Malvern Hill July 1. At Harrison's Landing until August 16. Movement to Fortress Monroe, then to Alexandria and Fairfax Court House August 16-31. Cover retreat of Pope's Army from Bull Run to Washington August 31-September 2. Maryland Campaign September. Battles of South Mountain September 14, and Antietam September 16-17. Moved to Harpers Ferry September 22, and duty there until October 30. Reconnaissance to Charlestown October 16-17. Advance up Loudoun Valley and movement to Falmouth, Va., October 30-November 17. Battle of Fredericksburg December 11-15. Duty at Falmouth until April 27, 1863. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Maryes Heights, Fredericksburg, May 3. Salem Heights May 3-4. Banks' Ford May 4. Gettysburg Campaign June 11-July 24. Battle of Gettysburg July 1-4. Advance from the Rappahannock to the Rapidan September 13-17. Bristoe Campaign October 9-22. Auburn and Bristoe October 14. Advance to line of the Rappahannock November 7-8. Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2. At Stevensburg, Va., until May 1864. Demonstration on the Rapidan February 6-7. Campaign from the Rapidan to the James May-June. Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7; Spotsylvania May 8-12; Spotsylvania Court House May 12-21. Assault on the Salient May 12. North Anna River May 23-26. Line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Totopotomoy May 28-31. Cold Harbor June 1-12. Before Petersburg June 16-18. Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864 to April 2, 1865. Jerusalem Plank Road June 22-23, 1864. Deep Bottom July 27-28. Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, August 14-18. Ream's Station August 25. Hatcher's Run October 27-28. Dabney's Mills February 5-7, 1865. Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. Fall of Petersburg April 2. Sayler's Creek April 6. High Bridge and Farmville April 7. Appomattox Court House April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. Moved to Washington, D.C., May 2-15. Grand Review of the Armies May 23.

Casualties

The battery lost a total of 29 men during service; 1 officer and 13 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 15 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

Captain Thomas F. Vaughan
Captain John G. Hazard - commanded at the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg
Captain Thomas Frederick Brown - wounded in action at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863
Lieutenant William S. Perrin - commanded at Gettysburg after Cpt Brown's was wounded

Legacy

Battery B, 1st Battalion, 103rd Field Artillery Regiment, Rhode Island National Guard traces is origins to this battery.

External links