Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The First Regiment of Heavy Artillery CO "L"

This group had a complicated path to being formed. It began life as the 14th Infantry. After training as an Infantry Regiment and going to the front as infantry it was reassigned to become an artillery regiment. This required more than just a name change and retraining. An artillerry regiment has an additional fifty men per company and two additional companies. One of the two new companies was CO. "L" of Salem. The company also had a mixed history. When it was first formed it was intended to be a Cavalry company assigned to a regiment forming in Detroit, MI. This never happened and it was put into the First Heavy artillery, so a Company trained to be cavalry was assigned to an artillery regiment trained to be infantry. (1)
On Feb. 19, 1862 Capt. E.A. Andrews moved his fifty men from Salem to Camp Cameron. (2)

(1) Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, VOL. II, A History of the Town From 1700-1917, Waters, Thomas Franklin, Ipswich Historical Society, Ipswich, MA, 1917

(2) Boston Evening Transcript, Feb. 22, 1862, pg. 4

DAN SULLIVAN