141st Field Artillery Regiment ( United States ) The 141st Field Artillery Regiment ( Washington Artillery ) is a United States field artillery regiment . History . The 141st Field Artillery is an historic American military unit that is currently part of the Louisiana Army National Guard headquartered in New Orleans , Louisiana . It traces its lineage to a militia artillery battery back to 1838 , and its heritage includes substantial combat service in several major wars . It earned the Presidential Unit Citation ( US ) for its service in World War II . The Washington Artillery was founded on September 7 , 1838 as the Washington Artillery Company . It received its regimental flag in August 1846 after serving under Zachary Taylor in the Mexican – American War . 26 May 1861 the Unit was mustered into the American Civil War ; four companies served in the Army of Northern Virginia and a fifth was in the Army of Tennessee . Elements of the Washington Artillery participated in over sixty major actions . A few notable engagements include : Battle of Antietam , Battle of Gettysburg , Battle of Shiloh , Battle of Chickamauga , Battle of Fredericksburg , First Battle of Manassas , and the Battle of Cold Harbor . After the Civil War , it was reorganized as an independent unit called the “ Louisiana Volunteer Field Artillery ” where it served the United States in the occupation of Cuba . It later was called into service to protect the Mexican border in 1916 . A year later it received the designation 141st Artillery . In early 1941 , the 141st Field Artillery was mobilized for World War II where it earned the Presidential Unit Citation ; a duplicate unit was formed , the 935th Field Artillery Battalion , with both serving in Europe and North Africa . The anti - tank batteries of the battalion were separated in mid - 1941 , and formed the 773rd Tank Destroyer Battalion . Between 1959 and 1967 , several sister units were combined to form the 141st Field Artillery Battalion . In 2004 through 2005 and again in 2010 , the 141st FA as part of the 256th Infantry Brigade mobilized to Baghdad , Iraq , in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and . On 29 August 2005 , Hurricane Katrina struck the gulf coast of Louisiana and Mississippi while most members of the Washington Artillery were still serving their final weeks of deployment in Iraq . Following the return of the Battalion to Louisiana , a detachment immediately mobilized to New Orleans to aid law enforcement with rescue efforts . With the help of the Louisiana State Police , those efforts transitioned into a support mission for the New Orleans Police Department . Joint Task Force Gator was created to help combat the rise of looting and other crimes resulting from the loss of law enforcement officers in the New Orleans area . After three - and - a - half years of assisting local police and patrolling the city , the task force was released from duty on 28 February 2009 . Regimental colors and streamers . Regimental colors of the Washington Artillery < br > < br > These are the Campaign streamers awarded to the Regiment : < br > < br > Mexican – American War American Civil War World War I < br > World War II Operation Iraqi Freedom < br > Current . The 141st Field Artillery currently consists of the 1st Battalion , 141st Field Artillery . It is assigned as the fires battalion for the 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Louisiana Army National Guard headquartered in the famed Jackson Barracks .