Battery H, 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 October 14, 1862 for a three year enlistment under the command of Captain Crawford Allen, Jr..

The battery was attached to Camp Barry, Military District of Washington, October 1862. Stannard's 2nd Brigade, Casey's Division, Military District Washington, to February 1863. Artillery, Casey's Division, XXII Corps, Department of Washington, to April 1863. Artillery, Abercrombie's Division, XXII Corps, to May 1863. 3rd Brigade, DeRussy's Division, XXII Corps, to November 1863. Camp Barry, XXII Corps, to April 1864. Artillery, 1st Division, IX 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...

, to May 1864. Reserve Artillery, IX Corps, to June 1864. 2nd Brigade, DeRussy's Division, XXII Corps, to July 1864. 1st Brigade, DeRussy's Division, XXII Corps, to October 1864. City Point, Virginia, Department of Virginia and North Carolina

Department of Virginia and North Carolina

The Department of Virginia and North Carolina was a United States Military department encompassing Union-occupied territory in the Confederate States during the Civil War. In 1863 it was formed by the merging of two previously existing departments: the Department of Virginia and the Department of...

, to December 1864. Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac, to January 1865. Artillery Brigade, VI Corps, to June 1865.

Battery H, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery mustered out of service at Providence, Rhode Island on June 28, 1865 and was discharged July 3, 1865.

Detailed service

Left Rhode Island for Washington, D.C., October 23. Duty at Camp Barry, Washington, D.C., until January 1863. Moved to Fairfax Station January 19-23, and duty there until March 23. Moved to Union Mills March 23, and duty there until May 20. Moved to Chantilly, Va., May 20, and duty there until June 25. Moved to Fairfax Court House June 25, then to Arlington Heights, and duty in the defenses of Washington, south of the Potomac, until April 1864. Rapidan Campaign May 3-10. Battle of the Wilderness May 5-7. Spotsylvania May 8-10. March to Fredericksburg, then to Aquia Creek May 10-18, then moved to Washington. Duty at Fort Richardson until July 10, and at Fort Smith until October 16. At Camp Barry until October 25. Moved to City Point, Va., October 25-26, and duty there until January 2, 1865. Ordered to join the Army of the Potomac January 2. Siege of Petersburg January 2-April 2. Fort Fisher, Petersburg, March 25. Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. Assault on and 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. March to Danville April 23-27, then to Burkesville Station May 3-6. Moved to Washington, D.C., via City Point and Richmond May 20-June 7. Corps Review June 8. Ordered to Providence, R.I., June 13.

Casualties

The battery lost a total of 12 men during service; 2 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 10 enlisted men died of disease.

See also

• List of Rhode Island Civil War units
• Rhode Island in the American Civil War
  Rhode Island in the American Civil War
  The state of Rhode Island during the American Civil War, as with all of New England, remained loyal to the Union. Rhode Island furnished 25,236 fighting men to the Union Army, of which 1,685 died. On the home front, Rhode Island, along with the other northern states, used its industrial capacity to...