United States Regiments & Batteries * United States Regulars


1861
April At Camp Floyd, Utah, commanded by Captain John Gibbon.
October Reached Washington, D.C. and assigned to duty in the Defenses of Washington, D. C. Attached to McDowell’s Division, Army of the Potomac.
1862
March 10-15 Advance on Manassas, Va. attached to Artillery, 1st Division, 1st Army Corps, Army of the Potomac
April 9-19 Advance on Falmouth, Va. Attached to Artillery, 3rd Division, Dept. of the Rappahannock
April Duty at Falmouth and Fredericksburg
June Attached to Artillery, 1st Division, 3rd Corps, Army of Virginia
July 24-27 Reconnaissance from Fredericksburg to Orange Court House
August 9
Battle of Cedar Mountain
August 16-
September 2
Pope’s Campaign in Northern Virginia
August 29
Battle of Groveton (Brawner Farm)

The position of Battery B is shown by a trailside marker at Stop Two on the Manassas Battlefield Driving Tour.

From the marker:

1st Division (King), Third Corps (McDowell),
Army of Virginia, USA

Company B, 4th U.S. Artillery
Capt. Joseph B. Campbell
Six 12-pounder Napoleons

“Campbell’s pieces came up on the gallop, these fences along the pike being torn down to let them pass into the field. With shells bursting about them, they were placed in position and began to reply rapidly from the knoll from where I had first caught sight of the enemy’s guns.
– Brig. Gen. John Gibbon

August 30
Second Battle of Bull Run
September 6-22
Maryland Campaign

Attached to Artillery, 1st Division, 1st Army Corps, Army of the Potomac

September 16-17
Battle of Antietam

Battery B was commanded by Captain Joseph P. Campbell until he was wounded. Lieutenant James Stewart then took command.

From the battery’s War Department marker at Antietam:

Early in the morning, this Battery advanced from its bivouac morth of Jos. Poffenberger’s, passing through the North Woods to the ploughed fields immediately south of them. One section, under command of Lieut. James Stewart, was advanced to a position east of D.R. Miller’s house and about 205 yards from this road, and shelled the woods around and north of the Dunkard Church. In a few minutes Stewart crossed the road and, taking position about 60 yards west of this point, engaged the Confederate Artillery and Infantry. He was joined by the other four guns of the Battery which took position on his left, one gun in the road, a few feet in advance, working effectively against the Confederate Infantry in the Cornfield. The Battery was charged by Hood’s Division, the charge being repulsed by a rapid fire of double charges of canister, with the help of the Infantry supports – the Brigades of Gibbon and Patrick. In this contest Capt. Campbell was wounded and the command fell to Lieut. Stewart. After a close and severe engagement in which the Battery lost 9 men killed and 31 wounded and 26 horses killed, it retired to the field north of the Miller house, where it again went into action.

October 30-
November 19
Movement to Falmouth, Va.
December 12-15
Battle of Fredericksburg
December At Falmouth
1863
April 27-May 6
Chancellorsville Campaign
May Attached to Artillery Brigade, 1st Army Corps
April 29-May 2 Operations at Pollock’s Mill Crossing
May 2-5
Battle of Chancellorsville
June 11-July 24 Gettysburg Campaign
July 1-3
Battle of Gettysburg

Lieutenant James Stewart commanded the battery, which brought six 12 pounders to the field. There are two monuments at Gettysburg to Battery B.

From the monument on Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg:

July 1 In position about 200 yards south of the Seminary until 3 p.m. when ordered to the support of Brig. General J. C. Robinson’s Division First Corps and took position on Seminary Ridge one half the Battery between the Chambersburg Pike and the Railroad Cut. The other half north of the cut in the corner of the woods was actively engaged. The battery afterwards retired with the troops to Cemetery Hill where it went into position on the Baltimore Pike opposite the Evergreen Cemetery commanding the approach from the town. Two guns on the Pike and two in the field having been disabled.

July 2 & 3 Remained in this position.

Casualties killed 2 men, wounded 2 officers and 23 men, missing 3 men.

October 9-22
Bristoe Campaign
November 7-8 Advance to line of the Rappahannock
November 26-December 2
Mine Run Campaign
1864
February 6-7 Demonstration on the Rapidan
March Attached to Artillery Brigade, 5th Army Corps
May 4-June 12
Rapidan Campaign
May 5-7
Battle of the Wilderness
May 8-21
Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
May 22-26
North Anna River
May 25 Jericho Ford
May 26-28 On line of the Pamunkey
May 28-31
Totopotomoy
June 1-12
Cold Harbor
June 1-3 Bethesda Church
June 16-18
First Assault on Petersburg
June 16 to April 2
Siege of Petersburg
October 27-28
Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher’s Run
December 7-12
Warren’s Raid on Weldon Railroad

1865

March 28-April 9
Appomattox Campaign
March 29
Junction, Quaker and Boydton Roads and Lewis Farm, near Gravelly Run
March 31
White Oak Road
April 1
Battle of Five Forks
April 9
Appomattox Court House

Surrender of Lee and his army.

May Moved to Washington, D.C. and attached to Dept. of Washington
May 23 Grand Review
June Duty in the Defenses of Washington, D.C., until August