"Hard to stop once it's started!" Topic

While working on my family tree the other day, I looked at the documentation for a distant cousin's Civil War service.

He joined in 1861 as 2nd lieutenant for a Massachusetts infantry unit, but became sick and resigned before the unit saw serious combat.

In 1863, just after being registered for the draft (coincidence?), he joined as 2nd sergeant for a Massachusetts Heavy Artillery unit, served with them for over a year, then resigned "for promotion".

A few months later, he was appointed 2nd lieutenant for Company I of the 14th US Heavy Artillery Regiment. This was a USCT (black) unit with white officers.

What surprised me was that despite the end of the war, this unit was still put into service. My cousin served five months with Company I and Company E, all post-Appomattox.

I could find very little documentation about this unit. It's not the same as the 14th Mass Light Artillery. There's another USCT 14th artillery unit, but it served earlier and was not heavy artillery.

Interesting trail to follow!

I do not know much about US artillery in regular service at this time -- what would distinguish "heavy" from "light" or regular artillery in those years?

link

Perhaps this one?

piper, heavy artillery units manned the guns in the DC fortifications--the catch being that in 1864, Grant took them into the Army of the Potomac as infantry without changing the designation. There were jokes.

Lots of units were kept on into the post-ACW period for a bit, mostly maintaining order. Chamberlain has descriptions of such duty in The Passing of the Armies.

The unit was formed while the war was still going on. Everyone can't be discharged at once, and someone has to pull garrison duty. Since they were in North Carolina, it might have been thought prudent to leave them on occupation duty for a while. Also, since it had a late muster date, mustering out preference might have been given to units that had been in the field longer.

Perhaps this one?

Yes, he's on the list. It says "Company EI" – other records say Company I and Company E.

The unit was formed while the war was still going on.

discharged for promotion: 23 August 1864
Appomattox: April 9, 1865
appointed 2nd lieutenant: 21 June 1865
joined for duty/enrolled: 24 August 1865 (New Bern)
discharged: 11 December 1865
counted as 5 months, 20 days served, counting from day of appointment

And the same website says:

14th Regiment, United States Colored Heavy Artillery

Overview:
Organized at New Berne and Morehead City, N. C., from 1st North Carolina Colored Heavy Artillery March 17, 1864. Attached to Defences of New Berne, N. C., Dept. of Virginia and North Carolina, to January, 1865. Sub-District of New Berne, Dept. of North Carolina, and Sub-District of Beaufort, N. C., Dept. of North Carolina, to December, 1865.

Service:
Garrison duty at New Berne and other points in the Dept. of North Carolina till December, 1865. Mustered out December 11, 1865.

So the unit was formed in March (during the war), and my relative was appointed to it post-war. Interesting that he had 10 months 'off' before the appointment, not clear why they discharged him in-between.

My great-great grandpa joined up in 1861 (4th Minnesota), served under Grant, got wounded at Iuka and despite having a Minie ball in his leg and being unable to march was still enrolled (he signed up for "three years or the duration) so after six months in an Army hospital he was transferred to the Invalid Corps (later Veteran Reserve Corps) as a Provost Marshal at an Army hospital in Indiana – while retaining the lofty rank of private

In the old days, little things like losing a leg or a hand didn't deter the Army from keeping you around

Not surprising the unit served longer in the war. One of the big myths is that the Civil War ended when Lee surrendered. Just not the case. The Confederacy still had several armies in the field and there were a number of small skirmishes and battles that were still fought, men still died. The war did not officially end until June of 1865. All those movies that have the messenger arrive and yell "Lee surrendered the war is over" drive me up a wall.

Per robert p's comment, one of the attractions for Grant was that the Heavy Artillery Regiments were at or near full complement. This meant that they could typically muster a bayonet strength of 800+ men, with some starting the campaign 1,000 strong. It was, frankly, a good solution to the manpower problem. If you look at the Union OOBs of the time, the four regiment Brigades were few and far between and most contain 5-7 regiments to bring them up to decent fighting strength. It should also be noted that many of the Heavy Artillery Regiments had originally mustered in as Volunteer Infantry and served as such for a time before being converted to gunners.

There was a tradition in the U.S. Army of using artillery regiment units as infantry. In the Mexican War they were known as "Red Legs" from the stripes on their trousers and fought valiantly and well in several battles.

"Interesting that he had 10 months 'off' before the appointment, not clear why they discharged him in-between."

Just a guess, but it sounds like he was discharged from the Mass. volunteers and then commissioned in federal service. Why the gap? No idea.