2nd Independent Battery Kansas Light Artillery 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 at Fort Scott, Kansas

Fort Scott National Historic Site

Fort Scott National Historic Site is a historical area under the control of the United States National Park Service in Bourbon County, Kansas, United States. Named after Mexican-American War General Winfield Scott, during the middle of the 19th century it served as a military base for army action...

 and mustered in September 10, 1862 for a three years under the command of Captain Charles White Blair

Charles W. Blair

Charles White Blair was a lawyer, and Union Army officer who served in three different regiments during the American Civil War. He fought primarily in the Trans-Mississippi Theater and was notable during Price's Missouri Raid.-Early career:...

.

The battery was attached to Department of Kansas

Department of Kansas

The Department of Kansas was a Union Army command department in the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the American Civil War. This department existed in three different forms during the war.-1861:...

 to September 1862. 1st Brigade, Department of Kansas, to October 1862. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, Army of the Frontier

Army of the Frontier

The Army of the Frontier was a Union army that served in the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the Civil War. It fought in several minor engagements in Arkansas, Indian Territory, and Kansas...

, Department of the Missouri

Department of the Missouri

Department of the Missouri was a division of the United States Army that functioned through the American Civil War and the Indian Wars afterwards.-Civil War:...

 (1 section), to February 1863. District of Southwest Missouri, Department of the Missouri, to June 1863. District of the Frontier, Department of the Missouri, to January 1864. Unattached, District of the Frontier, VII Corps, Department of Arkansas, to May 1864. 1st Brigade, District of the Frontier, VII Corps, to February 1865. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, VII Corps, to July 1865.

The 2nd Kansas Battery mustered out of service on August 11, 1865.

Detailed service

Duty at Fort Scott, Kansas, until June 1863. (1st Section moved to Greenfield, Mo., September 1–3, 1862. Action at Newtonia September 30. Occupation of Newtonia October 4. Cane Hill November 28. 2nd Section moved from Fort Scott to Pea Ridge, Ark., October 12–19, 1862, returning to Fort Scott December 3–10, 1862.) Scout from Creek Agency to Jasper County, Mo., May 16–19, 1863 (1 section). Sherwood May 19. (1 section moved to Baxter Springs May 6, returning to Fort Scott June 24.) Fort Gibson May 22. Near Fort Gibson May 28. Operations about Fort Gibson June 6–20. Greenleaf Prairie June 16. One section moved to Fort Gibson with supply train June 19-July 4. Action at Cabin Creek July 1–2 and 5. Battery moved to Fort Gibson July 5–12. Elk Creek near Honey Springs July 17. Duty at Fort Gibson until August 22. Near Sherwood August 14. Campaign to Perryville, Cherokee Nation, August 22–31. At Fort Gibson until November. Ordered to Fort Smith, Ark., arriving November 15, and duty there until July 1865. Near Fort Smith July 31, 1864. (One section at Clarksville June and July 1864. One section remained at Fort Scott and participated in the pursuit of Price.) Battle of Westport October 23, and pursuit beyond Fort Scott. Joined battery at Fort Smith June 1865. Action at Dardanelle, Ark., January 14, 1865.

Commanders

• Captain Charles White Blair - promoted to major
  Major (United States)
  In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, major is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel...
  
   and transferred to 2nd Kansas Cavalry
  2nd Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry
  The 2nd Kansas Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The 2nd Kansas Cavalry was organized at Kansas City, Kansas beginning on November 8, 1861 but its designation was changed to 9th Kansas Infantry on February 4, 1862....
  
  
• Captain Edward A. Smith
• 1st Lieutenant Daniel C. Knowles - commanded one section at the battles of Westport and Mine Creek

See also

• List of Kansas Civil War Units
• Kansas in the Civil War
  Kansas in the Civil War
  Even before the outbreak of the American Civil War, the territory of Kansas had been the scene of fighting between anti-slavery and pro-slavery forces...
  
  

External links

• History of the 2nd Kansas Battery by the Museum of the Kansas National Guard