New Jersey 1st Light Artillery (Union)
4/5/62
Battle - Siege of Yorktown (1862) - York County, Virginia; Newport News, Virginia
Most of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army was not on the peninsula on April 4th when Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan departed Fortress Monroe on his Peninsula Campaign. The only force opposing the Yankee advance up the peninsula toward the Confederate capital at Richmond was Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder's small force of two divisions at Yorktown behind the Warwick River. Magruder's deceptive theatrics, conspicuously parading his men back and forth behind his defenses, convinced the Federals that his works were s…READ MORE
5/5/62
Battle - Williamsburg - York County, Virginia; James City County, Virginia; Williamsburg, Virginia
Following the Confederate withdrawal from their Yorktown position, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan was not prepared to mount an immediate pursuit with his entire force from the siege lines he had occupied for nearly a month. Initially, he was able to send forward only a portion of his army, led by the Third Corps of Samuel P. Heitzelman, to follow Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Confederates. Heitzelman's divisions, led by Brig. Gens. Joseph Hooker and Phil Kearny, made contact with Johnston's army four miles sout…READ MORE
5/31/62
Battle - Seven Pines - Henrico County, Virginia
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston withdrew his army from the Virginia Peninsula toward the Confederate capital of Richmond as Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's army pursued him. By the end of May, Johnston held a defensive position seven miles east of the city on the Richmond and York River Railroad. McClellan's army facing Johnston straddled the Chickahominy River and stretched south. Capturing the initiative from his Union foe, Johnston attempted to overwhelm two Federal corps isolated south of the river. The Confed…READ MORE
6/30/62
Battle - White Oak Swamp - Henrico County, Virginia
7/1/62
Battle - Malvern Hill - Henrico County, Virginia
On June 30th, the retreating Federal Army of the Potomac finally stopped at the James River at the end of seven days of fighting outside of Richmond.READ MORE
8/12/62
Organized - New Jersey 1st Light Artillery - New Jersey
9/17/62
Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain William Hexamer
CaptainWilliam Hexamer
9/17/62
Leadership Change - Brigade - Captain Emory Upton
CaptainEmory Upton
9/17/62
Leadership Change - Division - Major General Henry W. Slocum
Major GeneralHenry W. Slocum
12/13/62
Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain A. Judson Clark
CaptainA. Judson Clark
12/13/62
Leadership Change - Brigade - Captain James E. Smith
CaptainJames E. Smith
12/13/62
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Daniel Sickles
Brigadier GeneralDaniel Sickles
12/13/62
Battle - Fredericksburg - Fredericksburg, Virginia
In early November, Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside took command of the Army of the Potomac, and made immediate plans to move the army once again toward Richmond.READ MORE
4/30/63
Leadership Change - Regiment - Lieutenant Robert Sims
LieutenantRobert Sims
4/30/63
Leadership Change - Brigade - Captain A. Judson Clark
CaptainA. Judson Clark
4/30/63
Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General David B. Birney
Brigadier GeneralDavid B. Birney
4/30/63
Battle - Chancellorsville - Spotsylvania County, Virginia
On April 27, 1863, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker launched a turning movement designed to pry Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia out of its lines at Fredericksburg.READ MORE
7/1/63
Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain A. Judson Clark, and Lieutenant Robert Sims
CaptainA. Judson Clark
LieutenantRobert Sims
7/1/63
Leadership Change - Brigade - Captain A. Judson Clark, and Captain George E. Randolph
CaptainA. Judson Clark
CaptainGeorge E. Randolph
7/1/63
Leadership Change - Brigade - Captain George E. Randolph
CaptainGeorge E. Randolph
7/1/63
Battle - Gettysburg - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
In the summer of 1863, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee launched his second invasion of the Northern states. Lee sought to capitalize on recent Confederate victories and defeat the Union army on Northern soil, which he hoped would force the Lincoln administration to negotiate for peace. Lee also sought to take the war out of the ravaged Virginia farmland and gather supplies for his Army of Northern Virginia. Using the Shenandoah Valley as cover for his army, Lee was pursued first by Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Ho…READ MORE
5/5/64
Battle - Wilderness - Spotsylvania County, Virginia; Orange County, Virginia
The first battle between Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee erupted late in the morning of May 5, 1864, as Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren's Union V Corps attacked Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps on the Orange Turnpike southwest of the old Chancellorsville battlefield. Although Federal infantry managed to break through at several points, the Confederate line held. Fighting shifted to the south as Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill's Third Corps engaged Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's II Corps and ele…READ MORE
5/8/64
Battle - Spotsylvania Court House - Spotsylvania County, Virginia
Following the Battle of the Wilderness, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant marched the Union army south with the hope of capturing Spotsylvania Court House and preventing Robert E. Lee's army from retreating further. Lee's Confederates, however, managed to get ahead of the Federals and block the road. Fighting began on May 8th, when the Union Fifth Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren and the Sixth Corps under Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick engaged Confederate Maj. Gen. Richard Anderson's First Corps at Laurel Hi…READ MORE
5/31/64
Battle - Cold Harbor - Hanover County; near Mechanicsville, Virginia
After two days of inconclusive fighting along Totopotomoy Creek northeast of Richmond, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee turned their sights on the crossroads of Cold Harbor. Roads emanating through this critical junction led to Richmond as well as supply and reinforcement sources for the Union army. On May 31, 1864, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's cavalry captured Cold Harbor. The next day, Sheridan held the crossroads against a Confederate attack. With reinforcements from both armies arriving…READ MORE
6/21/64
Battle - Jerusalem Plank Road - Petersburg, Virginia
7/27/64
Battle - First Deep Bottom - Henrico County, Virginia
Two weeks after Union forces arrived to invest the Confederate defenders of Petersburg, the battle lines of both sides settled into a stalemate. Since Cold Harbor, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was reluctant to mount a large frontal attack against well-entrenched Confederates. By late June, Grant's lines covered most of the eastern approaches to Petersburg, but neither side seemed ready to risk an offensive move. Determined to break the stalemate, Grant agreed to plans to blow up part of the Confederate def…READ MORE
3/25/65
Leadership Change - Division - undefined Bvt BG John C. Tidball, and Major Theodore Miller
3/25/65
Battle - Fort Stedman - Petersburg, Virginia
By March of 1865, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's grip on the Confederate lines around Petersburg was having its desired effect. Outnumbered and weakened by disease, desertion and shortage of food and supplies, Gen. Robert E. Lee had few options. After careful study of the Union troops in his sector of the line, Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon suggested to Lee the possibility of a successful offensive strike against Grant. In front of Gordon's men, Union-held Fort Stedman seemed the best target for a Confederate a…READ MORE
4/6/65
Battle - Sailor's Creek - Amelia County, Virginia; Prince Edward County, Virginia; Nottoway County, Virginia
Five days after Robert E. Lee's men retreated from the trenches of Petersburg, cavalry under Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan effectively cut off three separate corps of Lee's army near Sailor's Creek, a tributary of the Appomattox River, while the Union Second and Sixth Corps approached from the east. On April 6th, two brigades of Andrew H. Humphrey's Second Corps overwhelmed two brigades of Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon's division as the Confederates struggled to move their supply and artillery trains across the creek…READ MORE
4/9/65
Battle - Appomattox Court House - Appomattox Court House, Virginia
Between 26,000 and 28,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered and were paroled.READ MORE
6/22/65
Mustered Out - New Jersey 1st Light Artillery - New Jersey
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