Artillery is a class of heavy military weapons built to fire munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry's small arms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls, and fortifications during sieges, and led to heavy, fairly immobile siege engines. As technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery cannons developed for battlefield use. This development continues today; modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility providing the large share of an army's total firepower.
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of artillery, mortars, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface to surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles etc., so grouped to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems. The term is also used in a naval context to describe groups of guns on warships.
During the American Civil War, the Union Army referred to the United States Army, the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. Also known as the Federal Army, it proved essential to the preservation of the United States of America as a working, viable republic.
The battery was organized at Hoboken, New Jersey and mustered in for a three-year enlistment on August 12, 1861 under the command of CaptainWilliam Hexamer.
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005, having grown by 11,428 (+29.6%) from 38,577 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 5,180 (+15.5%) from the 33,397 in the 1990 Census. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the tri-state region.
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Northeastern United States. It is a peninsula, bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, particularly along the extent of the length of New York City on its western edge; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware River and Pennsylvania; and on the southwest by the Delaware Bay and Delaware. New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state by area but the 11th-most populous, with 9 million residents as of 2017, and the most densely populated of the 50 U.S. states; its biggest city is Newark. New Jersey lies completely within the combined statistical areas of New York City and Philadelphia and was the second-wealthiest U.S. state by median household income as of 2017.
In the United States Army (USA), U.S. Marine Corps (USMC), and U.S. Air Force (USAF), captain is a company grade officer rank, with the pay grade of O-3. It ranks above first lieutenant and below major. It is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the Navy/Coast Guard officer rank system. The insignia for the rank consists of two silver bars, with slight stylized differences between the Army/Air Force version and the Marine Corps version.
The battery was attached to Kearney's Brigade, Division of the Potomac, to October 1861. Franklin's Division, Army of the Potomac, to March 1862. Artillery, 1st Division, I Corps, Army of the Potomac, to May 1862. Artillery, 1st Division, VI Corps, to May 1863. Artillery Brigade, VI Corps, to June 1863. 4th Volunteer Brigade, Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac, to October 1863. 3rd Volunteer Brigade, Artillery Reserve, to March 1864. 1st Volunteer Brigade, Artillery Reserve, to May 1864. Artillery Brigade, VI Corps, to July 1864. Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac, to December 1864. Artillery Brigade, VI Corps, to June 1865.
The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in May 1865 following the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in April.
I Corps was the designation of three different corps-sized units in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Separate formation called the I Corps served in the Army of the Ohio/Army of the Cumberland under Alexander M. McCook from September 29, 1862 to November 5, 1862, in the Army of the Mississippi under George W. Morgan from January 4, 1863 to January 12, 1863, and in the Army of the Potomac and Army of Virginia. The first two were units of very limited life; the third was one of the most distinguished and veteran corps in the entire Union Army, commanded by very distinguished officers. The term "First Corps" is also used to describe the First Veteran Corps from 1864 to 1866.
The VI Corps was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Battery A, 1st New Jersey Light Artillery mustered out of service June 22, 1865.
Detailed service
Left New Jersey for Washington, D.C., August 20, 1861. Duty in the defenses of Washington, D.C., until March 1862. Advance on Manassas, Virginia, March 10–15, 1862. Advance from Alexandria to Bristoe Station April 7–11. Embarked for the Virginia Peninsula April 17. Siege of Yorktown, Virginia, April 19-May 4 (on transports). West Point May 7–8. Battle of Seven Pines May 31-June 1. Seven days before Richmond June 25-July 1. Battles of Gaines' Mill June 27. Brackett's June 30. Charles City Cross Roads and Glendale June 30. Malvern Hill July 1. At Harrison's Landing until August 16. Movement to Manassas August 16–26. Pope's Campaign in northern Virginia August 26-September 2. Bull Run Bridge August 27. Chantilly September 1. Maryland Campaign September 6–22. Crampton's Pass, Md., September 14. Antietam September 16–17. Duty in Maryland until October 30. Movement to Falmouth, Va., October 30-November 19. Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 12–15. Duty near Falmouth, Va., until April 27, 1863. "Mud March" January 20–24. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Operations at Franklin's Crossing April 29-May 2. Battle of Maryes Heights, Fredericksburg, May 3. Salem Heights May 3–4. Banks' Ford May 4. Gettysburg Campaign June 11-July 24. Battle of Gettysburg July 2–4. Pursuit of Lee to Manassas Gap October 5–24. Duty on line of the Rappahannock and Rapidan until October. Bristoe Campaign October 9–22. Advance to line of the Rappahannock November 7–8. Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2. Payne's Farm November 27. Duty near Brandy Station, Va., until May 1864. Campaign from the Rapidan to the James May 3-June 15. Battle of the Wilderness May 5–7. Spotsylvania May 8–21. North Anna River May 23–26. On line of the Pamunkey May 26–28. Totopotomoy May 28–31. Cold Harbor June 1–12. (Temporarily with XVIII Corps.) Before Petersburg June 16–18. Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864 to April 2, 1865. Jerusalem Plank Road June 22–23, 1864. At City Point July 9–26. Demonstration north of the James River July 27–29. Deep Bottom July 27–28. Fort Fisher, Petersburg, March 25, 1865. Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. Fall of Petersburg April 2. Sailor's Creek April 6. High Bridge, Farmville, April 7. Appomattox Court House April 9. Surrender of Lee and his army. March to Danville April 23–27, and duty there until May 18. Marched to Richmond, then to Washington, D.C., May 18-June 3. Corps review June 8.
Manassas is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 37,821. The city borders Prince William County, and the independent city of Manassas Park, Virginia. The Bureau of Economic Analysis includes both Manassas and Manassas Park with Prince William County for statistical purposes.
Yorktown is a census-designated place (CDP) in York County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1682. Yorktown's population was 195 as of the 2010 census, while York County's population was 66,134 in the 2011 census estimate.
The Battle of Seven Pines, also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks or Fair Oaks Station, took place on May 31 and June 1, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of an offensive up the Virginia Peninsula by Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, in which the Army of the Potomac reached the outskirts of Richmond.
Casualties
The battery lost a total of 15 men during service; 3 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 12 enlisted men died of disease.
Commanders
Captain William Hexamer
Captain Augustine N. Parsons - commanded at the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg while still at the rank of lieutenant
2nd Maine Battery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
5th Maine Battery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
6th Maine Battery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
1st New Hampshire Light Artillery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Battery C, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery was an artillery regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Battery B, 1st New Jersey Light Artillery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Battery G, 1st New York Light Artillery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
11th New York Light Artillery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Battery "K" 4th Regiment of Artillery was a light artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Battery "I" 5th Regiment of Artillery was a light artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 2nd New Jersey Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Battery "B", 4th Regiment of Artillery was a light artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Battery B, 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery was a light artillery battery that served in the Union Army as part of the Pennsylvania Reserves infantry division during the American Civil War.
Battery B, 1st New York Light Artillery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Battery "A" 4th Regiment of Artillery was a light artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
3rd New York Independent Light Artillery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 3rd Massachusetts Light Artillery, was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Battery "D" 5th Regiment of Artillery was a light artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Battery C, 1st New York Light Artillery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
References
Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908.
Martin, David George. Hexamer's First New Jersey Battery in the Civil War (Hightstown, NJ: Longstreet House), 1992. ISBN0-9444-1324-2
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.
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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