1st Rhode Island Light Artillery, Battery B

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 Bluff

The 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 Cover retreat of Pope’s Army from Bull Run to Washington
September Maryland Campaign
September 14
Battle of South Mountain
September 16-17
Battle of Antietam

The 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 Gettysbur

The battery was commanded at Gettysburg by Lieutenant John K. Bucklyn until he was wounded on July 2. Second Lieutenant Benjamin Freeborn then took command although he was slightly wounded.

Battery E brought 116 men to the field serving six 12-pounder Napoleons. It lost 3 killed, 26 wounded and 1 missing
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 Petersburg

Siege 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 9
Appomattox Court House

Surrender of Lee and his army.
May 2-15 Moved to Washington, D.C.
May 23 Grand Review
June 13 Mustered out