27. The right section, under Lieut. Phelps, advanced to within three hundred yards of the enemy's works, and maintained the position during the siege.

On the surrender of this stronghold, the Sixth Battery, with the second brigade, was sent upon an expedition to Bayou Lafourche, where the enemy had assembled a considerable force.

Four guns of this battery were attached to the first brigade, Col. Dudley commanding; and, on the 12th of July, this force moved forward to ascertain the strength and position of the enemy. Early on the ensuing morning, Col. Dudley's command became engaged with greatly superior numbers of the foe. One of the guns of this battery was dismounted; and the order to fall back came so suddenly, that it was not mounted, but left a trophy to the rebels. The force then retired to Donaldsonville, when the battery was rejoined by the left section from Point Coupee.

From this place the battery was ordered to Algiers to recruit. Arriving on the 25th of September, it was changed into a fourgun battery, thoroughly equipped for service, and ordered to report for field-service to the first division. During the month of October, the battery was successively at Berwick Bay, Franklin, and Carrion-crow Bayou. On the 1st of November, it was at Vermilion Bayou, and on the 16th went into camp at New Iberia. The record for 1864 is thus briefly summed up by Capt. Russell:

January, 1864, found this battery at New Iberia, La. ; and, on the 5th of January, the battery re-enlisted as veterans. On the 7th, marched to Franklin, where it remained until March 3, when it received orders to turn over its armament, and report at New Orleans, for the purpose of taking a furlough of thirty days in Massachusetts. Left New Orleans April 13, and arrived at Boston April 20. On the 25th, each man received from the State of Massachusetts a veteran bounty of three hundred and twenty-five dollars. On the 23d of May, the battery left Boston, and arrived at New Orleans June 8. Soon after its arrival, it received four guns and a part of an equipment, and has since that time remained in this city. The men not having been two years in service at the time they re-enlisted, the War Department disapproved the action of Gen. Banks in the case of the battery, and ordered the men mustered out on the 20th of January, 1865; at which time they were sent to Boston, under the charge of Capt. Hamlin, of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Battery, for that purpose.

On the 1st of January, 1865, First Lieut. Bruce, of this battery, resigned; and Capt. Phelps was dismissed the service. The battery has received, during the month of January, forty-six men by transfer from other batteries which had an excess, and seventy-five recruits from Massachusetts.

In the month of February, 1865, it was increased to a six-gun battery, and retained by Gen. Sherman in New Orleans.

In the month of June, the battery lost fifty-two men by orders from the War Department ordering the muster-out of all men whose term of service expired prior to Oct. 1, 1865. Leaving the command on the 1st of July, composed of four commissioned officers and one hundred and fifteen enlisted men (and its reputation for all those qualities which make a good battery was second to none in the department of the Gulf), it was selected by Major-Gen. Canby as one to be filled to the maximum and retained in the service. Subsequently the War Department ordered the muster-out of all volunteer light artillery in the department of the Gulf, when its public property was turned over; and, on the 21st of July, the company embarked on board the United-States steam-transport " Ashland" for New York, en route for Massachusetts, to be mustered out of service.

It arrived at Readville Aug. 1; received payment in full; and was disbanded Aug. 10, 1865.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Seventh Light Battery.- Detailed for Provost-duty at Fortress Monroe.- Goes to Norfolk, Va.- Goes to New York. - Sent to the Department of the Gulf.- Expeditions. Goes to Alabama. - At the Capture of Spanish Fort.- Sails to Texas. Returns/ Home. Eighth Light Battery. A Six-months' Battery. At Bull Run. — Antietam. - Capture of Maryland Rebel Recruits. - Ninth Light Battery. At Fort Ramsay.. With the Army of the Potomac. - Wilderness.-Across the James. - Weldon Railroad. Close of the War.- Mustered out. - Tenth Light Battery. On the Upper Potomac. Engagement near Auburn. Mine Run. - Wilderness. -Hatcher's Run. WelGrand Review. - Return Home. -Eleventh Light Battery. — Wilderness. don Railroad.-Closing Events of the Siege of Petersburg. - Twelfth Light Battery. Goes to New Orleans. - Expedition to Sunica.- Officer's Report. — Thirteenth Light Battery. - Roster. - Sails for the Department of the Gulf. Capt. Hamlin's Letter. Goes to Port Hudson. -Joins Nims's Battery. - Red-river Expedition. Return to New Orleans. - Fourteenth Light Battery. - Joins the First Division of the Ninth Corps. In the Wilderness. At Tolopotomy. - Bethesda Church. - Siege of Petersburg. Officer's Report. Fifteenth Light Battery. - Goes to Louisiana. - Embarks for Alabama. Fort Blakely. — Goes to Selma. - Return Home. — Mustered out. — Sixteenth Light Battery.-Employed in the Defences of Washington.- Marches to Loudon Valley. - Return to Massachusetts. - Massachusetts' Expenses in the War, and Character of the Troops.

THE

SEVENTH LIGHT BATTERY.

HE Seventh Light Battery was among the very first threeyears' men that left the State. It was recruited in Lowell, by Capt. Davis, as an infantry company; and was called the Richardson Light Guard, in honor of George F. Richardson, Esq., who had been very active in assisting the recruitment.

The following is a list of the officers :

The company sailed from Boston for Fortress Monroe May 22, 1861, and was intended to be attached to the Third Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia until its three-months' term of service was completed; but it was detailed at the fortress on provost-duty, and Capt. Davis was provost-marshal. It remained

a part of the permanent garrison of the fortress, as an infantry company, until the 25th of December, 1861, when it was detailed on light artillery-duty; and on the 17th of March, 1862, by orders from the War Department, it was permanently changed to an artillery corps, and became the Seventh Battery of Massachusetts Volunteers.

When the advance upon Norfolk was made, May 10, 1862, this company, acting as infantry, was the first to land, and formed the right of the advancing column. On the 13th, it again

returned to Fortress Monroe.

On the 19th of June, it left the fortress as a battery, fully equipped, and with full ranks, and proceeded to Newport News; thence, on the 25th of July, to Yorktown; and thence, Oct. 2, to Suffolk, Va. Thus far it had taken part in some skirmishes, but in no battle. While at this point, one section was sent to the front each night to guard the crossing of the Nansemond River.

On the 29th of January, the battery was ordered to report to Brig.-Gen. Michael Corcoran for duty, and started at midnight on the march towards Blackwater River. Between two and three, A.M., Jan. 30, met the enemy's forces under Gen. R. A. Pryor at the Deserted House, nine miles from Suffolk, and the command was engaged until daylight; when the enemy fell back about two miles, and made another stand. Here, with four guns only, all others being disabled, it sustained the engagement for two hours against a superior force, and finally drove them across the Blackwater. The loss was two killed, eleven wounded, and two mortally wounded; five horses killed, and seven wounded.

On the 17th of March, the battery reported to Col. S. P. Spear, commanding an expedition for a "flying trip." It engaged the enemy at Franklin three-quarters of an hour, but without loss. During the investment of Suffolk by Gen. Longstreet, the battery was in various parts of the defences, with horses harnessed day and night, from the 11th of April to the 3d of May; when it reported to Gen. G. W. Getty, crossed the Nansemond, attacked the enemy on the Providence-Church Road, and silenced their battery. On the 13th, it went on an expedition to Carrsville, one section engaging and repulsing the enemy one mile from that place. From this date to the 18th of August, the battery was stationed at various points in Virginia, frequently under fire, but participated in no important engagements. It was then ordered to New York to assist in enforcing the draft. It arrived there on the 21st, and encamped in Madison Square. On the 11th of Sep

tember, it returned to Washington, where it remained until the beginning of the year 1864; when, in pursuance of orders from headquarters of the army, it sailed, Jan. 27, for the Department of the Gulf. Arriving at New Orleans, the battery became attached to the Nineteenth Army Corps, and, on the 31st of March, went into camp at Alexandria, La. May 11, the march from Alexandria to the Mississippi River began; the second brigade, to which the battery was attached, having the advance. From the 1st of June until the 11th of September, the battery took part in several expeditions sent to different points in Louisiana and Arkansas. At this latter date, it was in camp at St. Charles, Ark.

Thence the largest part of the battery was sent to Duvall's Bluff, Ark.; one section remaining at St. Charles. On the 10th of January, 1865, it embarked on board the steamer "Rescue" for the Department of the Gulf; arriving at Kennerville, La., on the 15th. On the 9th of February, it sailed for Dauphine Island, Ala. On the 17th of March, crossed Mobile Bay, and next day joined the first division, Thirteenth Army Corps. On the 27th, it was ordered into position in front of Spanish Fort, and was engaged with the enemy every day from that time until the fall of that stronghold. April 20, the battery embarked on board steamer "Col. Cowles" as part of an expedition up the Mobile and Alabama Rivers. It returned to Mobile on the 16th of May, and sailed thence, on the 30th of June, for Galveston, Tex.; arrived there July 3, and, on the 9th, moved to Houston.

Oct. 1, the property pertaining to the battery having been turned over, the company started on its return home. It was detained in Galveston four days, and at New Orleans six days, awaiting transportation.

Oct. 14, it embarked on board steamship "Guiding Star." In the even ing, the ship grounded on the bar at the mouth of the Mississippi River, where it remained until the 19th, when it was got off, and proceeded on its way. On the 22d, the wind commenced blowing a gale from the north-east, and increased to a perfect hurricane on the night of the 23d. At one o'clock on the morning of the 24th, the ship fell off into the trough of the sea, where it remained for thirty-six hours, the men working at the pumps during that time. On the morning of the 25th, the wind having abated, it proceeded to Port Royal, S.C., for coal. The company arrived at New-York City on the 2d of November, and in Boston on the 3d: it then proceeded to Gal loupe's Island, in the harbor, where it was mustered out of service on the 10th, and paid off and discharged on the 12th, of November.