Battery A, First New Hampshire Artillery

United States Regiments & Batteries > New Hampshire > Battery A, First New Hampshire Artillery

Battery A, First New Hampshire Artillery lost 6 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 6 enlisted men to disease. It is honored by a monument at Gettysburg.

1861
Autumn Battery A, First New Hampshire Artillery was organized at Manchester. It was recruited by Frederick M. Edgell and Edwin H. Hobbs
September 26 Mustered in
November 1 Left State for Washington, D.C. Duty at Munson’s Hill, Defenses of Washington, D.C., attached to McDowell’s Division, Army of the Potomac
1862
March Attached to 3rd Division, 1st Corps, Army of the Potomac
March 10-15 Advance on Manassas, Va.
March 16-April 9 Camp at Upton’s Hill.
April 4 Attached to King’s Division, Department of the Rappahannock
April 9-18 Advance on Falmouth, Va.
April 18 Occupation of Fredericksburg
May 25-29 McDowell’s advance on Richmond
June 1-21 Operations against Jackson. Attached to Artillery, 1st Division, 3rd Corps, Army of Virginia
July Duty at Falmouth
July 28 At Fredericksburg
August 5-8 Expedition to Fredericks Hall and Spotsylvania Court House
August 5-6 Thornburg Mills
August 16-
September 2

Pope’s Campaign in Northern Virginia
August 21-23 Fords of the Rappahannock
August 22 Rappahannock Station
August 26 Sulphur Springs
August 29

Battle of Groveton

The battery was engaged on high ground south of the Warrenton Pike at 7 pm. It was commanded by Captain George A. Gerrish until he was wounded and captured. The battery also lost one of its guns captured. Lieutenant Frederick M. Edgell took command of the battery.
August 30

Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas)
September-October

Maryland Campaign

Attached to Artillery, 1st Division, 1st Corps, Army of the Potomac
September 16-17

Battle of Antietam

The battery lost three men wounded and had one gun disabled.

From Lieutenant Frederick M. Edgell’s report:

“It commenced the action [at Antietam on 17 September 1862] on the extreme right of the line at daylight, rendering efficient service, dislodging the enemy’s battery in forty-five minutes; later taking position in the noted corn field in front of the Dunker stone church, helping to repel the desperate charges of the enemy, being engaged a third time during the afternoon nearer the village of Sharpsburgh. Our losses were few-three privates wounded slightly, a few horses killed, and one gun disabled. After the withdrawal of Gen. R.E. Lee’s army across the Potomac river, the battery encamped on the battlefield near Sharpsburgh, Md., until Sunday, October 26, when our corps was put in motion for Virginia. On the 30th it crossed the Potomac on pontoon bridges, passing down the Leesburg Pike.”
October 30-
November 19		 Movement to Falmouth, Va.
November 2-3 Union
December 11-15

Battle of Fredericksburg
1863
January 20-24
“Mud March”
February-April At Belle Plains
March 8 Lieutenant Frederick M. Edgell was promoted to captain and given permanent command of the battery.
April 27-May 6

Chancellorsville Campaign
May Attached to 3rd Volunteer Brigade, Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac
April 29-May 2 Operations at Pollock’s Mill Creek
April 29-30 Fitzhugh’s Crossing
May 1-5

Battle of Chancellorsville
June 3 – July 24

Gettysburg Campaign
July 2-4

Battle of Gettysburg

The battery was commanded by Captain Frederick M. Edgell. It brought 111 men to the field serving 4 Ordnance Rifles and lost three men wounded.

The battery arrived on the field on the afternoon of July 2 around 4 p.m. and was posted to the position where its monument is today. They relieved the 2nd Maine Battery, which had four of its six cannon disabled in two days of fighting and the retreat from Seminary Ridge. The battery was ordered later in the day to a position south of Evergreen Cemetery along Baltimore Pike. From this location they helped throw back the Confederate attack on Cemetery Hill that evening. The battery returned to its original position in the early afternoon of July 3 and participated in the repulse of Pickett’s Charge.

From the monument in the National Cemerery:

On this location Edgell’s 1st New Hampshire Battery, Light Artillery, fired three hundred and fifty-three rounds of ammunition July 2nd and 3rd, 1863.
July 12-18 Funkstown, Md.
October 9-22

Bristoe Campaign

Attached to Artillery Brigade, 3rd Corps, Army of the Potomac
November 7-8 Advance to line of the Rappahannock
November 7 Kelly’s Ford
November 8 Brandy Station
November 26-December 2

Mine Run Campaign
November 27 Payne’s Farm
December At Brandy Station
1864
March Attached to Artillery Brigade, 2nd Corps, Army of the Potomac
February 6-7 Demonstration on the Rapidan
May 3-June 12

Campaign from the Rapidan to the James River
May 5-7

Battle of the Wilderness

Commanded by Captain Frederick M. Edgell
May 8-21

Spotsylvania Court House
May 10

Po River
May 12

Assault on the Salient, “Bloody Angle”
May 23-26

North Anna River
May 28-31

Totopotomoy
June 1-12

Cold Harbor
June 16-18 First Assault on Petersburg
June 19

Siege of Petersburg
June 22-23

Jerusalem Plank Road
July 27-28

Deep Bottom
July 30

Mine Explosion, Petersburg (Reserve)
August 13-20 Demonstration north of the James
August 14-18

Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom
August 20-30 Duty in the trenches before Petersburg
September 1-7 At Fort Hill
September 7 At Battery 18
September 28 Non-Veterans were mustered out
October 22 Duty in the trenches before Petersburg
November 5 The battery was attached to 1st New Hampshire Heavy Artillery as Company M but remained detached as a Light Artillery Battery in the field. Captain Frederick Edgell was promoted to major in the 1st New Hampshire Heavy Artillery Regiment.
1865
March 28

Appomattox Campaign
March 30-31

White Oak Road
April 2

Sutherland Station and fall of Petersburg
April 6

Sailor’s Creek
April 7

Farmville and High Bridge
April 9

Appomattox Court House

Surrender of Lee and his army.
May 1-12 Moved to Washington, D.C.
May 23 Grand Review
June 15 Battery A, First New Hampshire Artillery was mustered out