Battery E, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery

Battery E, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery
Active	September 23, 1861 to June 11, 1865
Country	United States
Allegiance	Union
Branch	Artillery
Equipment	6 12-pdr Napoleons
Engagements	Peninsula Campaign Siege of Yorktown Battle of Williamsburg Battle of Fair Oaks Seven Days Battles Battle of Gaines' Mill Battle of Savage's Station Battle of Glendale Battle of Malvern Hill Battle of Groveton Second Battle of Bull Run Battle of Chantilly Battle of Fredericksburg Battle of Chancellorsville Battle of Gettysburg Bristoe Campaign Mine Run Campaign Battle of the Wilderness Battle of Spotsylvania Court House Battle of Totopotomoy Creek Battle of Cold Harbor Siege of Petersburg Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road Third Battle of Petersburg

Battery E, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Service

The battery was organized in Providence, Rhode Island and mustered in for a three year enlistment on September 23, 1861 under the command of Captain George E. Randolph.

The battery was attached to Heintzelman's Division, Army of the Potomac, to March, 1862. Artillery, 3rd Division, III Corps, Army of the Potomac, to August 1862. Artillery, 1st Division, III Corps, Army of the Potomac, to June 1863. Artillery Brigade, III Corps, to March 1864. Artillery Brigade, VI Corps, to July 1864. Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac, to December 1864. Artillery Brigade, VI Corps, to April 1865. Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac, to June 1865.

Battery E, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery mustered out of service on June 11, 1865.

Detailed service

Left Rhode Island for Washington, D.C., October 4. Duty at Camp Sprague until November 5, 1861, and at Fort Lyon, near Alexandria, Va., defenses of Washington, until April 1862. Peninsula Campaign April to August. Siege of Yorktown April 5-May 4. Warwick Road April 15. Battle of Williamsburg May 5. Battle of Fair Oaks May 31-June 1. Seven days before Richmond June 25-June 1. Oak Grove, near Seven Pines, June 25. Jordan's Ford June 27. Peach Orchard and Savage Station June 29. Brackett's June 30. Charles City Cross Roads and Glendale June 30. Malvern Hill July 1. At Harrison's Landing until August 15. Movement to Centreville August 15-26. Bristoe Station August 27. Groveton August 29. Battle of Bull Run August 30. Chantilly September 1. Duty in the defenses of Washington until October 11. March up the Potomac to Leesburg, thence to Falmouth, Va., October 11-November 23. Battle of Fredericksburg December 12-15. "Mud March" January 20-24, 1863. At Falmouth until April 27. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Battle of Chancellorsville May 1-5. Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-4. Wapping Heights, Va., July 23. Bristoe Campaign October 9-22. Advance to line of the Rappahannock November 7-8. Kelly's Ford November 7. Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2. Payne's Farm November 27. Rapidan Campaign May-June, 1864. Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7; Spotsylvania May 8-12; Spotsylvania Court House May 12-21; North Anna River May 23-26. Line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Totopotomoy May 28-31. Cold Harbor June 1-12. Bethesda Church June 1-3. Before Petersburg June 18-22. Jerusalem Plank Road June 22-23. Moved to Baltimore, Md, July 9-16, then back to City Point, Va., July 17-19. Operations against Petersburg and Richmond July 1864 to April 1865. Fall of Petersburg April 2. Ordered to City Point April 3.

Casualties

The battery lost a total of 29 men during service; 17 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 12 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

Captain George E. Randolph
Captain William B. Rhodes
Lieutenant Pardon S. Jastrum - commanded at the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville

References

Butts, Francis Banister. The Organization and First Campaign of Battery E, First Rhode Island Light Artillery (Providence, RI: The Rhode Island Soldiers and Sailors Historical Society), 1896. on the Internet Archive
Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908.
Lewis, George. The History of Battery E, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, in the War of 1861 and 1865, to Preserve the Union (Providence, RI: Snow & Farnham), 1892. [reprinted in 1998]
Parker, Ezra Knight. "The Bravest Deed I Ever Knew": The Negro Boy at the Petersburg Embrasure (S.l.: s.n.), ca. 1890.
Parker, Ezra Knight. From the Rapidan to the James Under Grant (Providence, RI: Snow & Farnham, Printers), 1909.

Attribution

This article contains text from a text now in the public domain: Dyer, Frederick H. (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Des Moines, IA: Dyer Publishing Co.

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