The 5th Independent Battery Wisconsin Light Artillery was an
artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to fac ...
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 other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
.
Service
The 5th Independent Battery was mustered into service at
Racine, Wisconsin
Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 ...
, on October 10, 1861.
The battery was mustered out on June 6, 1865.
Total strength and casualties
The 5th Independent Battery initially recruited 155 officers and men. An additional 70 men were recruited as replacements, for a total of 225
men.
The battery suffered 1 officer and 5 enlisted men killed in action or died of wounds and 1 officer and 18 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 25 fatalities.
Commanders
*
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Oscar F. Pinney
* Captain Charles B. Humphrey
* Captain George Q. Gardner
* Captain Joseph McKnight
[http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/roster/results.asp?image_id=1371 Wisconsin Historical Society after Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865. 2 vols. 1886.]
See also
{{portal, American Civil War
*
List of Wisconsin Civil War units
The state of Wisconsin enrolled 91,327 men for service in the Union Army during the American Civil War, 77,375 in the infantry, 8,877 in the cavalry, and 5,075 in the artillery. Some 3,802 of these men were killed in action or mortally wounded, an ...
*
Wisconsin in the American Civil War
With the outbreak of the American Civil War, the northwestern state of Wisconsin raised 91,379 soldiers for the Union Army, organized into 53 infantry regiments, 4 cavalry regiments, a company of Berdan's sharpshooters, 13 light artillery batter ...
Notes
References
The Civil War Archive
Military units and formations established in 1861
Military units and formations disestablished in 1865
Units and formations of the Union Army from Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
1861 establishments in Wisconsin