United States Regiments & Batteries > Pennsylvania


“Battery E, 14th Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves”

Battery E of the 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery lost 2 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 21 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War.

The Pennsylvania Reserves were 15 regiments that were recruited in early 1861. Refused by the War Department as they were in excess of Pennsylvania’s quota, Governor Curtin decided they would be armed and trained at state expense. The War Department soon realized they were needed and assigned them standard designations when they were accepted into Federal service. But the men preferred to be known by their original name: the Pennsylvania Reserves. See more about the Pennsylvania Reserves.

1861
August 5 Organized at Philadelphia under Captain Theodore Miller and ordered to Washington, D.C.
August-September Duty at Camp Barry and in the Defenses of Washington, D.C. attached to W. F. Smith’s Division, Army of the Potomac
October Attached to Smith’s Division, Army of the Potomac
1862
March 10-15 Advance on Manassas, Va. Attached to Artillery, 1st Division, 4th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac
March Moved to the Virginia Peninsula
April 5-May 4 Siege of Yorktown
May 5 Battle of Williamsburg
May 31-June 1 Battle of Fair Oaks, Seven Pines
June Attached to 4th Corps
June 25-July 1 Seven days before Richmond. Attached to 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 4th Army Corps
June 25-29 Defense of Bottom’s Bridge
July 1 Malvern Hill
July 4 Captain Miller promoted to A. Adjutant General. Lieutenant Thomas G. Orwig took command of the battery
July At Harrison’s Landing
August 11 Lieutenant Orwig promoted to captain
August 16-24 Retreat from the Peninsula
September Garrison duty at Yorktown and Gloucester assigned to United States Forces, Yorktown, Va., Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina
1863
June 26-July 8 Dix’s Peninsula Campaign
October 4-9 Expedition to Matthews County
December 11-15 To Gloucester Court House
1864
April At Williamsburg, Va. and in Defenses of Yorktown
July 5 Ordered to join Artillery Brigade, 18th Army Corps in the field for siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond
August Assigned to Artillery Brigade, 10th Army Corps
September 21 Captain Orwig resigned. Lieutenant Henry Wildey took command of the battery
September 28-30 Chaffin’s Farm, New Market Heights, and Fort Harrison
September 30 In trenches before Richmond
November 1 Lieutenant Wildey promoted to captain
December Assigned to Artillery Brigade, 25th Army Corps, Dept. of Virginia
1865
April Duty dismantling forts and removing Ordnance
July 20 Mustered out under Captain Wildey