Battery L, 1st New York Light Artillery

Battery L, 1st New York Light Artillery
Active	September 1861 - June 17, 1865
Country	United States of America
Allegiance	Union
Branch	Artillery
Engagements	Battle of Cedar Mountain ; Second Battle of Bull Run ; Battle of Chantilly ; Battle of South Mountain ; Battle of Antietam ; Battle of Fredericksburg ; Battle of Chancellorsville ; Battle of Gettysburg ; Bristoe Campaign ; Mine Run Campaign ; Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ; Battle of North Anna ; Battle of Totopotomoy Creek ; Battle of Cold Harbor ; Siege of Petersburg ; Battle of Globe Tavern ; Appomattox Campaign ; Third Battle of Petersburg

Last updated September 04, 2019

Battery L, 1st New York Light Artillery ("Rochester Union Grays") was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons built to launch 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 as a working, viable republic.

Service

The battery was organized at Rochester, New York and mustered in for a three-year enlistment on November 17, 1861 under the command of Captain John A. Reynolds.

Rochester, New York City in Western New York

Rochester is a city on the southern shore of Lake Ontario in western New York. With a population of 208,046 residents, Rochester is the seat of Monroe County and the third most populous city in New York state, after New York City and Buffalo. The metropolitan area has a population of just over 1 million people. It is about 73 miles (117 km) east of Buffalo and 87 miles (140 km) west of Syracuse.

New York is a state in the Northeastern United States. New York was one of the original thirteen colonies that formed the United States. With an estimated 19.54 million residents in 2018, it is the fourth most populous state. In order to distinguish the state from the city with the same name, it is sometimes referred to as New York State.

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 Defenses of Washington, D.C., to February 1862. Baltimore, Maryland, Dix's Command, to May 1862. 1st Brigade, Sigel's Division, Department of the Shenandoah, to June 1862. 1st Division, III Corps, Army of Virginia, to September 1862. 1st Division, I Corps, Army of the Potomac, to May 1863. Artillery Brigade, I Corps, to March 1864. Artillery Brigade, V Corps, to March 1865. Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac, attached to IX Corps, to April 1865. Artillery Brigade, V Corps, to June 1865.

III Corps (Union Army) corps-sized formation of the Union Army

There were four formations in the Union Army designated as III Corps during the American Civil War.

The Army of Virginia was organized as a major unit of the Union Army and operated briefly and unsuccessfully in 1862 in the American Civil War. It should not be confused with its principal opponent, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by Robert E. Lee.

I Corps (Union Army) formation in the Union Army during the American Civil War

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.

Battery L, 1st New York Light Artillery mustered out of service on June 17, 1865.

Detailed service

Moved to Elmira, N.Y., and mustered in. Left New York for Washington, D.C., November 21, 1861. Duty at Camp Barry, defenses of Washington, until February 1862, and at Baltimore, Md., until May 1862. Moved to Winchester, Va. Skirmish at Charlestown May 28. Defense of Harpers Ferry, Va., May 28–30. Battle of Cedar Mountain, Va., August 9. Pope's Campaign in northern Virginia August 16-September 2. Fords of the Rappahannock August 21–23. Sulphur Springs August 26. Battles of Gainesville August 28, Groveton August 29. Second Battle of Bull Run August 30. Battle of Chantilly September 1. Maryland Campaign September 6–22. Battle of South Mountain September 14. Battle of Antietam September 16–17. Movement to Falmouth, Va., October 29-November 19. Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 12–15. "Mud March" January 20–24, 1863. Duty at Falmouth and Belle Plains until April. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Operations at Pollock's Mill Creek April 29-May 2. Fitzhugh's Crossing April 29–30. Battle of Chancellorsville May 1–5. Gettysburg Campaign June 11-July 24. Battle of Gettysburg July 1–3. 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. Demonstration on the Rapidan February 6–7, 1864. Campaign from the Rapidan to the James May 3-June 15. Battle of the Wilderness May 5–7. Laurel Hill May 8. Spotsylvania May 8–12. Battle of Spotsylvania Court House May 12–21. Assault on the Salient May 12. North Anna River May 23–26. Jericho Ford May 23. On line of the Pamunkey May 26–28. Totopotomoy May 28–31. Cold Harbor June 1–12. Bethesda Church June 1–3. Before Petersburg June 16–18. Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864 to April 2, 1865. Weldon Railroad August 18–21, 1864. Dabney's Mills, Hatcher's Run, February 5–7, 1865. Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9. Assault on and fall of Petersburg April 2. Pursuit of Lee April 3–9. Moved to Washington, D.C. Grand Review of the Armies May 23.

The Grand Review of the Armies was a military procession and celebration in the national capital city of Washington, D.C., on May 23–24, 1865, following the close of the American Civil War (1861–1865). Elements of the Union Army in the United States Army paraded through the streets of the capital to receive accolades from the crowds and reviewing politicians, officials, and prominent citizens, including United States President Andrew Johnson, a month after the assassination of United States President Abraham Lincoln.

Casualties

The battery lost a total of 23 men during service; 11 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 12 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

Captain John A. Reynolds
Captain Gilbert H. Reynolds
Captain George Breck - commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg while still at the rank of 1st lieutenant after Cpt Gilbert Reynolds was wounded in action on July 1

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References

Breck, George. Breck's War: The Civil War Correspondence of George Breck, Battery L, 1st N.Y. Light Artillery (Rochester, NY: R. E. Marcotte), 2005.
Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908.

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.

External links

Battery L, 1st New York Light Artillery monument at Gettysburg Battlefield

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