Battery I, 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery

Battery I, 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery was a heavy artillery regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Service

The Battery I, 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery was initially organized in Providence, Rhode Island as the 3rd Rhode Island Infantry in August 1861. It was officially changed to heavy artillery on December 19, 1861 at Hilton Head, South Carolina.

The battery was attached to Sherman's Expeditionary Corps to April 1862. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, Department of the South, to July 1862. District of Hilton Head, South Carolina, Department of the South, to September 1862. District of Hilton Head, South Carolina, X Corps, Department of the South, to April 1864. U.S. Forces, Folly Island, South Carolina, X Corps, to July 1863. Morris Island, South Carolina, X Corps, to April 1864. Morris Island, South Carolina, Northern District, Department of the South, to September 1864.

Battery I, 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery mustered out of service October 4, 1864 at Providence, Rhode Island.

Detailed service

Duty at Hilton Head until December 1861. Garrison Fort Drayton, Otter Island, S.C., until May 1862. Duty at Hilton Head until April 1863. Moved to Folly Island, S.C., and duty there until July 1863. Attack on Morris Island, S.C., July 10. Assaults on Fort Wagner, Morris Island, July 11 and 18. Siege of Fort Wagner July 18-September 7. Capture of Forts Wagner and Gregg, Morris Island, September 7. Siege operations against Fort Sumter and Charleston, S.C., from Morris and Folly Islands until September 1864. Actions on James Island July 1-2, and at Fort Johnson July 3. Moved to Hilton Head, S.C., then to New York and Providence September 26-30.

Casualties

Individual battery losses are not available, but the regiment's losses (all 12 batteries) are reported as a total of 135 men during service; 2 officers and 39 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 4 officers and 90 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

Regiment

• Colonel Nathaniel W. Brown
• Colonel Edwin Metcalf
• Colonel Charles R. Brayton
• Lieutenant Colonel William Ames

Battery

• Captain Charles G. Strahan

See also

• List of Rhode Island Civil War units
• Rhode Island in the American Civil War

Notes

References

• Denison, Frederic. Shot and Shell: The Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery Regiment in the Rebellion, 1861-1865 (Providence, RI: J. A. & R. A. Reid), 1879.
• Dyer, Frederick Henry. 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.