The Civil War in the East

5th Independent Battery Light Artillery
"1st Excelsior Light Artillery"

The battery lost 4 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 13 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War. It is honored by a monument at Gettysburg.

Monument to the Fifth New York Independent Battery on the Civil War bayylefield of Gettysburg

1861

 

Organized at New York City

November 8

Mustered in under Captain Elijah Taft

November 16

Left State for Washington, D.C.

November

Duty in the Defenses of Washington, D. C. attached to Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac

1862

March

Peninsula Campaign

April 5-May 4

Siege of Yorktown

First Sergeant Russell Durando was wounded

May

Attached to Artillery Reserve, 5th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac

May 31-June 1

Battle of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks

Private Edwin Flynn was wounded

June 25-July 1

Seven days before Richmond

June 26

Battle of Mechanicsville

June 29

Savage Station

June 30

White Oak Swamp and Glendale

July 1

Malvern Hill

July-August

At Harrison's Landing

August 16-24

Moved to Alexandria

September 6-22

Maryland Campaign. Attached to Reserve Artillery, 5th Army Corps

September 16-17

Battle of Antietam

Private Michael Ryan was wounded

September-October

Duty in Maryland

October 29-November 19

Movement to Falmouth, Va.

December 12-15

Battle of Fredericksburg

December

Attached to Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac

1863

January 20-24

"Mud March"

February-April

At Falmouth

April 27-May 6

Chancellorsville Campaign

May 1-5

Battle of Chancellorsville

May

Attached to 2nd Volunteer Brigade, Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac

June 3-July 31

Gettysburg Campaign

July 1-3

Battle of Gettysburg
Commanded by Captain Elijah D. Taft, the batter brought 146 men and six 20-pounder Parrott Rifles to the field, losing 1 man killed and 2 wounded.

 

From the marker:

"July 2. Arrived and halted in park about 10:30 a.m. Moved to the cemetery at 3:30 p.m. and engaged from 4 p.m. until dark. Four guns south of and facing Baltimore Pike firing on a Confederate battery on Benner's Hill. Two guns firing westwardly.


July 3. Engaged at intervals in same position until 4 p.m. One gun on Baltimore Pike having burst, the other three relieved the section firing westwardly. Remained in this position until close of battle."

 

Privates Anton Thalheimer and Adolph Wittenberg were mortally wounded on July 3, Thalheimer dying on July 4 and Wittenberg on September 3 at Summit House General Hospital in Philadelphia. Private John Begg was mortally wounded by the accidental explosion of a caisson, dying in a field hospital in Gettysburg on July 7.

July-October

On line of the Rappahannock

October 9-22

Bristoe Campaign

November 7-8

Advance to line of the Rappahannock

November 7

Rappahannock Station

November

Attached to 1st Volunteer Brigade, Artillery Reserve

November 26-December 2

Mine Run Campaign

November 30

Mine Run

Private George Woods was wounded and was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps inApril of 1864

1864

March

Attached to 2nd Brigade, Artillery Reserve

May 3-19

Campaign of the Rapidan. Attached to Artillery Brigade, 5th Army Corps

May 5-7

Battle of the Wilderness

May 8

Laurel Hill

May 8-12

Spottsylvania

Private James Lyon was captured at Hawkins Church, Va., and died of disease in captivity in Anderson Prison on September 10.

May 12-19

Spottsylvania Court House

Private Thomas Newman was killed in action on May 18 and Privates James Biggs and August Zehorsh were wounded on May 17 and 18

May 15-19

Ordered to Washington

May 19

Duty in the Defenses of attached to DeRussy's Division, 22nd Army Corps, Dept. of Washington

July 11-12

Repulse of Early's attack on Washington

July

Attached to Artillery Brigade, 6th Army Corps

August 7-
November 28

Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign. Attached to Artillery, 1st Division, 19th Army Corps, Army of the Shenandoah, Middle Military Division

September 19

Battle of Winchester

September 22

Fisher's Hill

PRivate Michael Ryan was wounded for the second time

October 19

Battle of Cedar Creek

October

Duty in the Shenandoah Valley and in the Dept. of West Virginia

December

Attached to Artillery Brigade, 19th Army Corps

1865

February

Attached to Artillery Reserve, Army of the Shenandoah

July 6

Mustered out under Captain Taft at Hart's Island, New York Harbor