United States Regiments & Batteries > Rhode Island
Rhode Island’s Battery B lost 1 officer and 13 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 15 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War. It is honored by a monument at Gettysburg
|
1861
|
|
| Organized at Providence | |
| August 18 | Mustered in |
| August 23 | Left State for Washington, D.C. Duty at Camp Stone and along Upper Potomac attached to Stone’s Brigade, Division of the Potomac |
| October 21-24 | Operations on the Potomac attached to Artillery, Stone’s (Sedgwick’s) Division, Army of the Potomac |
| October 21 |
Battle of Ball’s BluffThe battery lost 5 men wounded and 4 missing. |
|
1862
|
|
| February 25-26 | March to Harper’s Ferry, W. Va. |
| March 7-10 | Moved to Charlestown, then to Berryville attached to Artillery, 2nd Division, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac |
| March 13-14 | Advance toward Winchester |
| March 22-April 1 | Return to Harper’s Ferry, then moved to Washington. D.C., and Hampton, Va. |
| April 5-May 4 |
Siege of Yorktown |
| May 31-June 1 |
Battle of Fair Oaks (Seven Pines) |
| June 25-July 1 | Seven days before Richmond |
| June 29 | Peach Orchard and Savage Station |
| June 30 | Charles City Cross Roads and Glendale |
| July 1 |
Malvern Hill |
| July-August | At Harrison’s Landing |
| August 16-31 | Movement to Fortress Monroe, thence to Alexandria and Fairfax C. H. |
| August 19 | Captain Bartlett resigned. Lieutenant Hazard was promoted to captain. |
| August 31-September 2 |
Second Bsattle of Bull Run (Second Manassas)Covered retreat of Pope’s Army from Bull Run to Washington |
| September |
Maryland Campaign |
| September 14 |
Battle of South Mountain |
| September 16-17 |
Battle of AntietamThe battery was under the command of Captain John G. Hazard. It brought 131 men and 6 Napoleons to the battle. |
| September 22 | Moved to Harper’s Ferry |
| October 16-17 | Reconnaissance to Charlestown |
| October 30- November 17 |
Advance up Loudoun Valley and movement to Falmouth, Va. |
| December 11-15 |
Battle of Fredericksburg |
|
1863
|
|
| January-April | Duty at Falmouth |
| April 27-May 6 |
Chancellorsville Campaign |
| May 3 |
Maryes Heights, Fredericksburg |
| May 3-4 |
Salem Heights |
| May 4 |
Banks’ Ford |
| May 25 | Captain Hazard was given command of the Second Corps artillery. Lieutenant John K. Bucklyn took command of the battery. |
| May | Attached to Artillery Brigade, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac |
| June 11-July 24 |
Gettysburg Campaign |
| July 1-4 |
Battle of GettysburgThe battery was commanded at Gettysburg by Captain Thomas Frederick Brown until he was wounded on July 2. First Lieutenant William S. Perrin then took command. Battery B brought 103 men to the field serving six 12-pounder Napoleons. It lost 7 men killed, 19 wounded and 2 missing. July 2On the afternoon of July 2nd the battery advanced from its position on Cemetery Ridge to near the Codori farm to try to stop Longstreet’s attack. Wright’s Georgia Brigade partly overran the battery, leaving two pieces near the Emmitsburg Road and another near the stone wall on Cemetery Ridge. Captain Brown was wounded at this time. Union countercharges on July 2nd recovered all three guns, but only one would be restored to service for the next day. July 3On July 3rd the four serviceable guns of Brown’s Battery were placed just south of the Copse of Trees under the command of Lieutenant Perrin. The artillery bombardment preceding Pickett’s Charge badly pounded the battery. One gun was struck on the muzzle by a Confederate shell, killing two gunners. Two men lept to load the piece, but the ball jammed in the distorted muzzle. They were about to hammer it in with an axe when another Confederate shell shattered one of the gun’s wheels and the cannon collapsed. The barrel cooled around the ball, permanently clamping it in place. It can be seen on display in the Rhode Island Statehouse. When Union Artillery Chief Howard Hunt rode up he could see that Battery B was a wreck. Only three guns were servicable, all the officers were killed or wounded, and long-range ammunition was almost expended. Hunt ordered the battery to the rear. |
| September 13-17 | Advance from the Rappahannock to the Rapidan |
| October 9-22 |
Bristoe Campaign |
| October 14 |
Auburn and Bristoe |
| November 7-8 | Advance to line of the Rappahannock |
| November 26- December 2 |
Mine Run Campaign |
|
1864
|
|
| January-May | At Stevensburg, Va. |
| February 6-7 | Demonstration on the Rapidan |
| May-June |
Campaign from the Rapidan to the James |
| May 5-7 |
Battle of the Wilderness |
| May 8-21 |
Battle of Spotsylvania Court House |
| May 12 |
Assault on the Salient |
| May 23-26 |
North Anna River |
| May 26-28 | Line of the Pamunkey |
| May 28-31 | Totopotomoy |
| June 1-12 |
Battle of Cold Harbor |
| June 16-18 |
First Assault on PetersburgSiege of Petersburg begins |
| June 22-23 |
Jerusalem Plank Road |
| July 27-28 |
Deep Bottom |
| August 14-18 |
Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom |
| August 25 |
Ream’s Station |
| September 30 | Battery A, 1st Rhode Island Artillery transferred to Battery B |
| October 27-28 |
Hatcher’s Run |
|
1865
|
|
| February 5-7 | Dabney’s Mills |
| March 28-April 9 |
Appomattox Campaign |
| April 2 |
Fall of Petersburg |
| April 6 |
Sailor’s Creek |
| April 7 |
High Bridge and Farmville |
| April |
Appomattox Court HouseSurrender of Lee and his army. |
| May 2-15 | Moved to Washington, D.C. |
| May 23 | Grand Review |
| June 13 | Mustered out |