1st New Hampshire Heavy Artillery Company

Summary Statement, 3rd Quarter, 1863 – New Hampshire’s battery

Craig Swain American Civil War, Artillery, Ordnance Summary Statements , , , , , , , , ,

In the summaries for the previous quarters, I’ve combined New Hampshire’s entries along with other states for brevity.  After all, there’s just one line to consider, and that is a very uncomplicated line.  We find that same entry line, for New Hampshire’s lone light battery for the third quarter, 1863:

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And that line remained uncomplicated for the third quarter:

  • 1st Light Battery: Reporting at Culpeper, Virginia with four 3-inch Ordnance Rifles. Captain Frederick M. Edgell remained in command.  And the battery remained with the Third Volunteer Brigade, Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac.

But there were a couple other artillery formations from New Hampshire in existence at the end of September.   Though neither would warrant mention on the summaries:

  • 1st New Hampshire Heavy Artillery Company: Not listed. On April 17, 1863, Charles H. Long received a captain’s commission and authority to recruit a heavy artillery company to man Fort Constitution, defending Portsmouth harbor.  The company formally mustered on July 22 of that year.
  • 2nd New Hampshire Heavy Artillery Company: Not listed.  Authorized in August 1863.  Captain Ira M. Barton appointed commander.  Mustered into service on September 17, 1863. This battery also garrisoned the defenses of Portsmouth, detailed to Fort McClary, on the Maine side of the harbor.

Eventually all three of these companies would be part of the same regiment – the First New Hampshire Heavy Artillery Regiment – in the fall of 1864.

So we return to focus on that one uncomplicated entry line, moving to the ammunition. No smoothbore ammunition to report so we move to the Hotchkiss page:

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  • 1st Light Battery:  80 canister, 38 percussion shell, 209 fuse shell, and 182 bullet shell for 3-inch rifles.

No Dyer, James, or Parrott rounds to consider.  So we turn to the Schenkl:

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  • 1st Light Battery: 163 shell and 125 case for 3-inch rifles.

And those were Schenkl rounds that Edgell spoke ill of in his Gettysburg report.

Turning to the small arms:

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  • 1st Light Battery: Five army revolvers, eight navy revolvers, and thirteen cavalry sabers.

That wraps up the New Hampshire section.  We’ll move to another single line entry in the next installment – New Mexico!

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