Richmond (Virginia) Orange Artillery

Confederate Regiments & Batteries * Virginia

1861
May The Richmond (Virginia) Orange Artillery was created in Richmond
October-December Assigned to Department of the Peninsula Artillery.
1862
January-April Assigned to McLaws’s Division, Department of the Peninsula
March 20 The battery reorganized under the command of Captain Thomas Jefferson Peyton.
April-June Assigned to Army of Northern Virginia Reserve Artillery
June-September Assigned to Jones’s Artillery Battalion, Jackson’s Command, Army of Northern Virginia
June 25-July 1
Seven Days Battles
June 30
White Oak Swamp
September 17
Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam)

The battery was under the command of Captain Peyton and suffered eight men wounded. It was equipped with one 3″ Ordnance Rifle, one 12-pounder Napoleon and three 6-pounders.
September Assigned to Artillery Battalion, D.H. Hill’s-Rodes’s Division, Jackson’s Command, Army of Northern Virginia
October Jackson’s Command became the 2nd Corps, Army of Northern Virginia
October 4 The battery received men from the disbanded Goochland Artillery and Campbell Long Island Artillery.
October 9 The battery was reorganized.
December 13
Battle of Fredericksburg

The battery suffered three casualties.
1863
April 10 Captain Peyton resigned his commission due to illness. Lieutenant Charles W. Fry was promoted to captain and took command of the battery.
May 1-4
Battle of Chancellorsville
July 1-3
Battle of Gettysburg

The battery was commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg by Captain Charles William Fry. It brought 80 men to the battle equipped with two 10 pounder Parrotts and two 3″ Ordnance Rifles. It lost eight men casualties.

From the marker on Oak Hill to the Orange Artillery at Gettysburg:

Ewell’s Corps Rodes’ Division
Carter’s Battalion Fry’s Battery
The Orange Artillery
Two 10 Pounder Parrotts Two 3 Inch Rifles

July 1. Opened fire soon after arriving here upon the Union troops near the Chambersburg Pike to which their artillery replied with a heavy fire that caused some loss. Soon afterward the Union forces extended their line northward to the Mummasburg Road and this Battery by its enfilading fire aided our infantry in the severe conflict which ended with the withdrawal of the First Corps from Seminary Ridge.

July 2. In position but was not engaged.

July 3. All its guns were on Seminary Ridge near the Railroad cut and took part in the cannonade preceding Longstreet’s assault.

Losses not reported. Ammunition expended 882 rounds.
October
Bristoe Campaign
November-December
Mine Run Campaign
1863
May 5-6
Battle of the Wilderness
May 8-21
Battle of Spotsylvania Court House

The battery lost two guns captured in the fighting in the Mule Shoe. The two surviving guns had been on detatched duty and were not in the Mule Shoe when the attack started. After the battle the few survivors of the Jeff Davis (AL) Artillery would serve with the Orange Artillery until the end of the war.
May 22-26
Battle of North Anna
June 1-3
Battle of Cold Harbor
September Assigned to Page’s Battalion, Artillery, Army of the Valley
October 19
Battle of Cedar Creek
November Assigned to Cutshaw’s Battalion, Artillery, Army of the Valley
December 26 The battery was reported as equipped with two 12 pounder howitzers.
1865
March Assigned to Cutshaw’s Battalion, 2nd Corps Artillery, Army of Northern Virginia
March 2
Battle of Waynesboro
April
Siege of Petersburg
April 9
Appomattox Court House

The battery surrendered 20 men.