6th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery - History

History

Because the 5th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery had more men than was standard for a heavy artillery regiment, the excess men were organized into the 6th Heavy Artillery. The men of the 5th were from Allegheny, Butler, Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington, and Lawrence Counties. Charles Barnes was the first colonel, Joseph B. Copeland lieutenant colonel, Robert H. Long, Joseph R. Kemp, and Frank H. White were majors. (Due to their large size, it was usual for heavy artillery regiments that served as field infantry to be divided into two or more battalions.) The regiment was mustered together at Camp Reynolds near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 15, 1864. As was usual for this time in the war, it was initially trained as an infantry unit, not heavy artillery.

It was sent to the Department of Washington as part of the 2nd Brigade, DeRussy's Division, XXII Corps. Later that month, it was assigned the mission of protecting the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. In mid-November, after Major General Philip Sheridan cleared the Shenadoah Valley of Confederate forces, the 6th was returned to Washington, D.C. and converted into heavy artillery. It served at various forts around the city for the rest of the war. It was mustered out on June 15, 1865 and disbanded at Camp Reynolds on June 17.

Read more about this topic:  6th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    America is, therefore the land of the future, where, in the ages that lie before us, the burden of the World’s history shall reveal itself. It is a land of desire for all those who are weary of the historical lumber-room of Old Europe.
    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)

    the future is simply nothing at all. Nothing has happened to the present by becoming past except that fresh slices of existence have been added to the total history of the world. The past is thus as real as the present.
    Charlie Dunbar Broad (1887–1971)

    Yet poetry, though the last and finest result, is a natural fruit. As naturally as the oak bears an acorn, and the vine a gourd, man bears a poem, either spoken or done. It is the chief and most memorable success, for history is but a prose narrative of poetic deeds.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)