The Civil War in the East

1st New York Light Artillery Regiment, Battery B

 

Battery B lost 16 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 10 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War.

 

It is honored by a monument at Gettysburg.

Monument to Battery B, 1st New York Light Artillery on the Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg
Thumbnail of Captain Rufus D. Pettit's 1st New York Battery, vicinity of Richmond, Va.

Captain Rufus D. Pettit's
1st New York Battery,
vicinity of Richmond, Va.

(enlarge)

Thumbnail of Capt. Rufus D. Pettit's Battery B, 1st New York Light Artillery, in Fort Richardson, Fair Oaks, Va.

1861

 

Organized at Elmira, N.Y.

August 30

Mustered in under Captain Rufus T. Pettit

October 21

Albert S. Sheldon mustered in as first lieutenant

October 31

Left State for Washington, D.C. and duty in the Defenses of that city attached to Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac

November 12

Second Lieutenant Robert Rogers transferred in from Busteed's Battery

1862

March 10-15

Advance on Manassas, Va. attached to Artillery, 1st Division, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac

March

Moved to the Peninsula, Va.

April 5-May 4

Siege of Yorktown

May

Attached to Artillery Brigade, 2nd Army Corps

May 31-June 1

Battle of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks

June 25

Oak Grove, near Fair Oaks

June 25-July 1

Seven days before Richmond

June 27

Battles of Gaines' Mills

June 29

Peach Orchard and Savage Station

June 30

White Oak Swamp Bridge and Glendale

July 1

Malvern Hill

July-August

At Harrison's Landing

August 16-30

Movement to Alexandria, thence to Centreville

September 1

Near Centreville

September 2

Germantown Road

September 16-17

Battle of Antietam

Private Nicholas House was killed

September 22

Duty at Harper's Ferry

October 16-17

Reconnaissance to Charlestown

October 20-
November 17

Advance up Loudoun Valley and movement to Falmouth, Va.

November 2

Snicker's Gap

November 17

Falmouth

December 12-15

Battle of Fredericksburg

1863

January-April

Duty at Falmouth

January 20-24

"Mud March"

April 27-May 6

Chancellorsville Campaign

May 1-5

Battle of Chancellorsville

Seargeant Charles Gates and Privates Robert Donahue and Bernard McBride were wounded. Donahue reportedly drowned in the Delaware River during his stay in a hospital in Philadelphia

May

Attached to 1st Volunteer Brigade, Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac

May 1

Sergeant Joseph Slauson promoted to second lieutenant

May 15

First Lieutenant Edward Underhill transferred from Battery A

May 30

Captain Petit resigns due to health, leaving Lieutenant Albert S. Sheldon in command.

June

Attached to Artillery Brigade, 2nd Army Corps

July 1-3

Battle of Gettysburg

Battery B brought 114 men to the field serving four 10-pounder Parrott Rifles. It was commanded from July 2-3 by Captain James McKay Rorty.

 

Rorty had been Second Corps Ordnance Officer, but had persuaded General Hancock to give him a combat command for the battle, and he took over Battery B from Lieutenant Sheldon on July 2nd, probably in the afternoon before Longstreet's assault.

 

On Juy 2 the battery fought near the Wheatfield before being withdrawn to the line of batteries set up by Lt. Colonel Freeman McGilvery along Plum Run. It lost one man killed and eight wounded, as well as 13 horses killed or disabled.

 

On July 3 the battery was placed on Cemetery Ridge just south of the Copse of Trees - directly in the path of Pickett's Charge. The intense bombardment before the charge disabled three of the four cannon of the battery, blowing one from its carriage. Captain Rorty dropped his sword belt and coat and grabbed a sponge staff to help work the remaining gun. He shouted a desperate plea to Colonel Arthur Devereau of the nearby 19th Massachusetts Infantry for a dozen men to help work his guns, and was rewarded with a score of volunteers. Lieutenant Moses Shackley risked his life to fill a sponge bucket from a nearby spring to keep the gun firing.

 

Captain Rorty was killed and Lieutenant Sheldon wounded as the final charge of Confederate Brigadier General James Kemper's Virginians swept up and over the battery. Sergeant Lewis Darveau shot a Confederate captain who had placed his colors on one of the guns, brained him with a handspike, and was in turn shot down.


Captain Rorty, Sergeant Darveau, Privates John Barry, Michael Halloran, Patrick Kelley, Amos Maynard, Charles Radue, Henry Rosegrant, Napoleon Twitchell were killed or mortally wounded and 16 men were wounded. Lieutenant Robert E. Rogers then took over the battery.

July

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

August 10

Lieutenant Sheldon promoted to captain

October 9-22

Bristoe Campaign

November 7-8

Advance to line of the Rappahannock

November 26-December 2

Mine Run Campaign. Attached to Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac

December 2

Sergeant De Witt Perine promoted to second lieutenant

December 13

Sergeant John Gibson transferred from Battrey H and promoted to second lieutenant

December 15

Second Lieutenant Joseph Slauson promoted to first lieutenant

1864

January

Attached to 1st Brigade, Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac

March

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

May 3-June 15

Campaign from the Rapidan to the James

May 5-7

Battles of the Wilderness

May 8-12

Laurel Hill May 8; Spottsylvania

May 9

Lieutenant Rogers transferred to Battery C

May 12-21

Spottsylvania Court House

May 16

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

May 23

Jericho Mills

May 26-28

On line of the Pamunkey

May 28-31

Totopotomoy

June 1-12

Cold Harbor

June 1-3

Bethesda Church

Captain Albert Sheldon and Privates James O'Hara and James Wheeler were wounded, Wheeler mortally.

June 16-18

Before Petersburg; Siege of Petersburg begins

July 30

Mine Explosion, Petersburg (Reserve)

August 18-21

Weldon Railroad

Corporal Daniel Rodgers was mortally wounded and Prinate Alonzo Ketcham was killed. Corporal Rogers died of his wounds on August 30 in Washington.

September 29-
October 2

Poplar Grove Church, Peeble's Farm

September 21

First Lieutenant Joseph Slauson discharged

October 18

First Lieutenant Edward Underhill transferred to Battery M and prmomoted to captain

October 27-28

Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher's Run

October 31

Second Lieutenant John Gibson promoted to first lieutenant

November 28

First Lieutenant Gibson discharged, end of term of service

December 13

Private Charles Rooney promoted to second lieutenant

December 16

Captain Albert Sheldon discharged for disability for his wound from Bethesda Church

1865

March 9

Second Lieutenant Darius Chapin transferred from Battery L and promoted to first lieutenant

March 28-April 9

Appomattox Campaign

March 31

White Oak Road

April 1

Five Forks

April 2

Fall of Petersburg

April 3-9

Pursuit of Lee

April 9

Appomattox Court House. Surrender of Lee and his army.

April 22

Second Lieutenant Charles Rooney promoted to first lieutenant and Sergeant John Cunningham to second lieutenant

May

Moved to Washington, D. C.

May 23

Grand Review

June 3

Second Lieutenant James Decker transferred from Battery F

June 18

Mustered out under First Lieutenant Charles Rooney