When the forces of the Confederacy fired on the United States flag at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor in 1861, the total number of men enlisted in the United States Army numbered about 16,000. During the entire period of the Civil War the Union Army would number about two million men, the total number of men to serve in the United States Regular Army would never exceed 45,000. In other words, only about two percent of the men who wore Union blue served in the professional Army.

Of the total number of 745 line officers of the United States Army in 1860 (another 358 were staff officers), 212 were assigned to the Artillery. Most of these officers were career men from West Point or similar background, as the Army had seen the need for trained officers in the Artillery since 1828. When the regiments were expanded, it was specifically determined that the new Battery Commanders would be promoted from the line and not come from civilian life.

Prior to 1787, Artillery had been a part of the infantry, and the cannoneers had been used readily as foot troops, or occasionally as marines (as Samuel B. Archer's company was to provide troops for Stephen Decatur's flagship).

In 1794, the battalion of fourteen officers and 281 enlisted men (including eight musicians) were incorporated as a distinct unit, designated as the "Corps of Artillery and Engineers." Each Battery was assigned two cadets, and the Corps was established as a "nursery" for the development of new officers for the Army.

The unit that eventually became Battery B, 4^th U.S. Light Artillery was constituted on April 27, 1798 in the Regular Army as a battery in the 3^rd Battalion, 2^nd Regiment of Artillerists and Engineers, and organized at Fort Jay, New York, as Captain James Stille's Battery, 3^rd Battalion, 2^nd Regiment of Artillerists and Engineers.  The unit was redesignated on April 1, 1802 as Captain James Stille's Battery, Regiment of Artillerists.  It was again redesignated on June 9, 1805 as Captain John Fergus's Battery, Regiment of Artillerists.  The battery was again redesignated on June 30, 1808 as Captain William Wilson's Battery, Regiment of Artillerists, and again redesignated on June 3, 1809 as Captain Enoch Humphrey's Battery, Regiment of Artillerists.  The unit was again redesignated on January 11, 1812 as Captain Enoch Humphrey's Battery, Corps of Artillery.

Despite its valiant actions in the War of 1812, in which Captain Enoch Humphrey's Battery, Corps of Artillery saw service at New Orleans, the Corps of Artillery was reduced in 1815 and again in 1821.  After the war, the unit was redesignated on May 17, 1815 as Captain Enoch Humphrey's Battery, Corps of Artillery, Southern Division, and again redesignated on August 21, 1816 as Battery C, 3^rd Battalion, Corps of Artillery, Southern Division. An act of Congress, dated March 2, 1821, ordered that the Corps of Artillery be divided into four regiments, with Battery C, 3^rd Battalion, Corps of Artillery, Southern Division becoming Battery B, 4^th Regiment of Artillery. The nucleus of the battery did service in 1812 as a rifle company at Plattsburg. In 1821 it was horsed and made a light artillery battery. By 1832, Ordnance would be separated from the Artillery.

Each field artillery regiment consisted of twelve batteries, which normally operated as independent units. Although the Army was authorized by Congress in 1821 to equip and train one battery of each regiment of Artillery as a light (horse drawn) artillery battery, the Army had not seen fit to actually do so before 1838. Two batteries of each regiment, including Battery B and Battery G of the 4^th, were designated as Light or Horse Artillery.

During the four decades between its organization and the start of the Civil War, the battery had seen service in the Florida Seminole War (1837-1842), on the Canadian border at Ogdensburg in 1842 and 1843, when frontier trouble was threatening, in General Taylor's "Army of Observation" at the Rio Grande, in the Mexican War (where it was engaged at Resaca de la Palma and Buena Vista), in New Orleans during the mid-1850's, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and finally in the Utah Expedition during the 1858 Mormon War. On this expedition, the Army was stationed at Camp Floyd, named after Secretary of War J. B. Floyd, near Salt Lake City. The command at Camp Floyd consisted of the two companies of the 10^th U.S. Infantry, three squadrons of the 2^nd U.S. Dragoons, Batteries A, Light B, and C, 4^th U.S. Field Artillery, an Ordnance detachment and some civilian teamsters, about 3,000 men in all. The expedition was commanded by General Albert Sydney Johnson.

In April of 1861, a pony express rider galloped over the sagebrush plain from Fort Kearny on the Platte River to Camp Floyd. As the pony express rider neared the post trader's store, he saw on the roof the usual group of soldiers waiting, and as he drew nearer to the camp he could hear over the hoofbeats the soldiers' cry, "Here he comes!" Soon he was reining in, opening the mailbag, and confronting his eager audience with the momentous news that the South had fired on Fort Sumter. Anxious weeks followed as the story unfolded of the fall of Sumter and the call for troops. Some of the men in Battery B were Southerners. Suspicion and mistrust ran through the battery. Several of the Southerners resigned at once and headed for home, while for others from the South there was an agony of soul searching before a decision as to paramount loyalty was reached. But there was neither suspicion nor soul searching on the part of one of the Southerners, Captain John Gibbon, who had taken command of the battery the year before. Gibbon was for the Union, and that was that.

Although born in Holmesburg, now a part of Philadelphia, John Gibbon had moved to North Carolina as a child and had been appointed to West Point from that state. He had remained in the army after graduation from the academy in the class of 1847, the class of General Ambrose E. Burnside and Confederate Generals A. P. Hill and Henry Heth of Virginia. Gibbon's military experience included a term as an artillery instructor at West Point, and he had written and published an artillery manual. He had participated in General Winfield Scott's campaign in Mexico and had also seen service in the Seminole Indian War. Gibbon's second in command in Battery B was First Lieutenant Joseph B. Campbell, twenty-five years old and appointed to West Point from New Hampshire. Also present for duty with the battery was First Lieutenant Edmund C. Bainbridge, who would be transferred to the newly created 5^th U.S. Field Artillery on May 14, 1861, and First Lieutenant John Hunt, who was transferred to Battery L, 4^th U.S. Field Artillery after arriving in Washington.  The battery First Sergeant was James Stewart, who was later to command the battery, and distinguish himself in doing so.  The other NCOs assigned to the unit in 1860 were: Ordnance Sergeant Charles Santmyer, Sergeants Christopher Maisak, Robert Moore, Henry Workman, and Corporals Samuel Ball, John M. Benjamin, John C. Connors, Jonathan Harding, Andrew McBride, John Mitchell, Henry Moore, and William West.  There were also 42 cannoneers, two buglers, William Castor and John Cook, and three artificers, John A. Goeb, Pat McGabe, and Edward Sullivan assigned to the battery.

Orders at last came to Camp Floyd directing Battery B to St. Louis for further orders. Packing up their wives, children, and military gear, the soldiers started on foot across the twelve hundred miles to Fort Leavenworth. En route, the party learned of the Battle of Bull Run from another pony express dispatch. At Leavenworth, John Gibbon heard for the last time from his family in North Carolina. His three brothers were soon to enter the Confederate army, and the family reunion was not to occur until 1865.

Gibbon's Battery did not arrive in Washington until October 13, 1861. There it was assigned to McDowell's Division. Like all of the regular army batteries, Battery B was short almost half of its authorized complement of 152 men. In November, General McClellan authorized the regular batteries to recruit infantry volunteers from the divisions to which the batteries were attached. John Gibbon visited the regiments of McDowell's Division and picked his artillerymen himself. The men were lined up, and volunteers were asked to step forward. The Gibbon walked down the ranks and made his selections. The same recruiting process was to be repeated, with the result that from November 1861, until June 1862, King's regiments and the New York regiments of the division contributed more that fifty of their number to Battery B. Later, more men from King's regiments went into Battery B, and the transfers were to continue throughout the long association of the battery and the regiments of King's Brigade.

Captain Gibbon and his artillery regulars were also pleased. Gibbon observed that these volunteers were "the finest material for soldiers I ever saw," and that the "first marked feature I noted with these men was their quick intelligence. It was only necessary to explain a thing but once or twice to enable them to catch the idea and then with a little practice they became perfect." The historian of the battery had additional comments about the new artillerymen: "The detached volunteers of 1861 were all young men, fresh from the farms, sawmills and work shops of New York, Wisconsin and Indiana, who had been accustomed to hard work for an honest livelihood, respected themselves, valued their reputations, had horrible ambitions, were keenly solicitous about 'what the folks at home will say about us,' and were ready to fight anything on earth at any time or in any shape!" This, or course, was all to the good. This historian continued: "This was splendid raw material, but it had to be handled 'right side up with care' for the young farmers and lumbermen from Wisconsin, Indiana, and New York were 'quick on the trigger' and would not take any nonsense from anybody, with or without shoulder straps." Captain Gibbon was to find himself even more intimately associated with the men from Wisconsin and Indiana a few months later when he assumed command of King's Brigade. But in approaching them as artillerymen, he displayed a fine psychological insight. Gibbon placed small national flags on the battery's six bronze guns - twelve-pounder Napoleon smoothbores - and had the flags inscribed with the names of the states from which his new artillerymen had come. Then he told the men: "These guns belong to your states, it is your duty to defend them."

When General McDowell was promoted to Corps command, General King took command to the Division. Shortly there after Captain John Gibbon was promoted to Brigadier General of Volunteers and took command of King's Brigade, soon to be called the "Iron Brigade." Lieutenant Joseph B. Campbell took command of the battery. It was heavily engaged at South Mountain and Antietam. Here, after their commander had fallen, Lieutenant James Stewart became commander. It was afterward known as Stewart's Battery and the historians say that more men fell with Stewart's Battery than at any other battery in the Union Army.

Like almost all Civil War units, the battery was often known by an alternate designation derived from the name of its commanding officer. The names of this type used by or for the unit are: Stewart's Battery, Campbell's Battery, Davidson's Battery, and Mitchell's Battery. In addition to these names, the battery was frequently known by its nickname "The Old Regulars." This name had first been used during the Mexican War when it served as one of the only Regular Army artillery units with the Army.

Upon arriving in Washington, the battery was attached to the Army of the Potomac. It served in that Army until April 1862. It then joined the Department of the Rappahannock. In June 1862, the unit joined the Army of Virginia, serving in that Army until September 1862. It then returned to service in the Army of the Potomac, remaining in that Army until May 1865. The battery ended its Civil War career attached to the Department of Washington. Listed below are the higher command assignments of the battery:

• McDowell's Division, Army of the Potomac: October 1861 - March 1862

• First Division, I Corps, Army of the Potomac: March 1862 - April 1862

• Third Division, Department of the Rappahannock: April 1862 - June 1862

• First Division, III Corps, Army of Virginia: June 1862 - September 1862

• First Division, I Corps, Army of the Potomac: September 1862 - May 1863

• Artillery Brigade, I Corps, Army of the Potomac: May 1863 - March 1864

• Artillery Brigade, V Corps, Army of the Potomac: March 1864 - May 1865

• Department of Washington: May 1865 - August 1865

Three soldiers serving with the battery won the Congressional Medal of Honor; one in the Regular Army and two serving as detached volunteers from other regiments.

John Cook, the Bugler, won his for his actions at Antietam, Maryland on September 17, 1862. Cook was fifteen years and three months old when he received the medal. Only one other individual was younger when so honored. He rode to the aid of Lieutenant Campbell under a galling fire, and carried him to safety when two musket balls had brought down the Lieutenant.

William P. Hogarty, detached from Company D, 23^rd New York Volunteer Infantry, won his medal for valor at Antietam, Maryland on September 17, 1862. While serving as a cannoneer he continued to serve his piece after the rest of the crew had been killed. He aided in the repulse of a rebel charge upon the battery by triple shotting his gun with canister and by firing shells set to explode immediately after leaving the muzzle. When his ammunition was depleted, he picked up a musket and went to the aid of the infantry.

John Johnson, detached from Company D, 2^nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, won his medal for valor displayed at two engagements. While serving as a cannoneer at Antietam, Maryland on September 17, 1862 he assisted Brigadier General John Gibbon and two others in firing a cannon about to be over run by the enemy. The double canister at point blank range was critical at turning back the charge and saving the battery. At Fredericksburg, Virginia on December 12, 1862 he again demonstrated his courage. While bringing case shot to his gun a piece of shrapnel severed his right arm, carrying away much of his shoulder. He continued to load him gun until loss of blood caused him to faint.

The battery took part in more than forty engagements during its Civil War career. These are listed below. In all of these actions the men of Battery B never allowed the enemy to capture a single gun.

Engagements

1862

• Advance on Falmouth, Virginia: April 10-15, 1862

• Advance on Manassas, Virginia: May 9-18, 1862

• Reconnaissance from Fredericksburg to Orange Court House, Virginia: July 25-27, 1862

• Battle of Cedar Mountain, Virginia (Slaughter's Mountain/Cedar Run/Southwest Mountain/Mitchell's Station): August 9, 1862

• Second Bull Run Campaign: August 16-September 2, 1862

• Battle of Groveton, Virginia (Brawner Farm): August 29, 1862

• Battle of Second Bull Run, Virginia (Manassas/Groveton Heights): August 30, 1862  [Federal Order of Battle for the Battle of Second Bull Run]

• Maryland Campaign: September 3-17, 1862

• Battle of South Mountain, Maryland: September 14, 1862

• Battle of Antietam, Maryland (Sharpsburg): September 17, 1862 [Federal Order of Battle for the Battle of Antietam]

• Operations in Loudon, Faquier, and Rappahannock Counties, Virginia

• Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia: December 12-15, 1862 [Federal Order of Battle for the Battle of Fredericksburg]

See the map of Battery B's engagements in 1862.

1863

• Chancellorsville Campaign: April 27-May 6, 1863

• Operations at Pollack's Mill Creek, Virginia (Fitzhugh's Crossing/White Oak Run/Rappahannock River): April 29-May 2, 1863

• Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia: May 5, 1863 [Federal Order of Battle for the Battle of Chancellorsville]

• Gettysburg Campaign: June 23-July 24, 1863

• Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: July 1-3, 1863 [Federal Order of Battle for the Battle of Gettysburg]

• Bristoe Campaign, Virginia: October 9-22, 1863

• Advance to the line of the Rappahannock River, Virginia: November 7-8, 1863

• Mine Run Campaign, Virginia: November 26-December 2, 1863

See the map of Battery B's engagements in 1863.

1864

• Demonstration on the Rapidan River, Virginia: February 6-7, 1864

• Wilderness Campaign: May 4-June 12, 1864

• Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia: May 5-7, 1864 [Federal Order of Battle for the Battle of the Wilderness]

• Battles of Spottsylvania Court House, Laurel Hill, Ny River, and Fredericksburg Road, Virginia: May 8-21, 1864

• Operations along the line of the North Anna River, Virginia: May 22-26, 1864

• Battle of Jericho Bridge, Virginia (Jericho Mills/Jericho Ford): May 25, 1864

• Operations on the line of the Pamunkey River, Virginia: May 26-28, 1864

• Operations on the line of the Totopotomoy River, Virginia: May 28-31, 1864

• Battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia: June 1-12, 1864

• Battle of Bethesda Church, Virginia: June 1-3, 1864

• Siege of Petersburg and Richmond, Virginia: June 16, 1864-April 2, 1865

• Assault on Petersburg, Virginia: June 18, 1864

• Battle of Boydton Plank Road, Virginia (Hatcher's Run): October 27-28, 1864

• Warren's Expedition to Hicksford, Virginia: December 7-12, 1864

See the map of Battery B's engagements in 1864.

1865

• Appomattox Campaign: March 28-April 9, 1865

• Skirmish at the Junction of Quaker and Boydton Plank Roads, Virginia: March 29, 1865

• Battle at the Lewis Farm near Gravelly Run, Virginia: March 29, 1865

• Skirmish at White Oak Road, Virginia: March 31, 1865

• Battle of Five Forks, Virginia: April 1, 1865

• Battle at Clover Hill, Appomattox Court House, Virginia: April 9, 1865

• Lee's Surrender, Appomattox Court House, Virginia: April 9, 1865

See the map of Battery B's engagements in 1865.

The battery remained on duty near Appomattox until late April 1865. It then returned to Washington where it took part in the Grand Review of Eastern Armies on May 23, 1865. The battery served there until August 1865. It then moved to the Texas - Mexican border.

During its Civil War career, the battery sustained the loss of two officers and twenty-two enlisted men either killed or mortally wounded. Many more were wounded and recovered, distinguishing the unit as the Federal battery sustaining the highest causality rate. An additional ten enlisted men died from disease or other non-battlefield causes.

After the Civil War, the Battery saw service in the Indian Wars in the Arapahoe, Modoc, Nez Perce, and Bannock campaigns.

At the turn of the 20^th century, Battery B continued this proud tradition, contributing to American victories at Santiago and in Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War.  After the war, the army reorganized the Field Artillery.  Battery B, 4^th Artillery was redesignated on February 13, 1901 as the 7^th Battery, Field Artillery, Artillery Corps.  The unit was once again reorganized and redesignated on June 11, 1907 as Battery D, 6^th Field Artillery.

When Mexican revolutionists raided across the border, a punitive expedition was organized, under John J. “Blackjack” Pershing, promoted to Brigadier General from the rank of Captain of cavalry. The future Commander in Chief of the American Expeditionary Force led a small, fast moving force, including units of the "new" 4^th Field Artillery and 6^th Field Artillery (including Battery D), into Mexico in pursuit of Poncho Villa, a campaign of hot, thirsty marches and sporadic combat.

In the First World War the unit was assigned to General Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force with the 1^st Expeditionary Division, later redesignated as the 1^st Infantry Division.  Battery D, 6^th Field Artillery earned three French Croix de Guerre in only two years.  This incredible feat took place in some of the bloodiest battles of all times including fighting at Aisne-Marne, Muese-Argonne, and Lorraine-Piccardy in France.  Between October 16, 1939 and August 1, 1940, the battalion was relieved from it association with the 1^st Infantry Division, assigned to the 8^th Infantry Division, and deactivated at Fort Hoyle, Maryland.

After Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, the battalion once again answered the call to duty.  Redesignated as Battery A, 6^th Field Artillery less than a month after the United States entered the Second World War, it fought with the 37^th Infantry Division in the Pacific.  The unit stood out during both the Northern Solomans island-hopping attacks and the recapture of Luzon, Philippines.  The battalion’s involvement in this action not only helped to end the occupation of these islands but also earned it the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation  The Battery was deactivated December 13, 1945 at Camp Anza, California.  The Battery was redesignated July 24, 1946 as Battery A, 6^th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, and relieved from assignment to the 37^th Infantry Division and stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma on August 1, 1946.

Former Battery D, 6^th Field Artillery, reconstituted February 15, 1957 in the Regular Army and redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1^st Howitzer Battalion, 6^th Artillery, assigned to the 1^st Armored Division, and activated at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Redesignated on February 3, 1962 as the 1^st Battalion, 6^th Field Artillery (Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1^st Battalion, 6^th Field Artillery, concurrently consolidated with Battery D, 6^th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion [organized in 1898], and consolidated unit designated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1^st Battalion, 6^th Artillery).  The unit was relieved from assignment to the 1^st Armored Division and assigned to the 1^st Cavalry Division on May 5, 1971.

Redesignated (less former Battery D, 6^th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion) on September 1, 1971 as the 1^st Battalion, 6^th Field Artillery (former Battery D, 6^th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, concurrently redesignated as the 1^st Battalion, 6^th Air Defense Artillery - hereafter separate lineage)  On June 21, 1975 the 1^st Battalion, 6^th Field Artillery was relieved from its assignment to the 1^st Cavalry Division.  The regiment was again inactivated on October 1, 1983 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  The Battalion was assigned to the 1^st Infantry Division and activated in Germany on February 16, 1996.

The 1^st Battalion, 6^th Field Artillery deployed to the Balkans from April 10, 1997 until October 10, 1997.   They participated in Operation Joint Guard in Bosnia and from December 10, 1999 until June 10, 2000 and participated in Operation Joint Guardian in Kosovo.  Today the 1^st Battalion, 6^th Field Artillery, assigned to Bamberg, Germany, stands strong and ready to answer the next call for freedom.

War of 1812
New Orleans

Indian Wars
Creeks
Seminoles
Modocs
Bannocks
Utah 1860

Mexican War
Buena Vista

Civil War
Peninsula
Manassas
Antietam
Fredericksburg
Chancellorsville
Gettysburg
Wilderness
Spotsylvania
Cold Harbor
Petersburg
Maryland 1863
Virginia 1863

War with Spain
Santiago
Puerto Rico

Mexican Expedition
Mexico 1916-1917

World War I
Montdidier-Noyon
Aisne-Marne
St. Mihiel
Meuse-Argonne
Lorraine 1917
Lorraine 1918
Picardy 1918

World War II
Northern Solomons
Luzon (with arrowhead)
Algeria-French Morocco (with arrowhead)
Tunisia
Sicily (with arrowhead)
Normandy (with arrowhead)
Northern France
Rhineland
Ardennes-Alsace
Central Europe

Vietnam
Defense
Counteroffensive
Counteroffensive, Phase II
Counteroffensive, Phase III
Tet Counteroffensive
Counteroffensive, Phase IV
Counteroffensive, Phase V
Counteroffensive, Phase VI
Summer-Fall 1969
Winter-Spring 1970

Southwest Asia
Defense of Saudi Arabia
Liberation and Defense of Kuwait

• French Croix de Guerre with Palm, World War II, Streamer embroidered KASSERINE.

• French Croix de Guerre with Palm, World War II, Streamer embroidered NORMANDY.

• French Croix de Guerre, World War II, Fourragere.

• Belgian Fourragere 1940.

• Cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for action at MONS.

• Cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for action at EUPEN-MALMEDY.

• Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm, Streamer embroidered VIETNAM 1968.

• Republic of Vietnam Civil Action Honor Medal, First Class, Streamer embroidered VIETNAM 1965-1970.