1st Rhode Island Light Artillery Regiment (Battery A)

HISTORICAL NOTES:
Battery "A" 1st Regiment Light Artillery was organized at Providence and mustered in June 6, 1861. It was transferred to Battery "B" 1st Rhode Island Artillery, September 30, 1864. The battery lost a total of 18 men during service; 1 officer and 12 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 5 enlisted men died of disease. OFFICERS:

Captain William H. Reynolds

Captain John Albert Monroe

Captain John A. Tompkins

Captain William A. Arnold

Lieutenant William S. Perrin - commanded at the First Battle of Deep Bottom

ASSIGNMENTS:
Attached to Burnside's Brigade, Hunter's Division, McDowell's Army of Virginia, to August 1861. Department of the Shenandoah to October 1861. Banks' Division, Army of the Potomac, to March 1862. Artillery, 2nd Division, 2nd Corps, Army of the Potomac, to June 1863. Artillery Brigade, II Corps, Army of the Potomac, to September 1864. SERVICE:
Left Rhode Island for Washington, D.C., June 19. Duty in the defenses of Washington, D.C., until July 16, 1861. Advance on Manassas, Va., July 16-21. Battle of Bull Run July 21. Moved to Sandy Hook, Md., July 28. Duty there and at Berlin and Darnestown until September. Moved to Harpers Ferry September 16. Action at Bolivar Heights October 16. At Muddy Branch and Poolesville, Md., until March 1862. Moved to Washington, then to Hampton, Va., March 22-April 1. Virginia Peninsula Campaign April to August. Siege of Yorktown April 5-May 4. Battle of Fair Oaks (Seven Pines) May 31-June 1. Seven Days Battles before Richmond June 25-July 1. Peach Orchard and Savage Station June 29. Charles City Cross Roads and Glendale June 30. Malvern Hill July 1. At Harrison's Landing until August 16. Movement to Alexandria August 16-28. March to Fairfax Court House August 28-31. Cover retreat of Pope's Army from Bull Run to Washington August 31-September 1. Maryland Campaign September. Battles of South Mountain, Md., September 14, and Antietam September 16-17. Moved to Harpers Ferry September 22, and duty there until October 30. Reconnaissance to Charlestown October 16-17. Action at Charlestown October 16. Advance up Loudoun Valley and movement to Falmouth, Va., October 30-November 17. Battle of Fredericksburg December 11-15. Duty at Falmouth until April, 1863. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Maryes Heights, Fredericksburg, May 3. Salem Heights May 3-4. Gettysburg Campaign June 11-July 24. Battle of Gettysburg July 1-4. Advance from the Rappahannock to the Rapidan September 13-17. Bristoe Campaign October 9-22. Bristoe Station October 14. Auburn Heights October 14. Advance to line of the Rappahannock November 7-8. Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2. At Stevensburg, Va., until May 1864. Demonstration on the Rapidan February 6-7. Morton's Ford February 6-7. Campaign from the Rapidan to the James May-June. Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7; Spotsylvania May 8-12; Po River May 10; Spotsylvania Court House May 12-21. Assault on the Salient May 12. North Anna River May 23-26. Line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Totopotomoy May 28-31. Shallow Creek May 31. Cold Harbor June 1-12. Before Petersburg June 16-18. Non-veterans mustered out June 18, 1864. Siege of Petersburg June 16-September 30. Jerusalem Plank Road June 21-23. Deep Bottom July 27-28. Mine Explosion, Petersburg, July 30 (reserve). Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, August 14-18. Ream's Station August 25. ROSTERS:

The composite rosters of this unit contain the names of 4378 men.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Vol. 2. Cartersville, GA: Eastern Digital Resources, 1998. Ref. See p. 1222 (1 photocopied page) for a concise summary of the regiment's service.

Reichardt, Theodore. Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, (Providence: N. Bangs Williams, 1865).
REFERENCES:
Dyer, Frederick H. - A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion
The Union Army by Federal Publishing Company, 1908 - Volume 1