Battery A, 1st Maryland Light Artillery

United States Regiments & Batteries > Maryland

The 1st Maryland Light Artillery, Battery A lost 6 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 28 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War. It is honored by a monument at Antietam and a monument at Gettysburg.

1861
August and
September		 Organized as a legion of nine companies of infantry, two companies of cavalry, and two batteries of light artillery by Colonel William Purnell, Postmaster of Baltimore, at Pikesville Arsenal, under special authority of the Secretary of War. Attached to Dix’s Division, Baltimore, Maryland.
September Duty at Baltimore, Md., and on eastern shore of Maryland
1862
February Colonel Purnell resigned and the Legion was broken up into a regiment of infantry, two independent companies of cavalry and Battery A and Battery B, Maryland Light Artillery.
May Joined Army of the Potomac on the Virginia Peninsula; attached to 4th Brigade, Artillery Reserve, 5th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac
June to August Peninsula Campaign
June 25 – July 1 Seven days before Richmond
June 26 Battles of Mechanicsville
June 29 Savage Station
June 30 White Oak Swamp
July 1 Malvern Hill
July 2 – August 15 Harrison’s Landing
August 15-22 Movement to Fortress Monroe and Alexandria
September Attached to Artillery, 1st Division, 6th Army Corps
September 6-22

Maryland Campaign
September 14 Battles of Crampton’s Pass, South Mountain, Md.
September 16-17
Battle of Antietam

From the monument at the intersection of Smoketown Road and Mumma Lane at Antietam:

The battery under the command of Capt. John W. Wolcott occupied a line 100 feet in rear of this marker and facing Dunkard Church. Loss 1 killed, 11 wounded.
September 18 – October 29 At Downsville, Md.
October 29 –
November 19		 Movement to Falmouth, Va.
December 12-15
Battle of Fredericksburg
1863
January 20-24
“Mud March”
January 25 At White Oak Church
May Attached to 4th Volunteer Brigade, Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac
April 27 – May 6

Chancellorsville Campaign
April 29 – May 2 Operations at Franklin’s Crossing
May 3 Battle of Maryes Heights, (Second Fredericksburg)
May 3-4
Salem Heights
May 4
Banks’ Ford
June 11 – July 24

Gettysburg Campaign
July, 1863 Attached to 3rd Volunteer Brigade, Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac
July 1-3
Battle of Gettysburg

The battery was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Captain James H. Rigby. It brought four officers and 102 enlisted men to the field and was armed with six Ordnance Rifles. It was posted on Powell Hill, where it supported the 12th Corps fighting around Culp’s Hill. It suffered no casualties.
July – October Duty on line of the Rappahannock and Rapidan
October Attached to Artillery Brigade, 1st Army Corps, Army of the Potomac
October 9-22

Bristoe Campaign
November 7-8 Advance to line of the Rappahannock
November 26 – December 2

Mine Run Campaign
1864
February 6-7 Demonstration on the Rapidan, Morton’s Ford
March, 1864 Assigned to Camp Barry, Defenses of Washington, 22nd Army Corps
May Attached to 1st Brigade, DeRussy’s Division, 22nd Army Corps
July 3 Dismounted and ordered to Harper’s Ferry, W. Va.; Reserve Division, Harper’s Ferry, W. Va.
1865
January Attached to 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, West Virginia
March 11 Consolidated with Battery B, Maryland Light Artillery