Siege of Yorktown

Battle of Seven Pines, Fair Oaks

Seven days before Richmond

Peach Orchard and Savage Station

White Oak Swamp and Glendale

First Lieutenant Rufus King (son of Brigadier General Rufus King) was breveted captain and later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the battle. “This officer, when his captain was wounded, succeeded to the command of two batteries while engaged against a superior force of the enemy and fought his guns most gallantly until compelled to retire.”

Malvern Hill

Maryland Campaign

Battle of Antietam

The battery was commanded by First Lieutenant Evan Thomas, and brought six Napoleons to the field. From Lieutenant Thomas’ official report:

On the 17th of September, 1862, I received orders to move to the front. I was halted in the woods the enemy had been driven out of that morning, and the right section was ordered into position. The rest of the battery was soon ordered into position, the same occupied by Lieutenant Kirby’s battery, and joined the right section there. I remained there without firing a shot until our left was driven back. I then changed front to fire to the left, and opened an the advancing enemy with spherical case, and then, as they approached nearer, with canister. They came on, and I would undoubtedly have lost my battery had not Franklin’s column come up at that time. I then changed to my original front, and opened with solid shot on a battery to my right, in the opposite woods, which was soon silenced. Another battery opened on me, which I saw was out of my range. A rifled battery coming up at that time, and seeing I could do no good and was only losing horses for nothing, I deemed it prudent to withdraw. I was shortly afterward ordered to the rear, to fill up, where I staid until ordered to my division. All the orders that I received were from Captain Clarke, chief of artillery, Sumner’s Corps.

All my officers and men behaved with great coolness and bravery. Several of Baxter’s Zouaves [72nd PA] helped me considerably in carrying ammunition. One was killed and one wounded. I would state that I had no infantry support during the whole engagement.”

OFFICIAL RECORDS: Series 1, Vol 19, Part 1 (Antietam – Serial 27), Page 284

From the marker at Antietam:

Batteries A and C (consolidated), 4th U.S. Artillery (6 guns) relieved Battery I, 4th U.S. Artillery just north of this point and went into position, the left of the Battery resting on this road, where it remained inactive until Greene’s Division, Twelfth Corps, was driven from the woods around the Dunkard Church, when the Battery changed front to the left, opening fire with spherical case and canister upon the charging Confederates, who, by the aid of Irwin’s Brigade and two Regiments of Hancock’s of the Sixth Corps, were repulsed. The Battery then resumed its original front and opened with solid shot upon the Confederate Artillery in the woods around and north of the Dunkard Church. Late in the day it was relieved and moved to the high ground occupied by Richardson’s Division in its assault upon the Confederates in the Sunken Lane and Piper’s Cornfield, where it remained until the morning of the 18th. 

Battle of Fredericksburg

Battle of Chancellorsville

Gettysburg Campaign

Battle of Gettysburg

Commanded by Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing, who was killed during Pickett’s Charge.  Sergean Frederick Fuger would take command when Cushing was killed.

The intense bombardment preceding the attack left Cushing and many of his men wounded by shell fragments and only two guns still servicable. Rather than withdraw the remnants of the shattered battery, he obtained permission from General Webb to move his remaining pieces up to the stone wall, where he and the handful of survivors of the battery fired canister into the advancing Virginians of Pickett’s Division.

The legend that Cushing fired the last double-shotted gun seconds before being struck in the mouth with his fatal wound is a small exaggeration. Having supported Cushing after his second, probably mortal, wound, Sergeant Fuger, who received the Medal of Honor for his actions, fired the shot after laying the dying Cushing on the ground after his third wound. Cushing received a posthumous brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel.

Text from the battery’s monument at Gettysburg:

Battery A 4th United States Artillery

Six 3 inch Rifles
Lieut. Alonzo Cushing and Sergt. Frederick Fuger Commanding

July 2 Arrived and took position with the brigade of Brig. General A.S. Webb, Second Division, Second Corps and took part in the artillery engagements during the day.

July 3 Engaged in the repulse of Longstreet’s Assault and lost all its officers killed or wounded and all the guns but one and all its horses but three were disabled. Lieut Cushing was killed while firing the last shot from the only effective gun. After the repulse of Longstreet’s Assault the Battery was withdrawn.

Casualties: killed 1 officer and 5 men, wounded 1 officer and 31 men

Both Lieutenant Cushing and Sergeant Fuger were awarded the Medal of Honor.

“First Lieutenant Alonzo H. Cushing distinguished himself by acts of bravery above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an artillery commander in Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery, Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 3rd, 1863 during the American Civil War. That morning, Confederate forces led by General Robert E. Lee began cannonading First Lieutenant Cushing’s position on Cemetery Ridge. Using field glasses, First Lieutenant Cushing directed fire for his own artillery battery. He refused to leave the battlefield after being struck in the shoulder by a shell fragment. As he continued to direct fire, he was struck again — this time suffering grievous damage to his abdomen. Still refusing to abandon his command, he boldly stood tall in the face of Major General George E. Pickett’s charge and continued to direct devastating fire into oncoming forces. As the Confederate forces closed in, First Lieutenant Cushing was struck in the mouth by an enemy bullet and fell dead beside his gun. His gallant stand and fearless leadership inflicted severe casualties upon Confederate forces and opened wide gaps in their lines, directly impacting the Union force’s ability to repel Pickett’s charge. First Lieutenant Cushing’s extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty at the cost of his own life are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery, Army of the Potomac, and the United States Army.”

Sergeant Ftederick Fuger: “All the officers of his battery having been killed or wounded and five of its guns disabled in Pickett’s assault, he succeeded to the command and fought the remaining gun with most distinguished gallantry until the battery was ordered withdrawn.”

Bristoe Campaign

White Sulphur Springs

Bristoe Station and St. Stephen’s Church

Mine Run Campaign

Parker’s Store

Rapidan Campaign

Battle of the Wilderness

Sheridan’s Raid to the James River

North Anna River

Ground Squirrel Church and Yellow Tavern

Totopotomoy

Cold Harbor