1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery Regiment was an

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during si ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

that served in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

Service

The 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery Regiment was organized in Washington, D.C., from the 4th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry and mustered on January 2, 1862, under the command of

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

Robert O. Tyler Robert Ogden Tyler (December 31, 1831 – December 1, 1874) was an American soldier who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was commander of the Artillery Reserve of the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of ...

. The regiment was attached to the Military District of Washington to April 1862. Siege artillery,

Army of the Potomac 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 June 1865 following the surrender of the Confede ...

, to May 1862. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division,

V Corps 5th Corps, Fifth Corps, or V Corps may refer to: France * 5th Army Corps (France) * V Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * V Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army ...

, Army of the Potomac, to July 1862. Siege artillery, Army of the Potomac, to August 1862. Artillery defenses Alexandria Military District of Washington, to February 1863. Artillery defenses of Alexandria, XXII Corps, to April 1863. 2nd Brigade, DeRussy's Division, defenses south of the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...

, XXII Corps, to May 1863. 3rd Brigade, DeRussy's Division, XXII Corps, to December 1863. 2nd Brigade, DeRussy's Division, XXII Corps, to March 1864. 4th Brigade, DeRussy's Division, XXII Corps, to May 1864. (Batteries B and M attached to Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac, October 1862 to January 1864.) Point of Rocks, Virginia,

Department of Virginia and North Carolina The Department of Virginia and North Carolina was a United States Military department encompassing Union-occupied territory in the Confederate States during the Civil War. In 1863 it was formed by the merging of two previously existing department ...

to June 1864. Siege artillery, Department of Virginia and North Carolina in the field, and siege artillery, Army of the Potomac, to May 1865. Siege artillery,

Department of Virginia The Department of Virginia and North Carolina was a United States Military department encompassing Union-occupied territory in the Confederate States during the Civil War. In 1863 it was formed by the merging of two previously existing departme ...

, to July 1865. 4th Brigade, DeRussy's Division, XXII Corps,

Department of Washington Department of Washington, was a department of the Union Army constituted on April 9, 1861. It consisted of the District of Columbia to its original boundaries, and the State of Maryland as far as Bladensburg. It was merged into the Military D ...

, to August 1865. 3rd Brigade, Department of Washington, to September 1865. The 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery mustered out of the service September 25, 1865.

Detailed service

Duty at Fort Richardson, defenses of Washington, D.C., until April 1862. Ordered to the

Peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on a ...

, Va., in charge of the siege train, Army of the Potomac, April 2.

Siege of Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virg ...

April 12 – May 4.

Battle of Hanover Court House The Battle of Hanover Court House, also known as the Battle of Slash Church, took place on May 27, 1862, in Hanover County, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. On May 27, elements of Brig. Gen. Fitz John Po ...

May 27. Operations about Hanover Court House May 27–29. Seven days before Richmond June 25 – July 1. Gaines Mill June 27. Malvern Hill July 1. At

Harrison's Landing Berkeley Plantation, one of the first plantations in America, comprises about on the banks of the James River on State Route 5 in Charles City County, Virginia. Berkeley Plantation was originally called Berkeley Hundred, named after the Berkele ...

until August 15. Moved to

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

, August 16–27. Duty in the defenses of Washington, D.C., until May 1864, as garrison at Fort Richardson. Batteries B and M detached with the Army of the Potomac, participating in the

Battle of Fredericksburg The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The combat, between the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Bur ...

, December 12–15. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27 – May 6.

Battle of Chancellorsville The Battle of Chancellorsville, April 30 – May 6, 1863, was a major battle of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign. Chancellorsville is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because h ...

May 1–5. Stafford Heights June 12.

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the ...

, July 1–3. Bristoe Campaign October 9–22. Advance to line of the

Rappahannock River The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It traverses the entir ...

November 7–8.

Brandy Station, Virginia Brandy Station is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Culpeper County, Virginia, Culpeper County, Virginia, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census ...

November 8.

Mine Run Campaign The Battle of Mine Run, also known as Payne's Farm, or New Hope Church, or the Mine Run campaign (November 27 – December 2, 1863), was conducted in Orange County, Virginia, in the American Civil War. An unsuccessful attempt of the Union ...

November 26 – December 2. Rejoined regiment in defenses of Washington January 1864. Regiment ordered to Bermuda Hundred, Virginia, May 13, 1864. Engaged in fatigue duty and as garrison for batteries and forts on the Bermuda front and lines before Petersburg during siege operations against Petersburg and Richmond, May 1864 to April 1865. Occupy Fort Converse, Redoubt Dutton, Batteries Spofford, Anderson, Pruyn, and Perry on the Bermuda front, and Forts Rice, Morton, Sedgwick, and McGilvrey, and Batteries 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, Burpee, Drake, and Sawyer, on the Petersburg front, and at Dutch Gap, north of the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesap ...

. Assaults on Fort Dutton June 2 and 21, 1864 (Battery L). Attacks on the lines May 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 27, 30, 31, June 1, 2, 5, 9, 18, 20 and 23.

Battle of the Crater The Battle of the Crater was a battle of the American Civil War, part of the siege of Petersburg. It took place on Saturday, July 30, 1864, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, and the Union ...

July 30, August 25, November 17, 18 and 28, 1864. Repulse of rebel fleet at Fort Brady on James River January 23–24, 1865. Expedition to

Fort Fisher Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort during the American Civil War. It protected the vital trading routes of the port at Wilmington, North Carolina, from 1861 until its capture by the Union in 1865. The fort was located on one of Cape Fear Rive ...

, North Carolina, January 3–15, 1865 (Batteries B, G, and L). Capture of Fort Fisher January 15 (Batteries B, G, and L). Assaults on and fall of Petersburg, Virginia, April 2, 1865. Duty in the Department of Virginia until July 11. Moved to Washington, D.C., and duty in the defenses of that city until September.

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 227 men during service; 2 officers and 49 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 4 officers and 172 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

* Colonel Robert O. Tyler * Colonel

Henry Larcom Abbot Henry Larcom Abbot (August 13, 1831 – October 1, 1927) was a military engineer and career officer in the United States Army. He served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and was appointed brevet brigadier general of volunteers f ...

Major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

George Ager – commanded during the Appomattox Campaign * Major George B. Cook – commanded during the Appomattox Campaign, after April 6

References

* Bennett, E. B. ''First Connecticut Heavy Artillery: Historical Sketch and Present Addresses of Members'' (Hartford, CT: Star Printing Co.), 1889. * Dyer, Frederick Henry. ''A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion'' (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908. * ''The First Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Heavy Artillery, in the War of the Rebellion, 1861–1865'' (Hartford, CT: Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co.), 1889. * McNamar, J. B. ''Official Souvenir and Program of Monument First Connecticut Heavy Artillery and Dedicatory Exercises, Held on State Capitol Grounds, Hartford, Conn., September 25, 1902'' (Hartford, CT: R. S. Peck), 1903. * ''Report of the Movements and Operations of the 1st Conn. Heavy Artillery for the Year Ending March 31, 1865, as Given in the Annual Report of the Adjutant General of Connecticut, April 1, 1865'' (Hartford, CT: Case, Lockwood and Co.), 1865. * Taylor, John C
''History of the First Connecticut Artillery and of the Siege Trains of the Armies Operating Against Richmond 1862–1865''
(Hartford, CT: Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co.), 1892. * Walker, Edward Ashley
''Our First Year of Army Life: An Anniversary Address, Delivered to the First Regiment of Connecticut Volunteer Heavy Artillery, at Their Camp Near Gaines' Mills, Va., June, 1862''
(New Haven, CT: T. H. Pease), 1862. ;Attribution * {{CWR

External links