17th Ohio Independent Battery was an artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 battery

Artillery battery

In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...

 that served in the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

.

Service

The battery was organized in Dayton, Ohio

Dayton, Ohio

Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...

 and mustered in August 21, 1862 for a three year enlistment under Captain Ambrose A. Blount.

The battery was attached to Artillery, 1st Division, Army of Kentucky, Department of the Ohio

Department of the Ohio

The Department of the Ohio was an administrative military district created by the United States War Department early in the American Civil War to administer the troops in the Northern states near the Ohio River.General Orders No...

, to October 1862. Unattached, Army of Kentucky, Department of the Ohio, Lexington, Kentucky, to November 1862. Artillery, 10th Division, XIII Corps, Department of the Tennessee, to December 1862. Artillery, 1st Division, Sherman's Yazoo Expedition, to January 1863. Artillery, 10th Division, XIII Corps, Army of the Tennessee

Army of the Tennessee

The Army of the Tennessee was a Union army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, named for the Tennessee River. It should not be confused with the similarly named Army of Tennessee, a Confederate army named after the State of Tennessee....

, to August 1863. 2nd Brigade, 4th Division, XIII Corps, Department of the Gulf, to June 1864. Defenses of New Orleans, Louisiana, to August 1864. United States Forces, Mobile Bay

Mobile Bay

Mobile Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The Mobile River and Tensaw River empty into the northern end of the...

, Department of the Gulf, to September 1864. Unattached Artillery, XIX Corps, Department of the Gulf, to December 1864. Unattached, Artillery Reserve Corps, Military Division West Mississippi, to February 1865. Artillery Brigade, XVI Corps, Military Division West Mississippi, to July 1865.

The 17th Ohio Battery mustered out of service on August 16, 1865.

Detailed service

Ordered to Covington, Ky., September 3. Duty at Covington, Ky., during threatened attack on Cincinnati by Edmund Kirby Smith. March to Lexington, Ky., then to Louisville, Ky., and duty there until December 1. Ordered to Memphis, Tenn., December 1. Sherman's Yazoo Expedition December 20, 1862 to January 3, 1863. Expedition from Milliken's Bend to Dallas Station and Delhi December 25-26. Chickasaw Bayou December 26-28. Chickasaw Bluff December 29. Expedition to Arkansas Post, Ark., January 3-10, 1863. Assault on and capture of Fort Hindman, Arkansas Post, January 10-11. Moved to Young's Point, La., January 15. Expedition to Greenville, Miss., and Cypress Bend, Ark., February 14-26. Action at Cypress Bend February 19. Moved to Milliken's Bend March 8. Movement on Bruinsburg and turning Grand Gulf April 25-30. Battle of Port Gibson May 1. Battle of Champion Hill May 16. Siege of Vicksburg, Miss., May 18-July 4. Assaults on Vicksburg May 19 and 22. Advance on Jackson July 5-10. Siege of Jackson, Miss., July 10-17. Assault on Jackson July 12. Duty at Vicksburg until August 20. Ordered to New Orleans, La., and duty there until September 5. At Brashear City until October 3. Expedition to New and Amite Rivers September 24-29. Western Louisiana ("Teche") Campaign October 3-November 30. Grand Coteau November 3. Moved to New Orleans, La., and duty there until August 1864. Operations in Mobile Bay against Forts Gaines and Morgan August 2-23. Siege and capture of Fort Gaines August 3-8. Siege and capture of Fort Morgan August 10-23. Duty at New Orleans until March 1865. Campaign against Mobile, Ala., and its defenses March 17-April 12. Siege of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely March 26-April 8. Assault and capture of Fort Blakely April 9. Occupation of Mobile April 12. March to Montgomery April 13-25. Duty at Montgomery and Selma, Ala., until July. Ordered home for muster out.

Casualties

The battery lost a total of 44 men during service; 1 enlisted man killed, 1 officer and 42 enlisted men died due to disease.

See also

• List of Ohio Civil War units
• Ohio in the Civil War
  Ohio in the Civil War
  During the American Civil War, the State of Ohio played a key role in providing troops, military officers, and supplies to the Union army. Due to its central location in the Northern United States and burgeoning population, Ohio was both politically and logistically important to the war effort...
  
  

External links

• Ohio in the Civil War: 17th Ohio Battery by Larry Stevens
• 17th Ohio Battery monument at Vicksburg