1st Regiment Illinois Light Artillery-Battery A[edit]

“Receive this Flag and Banner, then, brave men, as slight tokens of the gratitude, the admiration and the unwavering confidence of your Chicago friends. On the glorious blue of the banner we have inscribed the words, ‘Fort Donelson,’ because there you covered yourselves with glory, and, by driving back by deeds of valor, an enemy flushed with the certainty of victory, you won in that memorable conflict the applause and the approbation of a grateful Nation.”

The Chicago Light Artillery had its beginnings as the Chicago Hussars and Light Artillery in Chicago in November 1847 during the U. S--Mexican War. May 5, 1854 the Battery was reorganized as the Chicago Light Artillery with James Smith as Captain and Ezra Taylor as 1st Lieutenant. Following the shots on Fort Sumter in April 1861, Lincoln called for 75,000 troops for 90 days. Within days the Chicago Light Artillery was ready and at 11 AM on September 21, 1861 the Battery left for Cairo, Illinois with four six-pounder pieces of artillery under the command of Captain James Smith and 1st Lieutenant Charles Willard. One gun, commanded by Lieutenant Willard was placed to defend the bridge at Big Muddy while the remainder of the battery was assigned the duty at Cairo of bringing all passing boats on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to shore for inspection. The Battery did not muster in for three months service, however on July 16, 1861, while stationed at Cairo, 87 members of the Chicago Light Artillery, Company A were mustered in for three years’ service as First Regiment Illinois Light Artillery, Battery A. Within the next two weeks 75 additional recruits were added. On September 6 General Grant ordered the Battery and two regiments of infantry up the Ohio River to Paducah, Kentucky to fortify and guard the town. During November two new howitzers were added, bringing Battery A to a full six-gun Battery. In early February 1862 the Battery was transported by steamer up the Tennessee River and landed below Fort Heiman. Gunboats captured both Fort Heiman and Fort Henry (on the opposite shore) on February 6 and the rebel forces escaped to nearby Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. February 14 Battery A together with Company A of the Thirty Second Illinois Infantry marched cross-country and joined the Union forces in the siege of Fort Donelson. The following morning the men of the Battery had their first experience under fire and while holding the right of the Union line succeeded in repelling a rebel charge. After the fall of Fort Donelson the Battery marched back to Fort Heiman where they remained until March. March 6 the Battery departed Fort Heiman and moved up the Tennessee River to Crump’s Landing, Tennessee in an attempt the destroy the Mobile & Ohio Railroad supplying Corinth, Mississippi. March 27 the Battery moved to Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee and on April 6 and 7 participated in the Battle of Shiloh. The Battery returned to camp where on April 15 they received a stand of colors from friends in Chicago. At the end of April Artillery Battery A moved toward Corinth, Mississippi and from April 29-May 30 were at the siege of Corinth. From Corinth the Battery moved to Memphis, passing through Purdy, Somerville and Bolivar en route and went into camp at Union Station. They remained on guard duty at Memphis through the summer of 1862, then were in an expedition to Coldwater and Hernando, Mississippi in September and were part of Grant’s “Tallahatchie March” in November and December. On December 20, the Battery boarded the steamer City of Memphis and moved down the Mississippi River and up the Yazoo River, disembarking and fighting at Chickasaw Bayou and Chickasaw Bluff. Battery A next moved up the Mississippi River to the White River, through the “cut off” to the Arkansas River and engaged in battle at Arkansas Post—Fort Hindman—January 10 and 11, 1863. The Battery spent the winter at Young’s Point, Louisiana where in addition to their own guns they also manned two 30 lb Parrott guns. In March a detachment from the Battery was sent with Union infantry to Deer Creek for relief of Porter’s trapped gunboats. Following demonstrations against Haines’ and Drumgould’s Bluffs north of Vicksburg on April 29-May 2, the Battery moved via Grand Gulf, Mississippi to join Grant’s army in the rear of Vicksburg. On May 14 Battery A was engaged in fighting at Jackson, Mississippi and on May 16 at Champion's Hill. In the subsequent siege of Vicksburg the Battery, manned three 30 lb Parrott guns in addition to their own guns. Vicksburg surrendered July 4 and the following morning Battery A was ordered to Jackson to besiege the city until July 17 when rebel General Johnston evacuated the city. The Battery camped at the Big Black River Bridge on the Vicksburg and Jackson Railroad until September 26 then moved by boat to Memphis, by train to Corinth, Mississippi and finally marched to Chattanooga through northern Alabama; on arrival, Battery A fought at Tunnel Hill, Georgia November 23-24 and Mission Ridge November 25. The Battery joined in the pursuit of Bragg as far as Dalton, Georgia, returned to Chattanooga and then went into winter quarters at Larkinsville, Alabama. First Illinois Light Artillery Battery A joined Sherman’s Atlanta campaign in May 1864. The Battery was in actions at Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills in May, Kenesaw Mountain in June, Nickajack Creek, Chattahoochie River and Atlanta in July and the battles at Jonesboro and Lovejoy Station in August and September. In the Battle of Atlanta, June 22, the Battery was surrounded. Many of the men were captured and the rebel forces took four of the Battery’s guns. Captain Smith was one of the prisoners taken; therefore Lieutenant Echte of a Missouri battery was placed in temporary command until September when Captain Edward Wilcox, formerly of Battery B was placed in command. After pursuit of Hood into North Georgia and Alabama, Battery A was ordered to Nashville, Tennessee in October but was held in reserve at the battle of Nashville. The Battery was then ordered to Chattanooga where they remained until June 1865 and then ordered home to Chicago for muster out on July 3, 1865.

The only color in the collection of the State of Illinois from Battery A of the First Illinois Regiment of Light Artillery is a guidon. However, colors were presented to the Battery on at least two occasions.

The first flag was presented to the Battery while it was stationed in Cairo, Illinois in the Fall of 1861. “While stationed at Cairo, the Battery was presented with a beautiful silk flag by Miss Katie Sturgis, of Chicago. This flag was carried by the battery through all its subsequent campaigns. It was destroyed by the great fire of October 10, 1871, in the rooms of the Chicago Historical Society, where it had been placed for safe keeping.”

The second set of colors was presented to the Battery at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee on April 15, 1862.

The Chicago Daily Tribune reported, “THE COLORS FOR COMPANY A, LIGHT ARTILLERY—..The flags will be sent to the South by two members of the Company today. Subscribers to the fund are requested to call and see them before they go, at No. 116 Clark Street.” Kimbell in the Battery’s history notes that on April 15, 1862 the Battery received a Flag and a Banner and that the blue of the banner was inscribed “Fort Donelson.” The colors are not further described nor is there any further mention of the colors in Kimbell’s book. It is possible that this set of colors was also lost in the Chicago fire.

This guidon of Battery A is not inscribed.

References[edit]

Kimbell, Charles B., History of Battery “A” First Illinois Light Artillery Volunteers, Cushing Printing Company, Chicago (1899) page 48-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=JJcvAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA37&dq=1st+Regiment+Illinois+Light+Artillery-Battery+A+Flag&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjutKrr7vjaAhVlxFkKHVepCK0Q6AEIMzAB

Ibid, Kimbell,

Kimbell, page 80-1.

Chicago Daily Tribune, April 8, 1862.

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