Battery A , 2nd U . S . Artillery " For this article , “ Company A ” and “ Battery A ” are interchangeable . A battery of four to six cannons , with two to three two - cannon sections was the basic unit of the artillery branch . The organization was commanded by a captain with first and second lieutenants as section chiefs and chief of caissons . A battery organization was roughly company strength , as it related to the infantry branch . As such , the formal designation of an artillery battery by the U . S . Army was “ company . ” " This history is primarily excerpts from “ 2nd Regiment of Artillery ” by its regimental adjutant , First Lieutenant William Augustus Simpson ( USMA Class of 1875 ) , ca . 1893 , as published in Rodenbough , 1896 : “ The Second Artillery was , with the First , Third , and Fourth , organized by an Act of Congress dated March 21 , 1821 . Each regiment was to have one colonel , one lieutenant - colonel , one major , one supernumerary captain ( for ordnance duty ) , one adjutant , one sergeant - major , and nine companies . Each company was to have a captain , two first lieutenants , two second lieutenants , and fifty - seven enlisted men . One company was to be designated and equipped as light artillery , but for many years it was such only in name . “ The list of organizations ( given in the Army Register ) from which these regiments were formed is misleading , as some of the organizations mentioned had been out of existence for years . The four regiments were formed from the Corps of Artillery , the Regiment of Light Artillery , and the Ordnance , the Second being taken mainly from the Corps of Artillery . All ordnance duty was to be done by the artillery . “ There was a second regiment of artillery during the War of 1812 , of which Winfield Scott was lieutenant - colonel and then colonel . After the war it was merged into the Corps of Artillery . The names of battles of that war are borne on the regimental colors to - day , a few of the officers of the new Second had belonged to the old , and some of the companies may have belonged to both regiments , a fact I am unable to establish ; but as a whole the Second Artillery of 1812 was a different organization from the Second Artillery of 1821 . ” Early History of Battery A . In 1821 , Company A was formed from the remnants of the second battalion of the Northern Division of the old Artillery Corps . The new company was placed under the command of Captain Alexander Fanning , and was stationed on post at the U . S . Military Academy at West Point , New York . The entire regiment was transferred to the South , exchanging stations with the 1st Regiment of Artillery . During the fall of 1833 , Company A was sent to Alabama along with Companies B and C , and served under Colonel David E . Twiggs during the removal of the Creek nation of Native Americans out of the state . In 1836 , Company A participated ( along with B , C , G , and H ) in the Florida Seminole War , being stationed in Tampa . On February 27 , the battery was engaged during the fighting at Withlacoochee . General Winfield Scott took command of the U . S . Army forces in the area , and assigned Companies A , B , G , and H to Colonel William Lindsay ’ s column , at Fort Brooke . Battery A participated in the removal of the Cherokee nation from Alabama and Tennessee in 1838 , as it was being reassigned to posting along the Great Lakes , also referred to as the “ Niagara frontier ” . Light Artillery Duty . According to Simpson : “ In 1839 Secretary of War Poinsett ordered the establishment of a camp of instruction at Trenton , New Jersey ; one company of each artillery regiment to be sent there and equipped as a battery of light artillery . A of the 2d was selected and went there under command of Lieut . ( afterwards Captain ) James Duncan , who made it so famous in the war with Mexico . ” Three months later it returned to Buffalo as a light battery . ” In 1841 , Battery A was stationed at Fort Hamilton , Brooklyn , New York . Mexican War , 1846 – 1848 . Light Battery A , under the command of Captain Duncan , left New York Harbor in August 1845 , arriving in September at Corpus Christi to join General Zachary Taylor ’ s army . Along with C and K , “ as a part of the artillery battalion , and A were engaged at Palo Alto ( May 8 ) and Resaca de la Palma ( May 9 ) . Duncan by his brilliant advance and attack , without orders , on the Mexican right at Palo Alto , did much towards winning the battle and was specially mentioned by General Taylor . ” Later that fall , “ A , C , G and K formed part of Worth ' s Division and with it took an important part in the taking of Monterey ( September 20 – 23 ) . ” “ In March , 1847 , the whole regiment , except E , which was sent to Fort Brown , was assembled before Vera Cruz . On the organization of the Army of Invasion the regiment was assigned to Worth ' s regular division . The reduction of Vera Cruz was largely the work of the artillery , Col . Bankhead , the senior field officer , acting as chief of artillery , in command of the batteries . The regiment took part in all the battles of the campaign , figuring most prominently and suffering the heaviest losses at Churubusco , Molino del Rey , and City of Mexico . ” At Molino Del Rey , all the lieutenants of Duncan ' s battery ( H . J . Hunt , Win . Hays , and H . F . Clarke ) were slightly wounded . At Chapultepec , “ it became necessary to advance a piece of artillery along the causeway , which was swept by the enemy ' s fire , against a breast - work . Lieut . Hunt , of Duncan ' s battery , was ordered to execute this duty . Advancing at full speed for 150 yards , with a loss of more than half his men , he accomplished his object and engaged the enemy muzzle to muzzle . Gen . Worth says , in his official report , ‘ It has never been my fortune to witness a more brilliant exhibition of courage and conduct . ’ Throughout the campaign Duncan ' s battery ( A ) was splendidly handled and made a brilliant record . ” At the end of the war , Battery A was reassigned to duty at Fort McHenry , in Baltimore . Antebellum Period , 1848 – 1861 . Stationed at Fort McHenry with the Regimental Headquarters during much of this period , Battery A and many of the rest of its sister companies were assigned to Fort Leavenworth , Kansas , during the uprisings there , between 1857 and 1859 . Civil War , 1861 – 1865 . “ In the early days of the regiment it served as infantry ; occasionally , in the Florida War , serving light field pieces . In the Mexican War the foot batteries served as infantry , and at Vera Cruz and Chapultepec served siege artillery . In the Civil War all the batteries in active service were mounted , and all those serving continuously with the Army of the Potomac became horse batteries . ” Among the most prominent units in the U . S . Horse Artillery Brigade was Battery A , serving under the command of Captain John Caldwell Tidball , of Virginia . Tidball ’ s Battery A was equipped with three sections each of two 3 ” Ordnance Rifles . The section chiefs were First Lieutenants Alexander Cummings McWhorter Pennington , Jr . , of New Jersey , and William Neil Dennison of Ohio , and Second Lieutenant Robert Clarke of Pennsylvania . “ The successive Chiefs of Artillery of the Army of the Potomac , William . F . Barry and Henry J . Hunt , had been officers of the 2d until 1861 . The first commander of the Horse Artillery Brigade , Wm . Hays , his successor , John M . Robertson ( sic ) , and the first commander of the 2d Horse Artillery Brigade , J . C . Tidball , were all captains of the 2d . When all the horse artillery of the Army of the Potomac was , in 1864 , consolidated into one brigade , the command was given to Capt . Robertson . This brigade organization was , however , apparently only for administrative purposes , batteries being detached for duty with divisions or brigades of cavalry , the whole brigade never acting together as a fighting unit under command of its chief . " Battery A was the first to reach Washington , arriving in January , 1861 . It formed a part of the expedition for the relief of Fort Pickens in April , but returned in time to take part in the first Bull Run . In September it was made a horse battery , the first in this country . In the spring of 1862 it went to the Peninsula , forming , with B and L ( Robertson ) , and M . ( Benson ) of the 2d and C ( Gibson ) of the 3d , the famous Horse Artillery Brigade . At Yorktown during the siege it was in pursuit with Stoneman ' s cavalry after the evacuation , and was engaged at Williamsburg , New Bridge , and Mechanicsville . It covered the withdrawal of the army from the left bank of the Chickahominy , being engaged at Gaines ' Mill . It was engaged at Malvern Hill , July 1 , and at Westover , July 3 . While at Harrison ' s Landing a corporal died , and permission to fire the usual salute being refused , it occurred to Capt . Tidball to have " taps " sounded instead ; whence the origin of this custom . The battery was with the rear guard on the withdrawal from the Peninsula . In the Maryland campaign it was in the advance with Pleasanton ' s cavalry , and was engaged at Boonsboro , Antietam , and Shepherdstown . It was with the cavalry in advance during the movement into Virginia , and was engaged at Piedmont , November 3 , and Amissville , November 10 . The battery was out with Averell ' s cavalry in April , 1863 , and was engaged at Rapidan Station , May 1 , and with Pleasanton at Upperville , June 20 . It went to Gettysburg with Buford ' s cavalry , at which battle it fired the first shot , and after that battle was engaged at Williamsport , July 4 , Boonsboro , July 8 and 9 July , and Funkstown , July 10 . The battery , during September , was in action at Culpeper , Raccoon Ford , and Robinson River . In the campaign of 1864 the battery was engaged at Cold Harbor , Bottom ' s Bridge , Trevilian Station , and St . Mary ' s Church . While with the army before Petersburg it was several times detached on expeditions with the cavalry , being engaged at Deep Bottom , July 28 , Lee ' s Mill , July 31 , Deep Run , August 16 , Vaughn Plank Road , September 29 , Boydton Plank Road , October 27 , Stoney Creek , December 1 , and on the Weldon Railroad , December 7 – 11 . The battery was engaged at Dinwiddie C . H . , March 31 , Farmville , April 7 , and Appomatox , April 9 . After Lee ' s surrender it started for North Carolina with Sheridan , returning when Johnston ' s surrender was known . The battery was commanded by Capt . Tidball until June , 1863 ; by Lieut . Calef at Gettysburg ; by Lieut . Clarke until June , 1864 ; by Lieut . Dennison until February , 1865 * ; then , until after the surrender , by Lieut . Lord . ” Postwar period , 1865 – 1898 . Battery A returned to Fort McHenry after the war . Only temporarily assigned to the West during the Plains Indian Wars , in 1869 , its primary duties were in the East . It participated in the inauguration of Rutherford B . Hayes , in 1877 , helped quell the labor riots of 1877 , and participated in the guarding of President James Garfield after his shooting . By 1885 , Battery A was reassigned to Little Rock , Arkansas . In 1889 , it transferred to Fort Riley , Kansas . Spanish – American War . During the Spanish – American War ( 1898 ) it served in cuba under Captain G . S . Grimes . after the war The Artillery branch was again reorganized into an Artillery Corps , February 2 , 1901 . With the reorganization , the nineteenth century regimental system disappeared . Company A was redesignated 3rd Battery field artillery