History of Ricketts' Battery - 1st PA Light Artillery in the American Civil War

Description

Ricketts' Battery
A History of Battery F,
1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery
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2001
(First Edition)
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Condition : Hardcover - Fine, unused / new condition.
Aside from taking photos, this book has never been opened.
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288 pages, over 50 portraits / illustration / maps
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Modern Regimental History,
Dornbush lists no original works on Battery F.
(not to be confused with the Hampton Battery -
Battery F, Independent PA Arty)
From Wikipedia Entry for Battery F, 1st Pennsylvania Artillery
Early Civil War
The First Pennsylvania Light Artillery (otherwise known as the 43rd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers) was organized in 1861. The regiment left for Washington, D.C. in August of that year. Battery F was formed under Capt. Ezra W. Matthews. Bruce Ricketts joined the service on July 8, as a private of that year, and he was commissioned as first lieutenant in that battery about a month later. The regiment was split up, with individual batteries serving with different divisions of the Army of the Potomac. Battery F first saw combat at the Battle of Dranesville on December 20, 1861. Ricketts' section had one gun disabled in that action. Later the section served in the defense of Hancock, Maryland, against a foray by Stonewall Jackson.
Battery F served in the Army of Virginia in the corps of Major General Irwin McDowell, joining it on March 21, 1862, at Warrenton, Virginia. In that context it was involved, under Ricketts' leadership, in a reconnaissance expedition to Rappahannock Station, Virginia, that left on April 7, of that year. This force advanced and then withdrew, having accomplished its information-gathering purpose. Thereafter the battery was involved in the campaign culminating in the Second Battle of Bull Run. Battery F was seriously engaged in the Battle of Cedar Mountain on August 8, helping McDowell cover the retreat of the corps of Major General Nathaniel Banks. The battery helped defend Henry House Hill at Second Bull Run, and it was present at the Battle of Chantilly though not engaged. It also participated in the "artillery hell" of the Battle of Antietam. Lt. Ricketts missed most of these actions while serving on recruiting duty. He returned to the Army of the Potomac on September 23, 1862.
Ricketts commanded Battery F, First Pennsylvania Light Artillery from then on until the summer of 1864. Capt. Matthews went down ill and did not return to battery command. Ricketts was engaged with his guns at the Battle of Fredericksburg, serving with second division I Corps under Major General John F. Reynolds. When Capt. Matthews was promoted to the rank of major, Ricketts became a captain on March 14, 1863. At the Battle of Chancellorsville Ricketts' battery was with Major General Abner Doubleday's third division I Corps.
Gettysburg
Ricketts' battery was – beginning on May 13, 1863 – in the third volunteer brigade of the Reserve Artillery under Capt. James F. Huntington. Battery G, First Pennsylvania Light Artillery, was attached to Ricketts' battery a few weeks before the Battle of Gettysburg, on June 1, 1863. This merger was resented until gunners from Battery G were permitted to form a section of the consolidated battery. This merger took place while the army was marching north in pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia, beginning on May 15.
Ricketts' battery arrived in Gettysburg on the Taneytown Road on the morning of July 2, 1863, and replaced Capt. James H. Cooper's Battery B, First Pennsylvania Light Artillery, on East Cemetery Hill about 4:00 PM. It was exposed to enfilade fire from Benner's Hill and Seminary Ridge. Around nightfall, two Confederate brigades from the division of Major General Jubal Early attacked the hill. It broke the thin Union front line at the foot of the hill in two places. In other places they were repelled. Some Confederates reached the top of the hill, and one group attacked the left of Ricketts' battery, trying to spike the guns. The fight for the guns became hand to hand, but the Confederates were unable to capture the whole battery. Eventually Union reinforcements from the II Corps brigade of Col. Samuel S. Carroll drove the Confederates down hill. A monument to the battery stands in the general location of their fight.
After the battle, Ricketts criticized Adelbert Ames' division of XI Corps, although he probably could not see what was going on down there at the foot of the hill. He thought they fled unnecessarily. Ricketts' account of the action makes it look as if his battery stood alone for an extended time. However, a less colorful account by a modern historian shows that some of the XI Corps troops had rallied and stood fast atop Cemetery Hill even before reinforcements from Col. Carroll's brigade of II Corps came up behind Ricketts' position.
After Gettysburg
After Gettysburg, Ricketts' battery F was transferred to the artillery brigade of II Corps in time for the Bristoe Campaign. At the Second Battle of Auburn on October 14, 1863, the battery helped first division II Corps cover the withdrawal of the corps under harassing fire from horse artillery of Major General J. E. B. Stuart's command. At the Battle of Bristoe Station later that day, Ricketts' battery F came up at a gallop and unlimbered behind BG Alexander S. Webb's second division II Corps. Their fire helped defeat Major General Henry Heth's attack on the federal line. The battery was given the privilege of presenting captured Confederate guns to Major General George G. Meade, the commanding general.
Ricketts' battery remained with the II Corps for the Overland Campaign. During the Battle of the Wilderness, a section of Ricketts' battery advanced on the Plank Road with Major General Winfield Scott Hancock's attack on the Confederate lines on May 5, 1864, at about 3:30 PM. The section accompanied BG George Getty's division of VI Corps, serving with Hancock at that time. A Confederate counterattack captured the section, but Col. Carroll's brigade recaptured the guns by 6:00 PM. BG Getty praised Ricketts for his "great coolness and courage" in this action.
Ricketts was engaged in support of Grant's offensive attacks on the Confederate positions in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House on May 18, 1864, being moved up close to the captured Confederate works. He also supported Hancock's attack on Henagan's redoubt at the Battle of North Anna on May 23. The battery remained with II Corps throughout the remainder of the campaign, except at the Battle of Cold Harbor, when it was detached to serve with XVIII Corps on June 3,.
Ricketts' battery crossed the James River with II Corps and participated in the Second Battle of Petersburg. Battery F fired some of the first federal shots into the beleaguered city. Ricketts' guns were on the battle front for two weeks until they were relieved by a battery from V Corps.
During the subsequent Siege of Petersburg, Ricketts was promoted to higher ranks in the First Pennsylvania Light Artillery. When Major James H. Cooper reached the expiration of his term of service on August 8, 1864, Ricketts was named his successor. When, in 1865, Colonel R. M. West was commissioned colonel of the Fifth Pennsylvania Cavalry, Major Ricketts was promoted to the rank of colonel in his place to date from March 15.
During the early stages of the siege, Ricketts continued in command of his battery with II Corps. This included a role supporting BG Gershom Mott's division in the Second Battle of Deep Bottom. After returning to the Petersburg front, the battery was assigned to positions near the Jerusalem Plank Road. During this period, Capt. Ricketts presided over a court of inquiry into the loss of a gun at the Second Battle of Ream's Station. He also served on a board deciding which units could add the names of particular battles to their flags. In December 1864, Ricketts, as "acting major," commanded the II Corps batteries serving on the lines of IX Corps for a period of three weeks.
In 1865, Ricketts played a role in the Artillery Reserve; and, by the spring of 1865 he was assistant chief of artillery of IX Corps. Whenever the chief of artillery, Colonel John C. Tidball, was absent, Ricketts took charge of the guns of IX Corps in his place.
The report that a Confederate veteran looked at Ricketts, a slight man, and commented, "And did this little cuss command Battery Hell!," may be apocryphal.
From The Civil War Archive :
Battery "F", 1st Regiment Light Artillery (43rd Volunteers)
Organized at Philadelphia August 5, 1861, and ordered to Washington, D.C. Attached to Banks' Division, Army of the Potomac, October, 1861, to March, 1862. 1st Division, Banks' 5th Army Corps and 1st Division, Dept. of the Shenandoah, to May, 1862. Artillery, 2nd Division, Dept. of the Rappahannock, to June, 1862. Artillery, 2nd Division, 3rd Corps, Army of Virginia, to September, 1862. Artillery, 2nd Division, 1st Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to January, 1863. Artillery, 3rd Division, 1st Army Corps, to May, 1863. 3rd Volunteer Brigade, Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac, to July, 1863. Artillery Brigade, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to September, 1864. Artillery Reserve, Army of the Potomac, to June, 1865.
SERVICE.--Duty in the Defenses of Washington until October, 1861, and on the Upper Potomac, between Edward's Ferry and Hancock, Md., until February, 1862. Advance on Winchester March 1-12. Reconnaissance toward Strasburg and action near Winchester March 7. Ordered to join Abercrombie's Brigade March 21, and moved to Warrenton Junction. Pursuit of Jackson up the Valley March 24-April 27. Rappahannock Crossing April 18. Pope's Campaign in Northern Virginia August 1-September 2. Battle of Cedar Mountain August 9. Fords of the Rappahannock August 21-23. Thoroughfare Gap August 28. Battles of Groveton August 29. Bull Run August 30. Chantilly September 1. Maryland Campaign September 6-24. Battle of Antietam, Md., September 16-17. Duty at Sharpsburg, Md., until October 30. Movement to Falmouth, Va., October 30-November 19. Battle of Fredericksburg December 12-15. "Mud March" January 20-24, 1863. At Falmouth and Belle Plain until April. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Operations at Pollock's Mill Creek April 29-May 2. Fitzhugh's Crossing April 29-30. Chancellorsville May 2-5. Gettysburg (Pa.) Campaign June 11-July 24. Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 2-4. Advance to line of the Rapidan September 13-17. Bristoe Campaign October 9-22. Auburn and Bristoe October 14. Advance to line of the Rappahannock November 7-8. Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2. Demonstration on the Rapidan February 6-7, 1864. Morton's Ford February 6-7. Camp near Stevensburg, Va., until May. Rapidan Campaign May 4-June 12. Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7; Spottsylvania May 8-12; Spottsylvania Court House May 12-21. Assault on the Salient May 12. North Anna River May 23-26. Line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Totopotomoy May 28-31. Cold Harbor June 1-12. Before Petersburg June 16-18. Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864, to April 2, 1865. Jerusalem Plank Road June 21-22, 1864. Demonstration north of the James River at Deep Bottom July 27-29. Deep Bottom July 27-29. Demonstration north of the James at Deep Bottom August 13-20. Strawberry Plains August 14-18. Fall of Petersburg April 2, 1865. Moved to Washington, D.C., May. Grand Review May 23. Mustered out July 9, 1865.
Lost 1 Officer and 17 Enlisted men killed and 13 Enlisted men by disease. Total 31.
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