14th New York Battery

United States Regiments & Batteries > New York

The 14th New York Independent Battery lost 2 officers and 3 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 4 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War.

1861
December 9 Recruited in New York City from the Irish population and mustered into Federal service as part of the Irish Brigade.
December 16 Ordered to Washington DC and organized as Battery A, Second Battakion, New York Artillery under Captain William H. Hogan. They were equipped with six ten-pounder Parrott Rifles.
1862
March Assigned to Richardson’s Division and participated in the Peninsula Campaign.
May 26 By order of the War Department the battery was distributed to other batteries up by section:

First Section under the command of First Lieutenant William O’Donohue was attached to Battery C, 4th U. S. Artillery

Second Section was attached to Battery G, 1st New York Light Artillery

Third Section was attached to Battery B, 1st New York Light Artillery

Lieutenant James McKay Rorty was commissioned Captain. With his battery “temporarily” dispersed, he would serve as Ordnance Officer for the Second Corps.
1863
May 1-6

Battle of Chancellorsville

First Lieutenant William O’Donohue, commanding the section of three guns of the 14th New York Battery that was attached to Battery G, was mortally wounded.
July 2-3

Battle of Gettysburg

Serving as Second Corps Ordnance Officer, Captain James McKay Rorty requested that Major General Hancock give him a combat command. He was appointed to take over Battery B, 1st New York Light Artillery, which included a section of Rorty’s 14th New York Battery and was commanded by a Lieutenant after the resignation of its Captain two days before. He took over on July 2.

The battery was stationed near the Copse of Trees , the target of Pickett’s Charge. The battery was badly battered in the Confederate bombardment before the charge. Three of the battery’s cannon were disabled in the bombardment so many men were put out of action that Rorty grabbed a swab to help work the remaining piece. He was mortally wounded by a shell fragment after a direct hit on one of the barrery’s caissons.

Of the 26 officers and men killed or wounded in Battery B, five belonged to the 14th New York Battery.

The First Section of the 14th New York Battery under the command of First Lieutenant William O’Donohue which was attached to Battery C, 4th U. S. Artillery, was transferred to to Battery G, 1st New York Light Artillery, joining the Second Section. Battery G fought in the Peach Orchard, and lost seven men wounded. One was from the 14th.
September 7 The detachments were permanently transferred to Battery B and Battery G.