Category Archives: First Rhode Island Light Artillery

Of that en barbette gun that greeted the Rebels

Posted on May 25, 2014 by Dick Stanley

Lieutenant Samuel Nicoll Benjamin, who commanded Fort Sanders while its nominal commander, a New York political general, was drunk in his bombproof, arranged several surprises for the attacking Rebels. One was a Napoleon 12-pounder that could be run up a … Continue reading →

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Catch your hat full of grapeshot

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Dick Stanley

The yellowish tinge to the iron balls of this canister round fired by 12-pounder Napoleon cannon is from the sawdust they were packed in. The Mississippi Brigade that attacked Fort Sanders had previously encountered canister at Malvern Hill, Sharpsburg, and … Continue reading →

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Reprise: More First Rhode Island Light Artillery

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Dick Stanley

When Gen. Burnside’s Ninth Corps troops marched into Knoxville in September, 1863, history has recorded that some young men of the town were so excited they rushed to join the Union army. Recruitment was more problematic out in the hills, … Continue reading →

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More from Lieutenant Parker

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Dick Stanley

Lieutenant Ezra K. Parker of the First Rhode Island Light Artillery was in the Northwest Bastion during the Confederate attack on Fort Sanders. He wrote a memoir in 1913, in which he recollected events during the siege of Knoxville: “While … Continue reading →

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Reprise: Buckley’s Rhode Island Battery

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Dick Stanley

Captain William W. Buckley commanded Battery D, of the First Rhode Island Light Artillery—three brass Napoleon 12-pounders—in the northwest bastion of Fort Sanders. He described their work during the battle in his after-action report in the Official Records: “The bastion … Continue reading →

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Caisson with limber

Posted on March 19, 2011 by Dick Stanley

Civil War equipment could be an education in itself, such as this artillery caisson and limber. (Like the New York one that was dragged away from the Northwest Bastion when the horses spooked.) Each article had to be mastered by … Continue reading →

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Reenactor anachronisms

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Dick Stanley

The rifled parrott gun in this mock Northwest Bastion of a pretend Fort Sanders (miles away from where the original sat) is just one of the anachronisms the reenactor community puts up with. The only big guns in the bastion … Continue reading →

Posted in "Knoxville 1863", First Rhode Island Light Artillery, Fort Sanders, Reenactors, Samuel Nicoll Benjamin | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

1LT Ezra K. Parker

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Dick Stanley

The first lieutenant of Battery D, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, at Knoxville and environs in 1863, of whom I’ll be excerpting more from his good (and free) 1913 memoir in the future.

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