5th Indiana Battery 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...

. It was often referred to as Simonson's Battery.

Service

The battery was organized at Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

 and mustered in for a three year enlistment on November 22, 1861. It was mustered in under the command of Captain Peter Simonson.

The battery was attached to 3rd Division, Army of the Ohio

Army of the Ohio

The Army of the Ohio was the name of two Union armies in the American Civil War. The first army became the Army of the Cumberland and the second army was created in 1863.-History:...

, to September 1862. 9th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November 1862. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, Right Wing, XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland

Army of the Cumberland

The Army of the Cumberland was one of the principal Union armies in the Western Theater during the American Civil War. It was originally known as the Army of the Ohio.-History:...

, to January 1863. Artillery, 2nd Division, XX Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to October 1863. Artillery, 1st Division, IV Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to July 1864. Artillery Brigade, IV Corps, to September 1864. Garrison Artillery, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Department of the Cumberland, to November 1864.

The 5th Indiana Battery Light Artillery mustered out of service on November 26, 1864.

Detailed service

Left Indiana for Louisville, Ky., November 27. Duty at Camp Gilbert, Louisville, Ky., until December 20, 1861, and at Bacon Creek, Ky., until February 1862. Advance on Bowling Green, Ky., and Nashville, Tenn., February 10–25. Occupation of Bowling Green, Ky., February 15, and of Nashville February 25. Moved to Murfreesboro, Tenn., March 18. Reconnaissance to Shelbyville, Tullahoma and McMinnville March 25–28. Advance on Fayetteville and Huntsville, Ala., April 7–11. Capture of Huntsville April 11. Advance on and capture of Decatur April 11–14. Duty at Bridgeport, Ala. (detachment), and along Nashville & Chattanooga R. R. until August. Moved to Stevenson, Ala., August 24. Moved to Nashville, Tenn.; thence to Louisville, Ky., in pursuit of Bragg, August 31-September 26. Pursuit of Bragg into Kentucky October 1–15. Battle of Perryville, Ky., October 8. March to Nashville, Tenn., October 20-November 9, and duty there until December 26. Advance on Murfreesboro, Tenn., December 26–30. Battle of Stones River December 30–31, 1862, and January 1–3, 1863. Duty at Murfreesboro until June. Tullahoma Campaign June 22-July 7. Liberty Gap June 22–24. Occupation of middle Tennessee until August 16. Passage of the Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga Campaign August 16-September 22. Battle of Chickamauga September 19–20. Siege of Chattanooga, Tenn., September 24-October 26. Reopening Tennessee River October 26–29. Outpost duty at Shellmound until February 1864. Demonstrations on Dalton February 22–27. Tunnel Hill, Buzzard's Roost Gap and Rocky Faced Ridge February 23–25. Stone Church, near Catoosa Platform, February 27. Atlanta Campaign May 1 to September 8. Tunnel Hill May 6–7. Demonstration on Rocky Faced Ridge and Dalton May 8–13. Buzzard's Roost Gap May 8–9. Near Dalton May 13. Battle of Resaca May 14–15. Near Kingston May 18–19. Near Cassville May 19. Advance on Dallas May 22–25, Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Operations about Marietta and against Kennesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Pine Hill June 11–14. Lost Mountain June 15–17. Assault on Kennesaw June 27. Ruff's Station July 4. Chattahoochie River July 5–17. Peachtree Creek July 19–20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25–30. Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1. Lovejoy's Station September 2–6. Ordered to Chattanooga, Tenn., September 20. Veterans and recruits transferred to 7th Indiana Battery Light Artillery

7th Independent Battery Indiana Light Artillery

7th Indiana Battery Light Artillery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The battery was organized at Indianapolis, Indiana and mustered in for a three year enlistment on December 2, 1861. It was mustered in under the command of Captain...

.

Death of Polk

At Pine Mountain, Georgia the battery was ordered to fire on a cluster of Confederate officers in an exposed area spotted by Major General

Major general (United States)

In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general...

 William T. Sherman. The officers were Generals Leonidas Polk

Leonidas Polk

Leonidas Polk was a Confederate general in the American Civil War who was once a planter in Maury County, Tennessee, and a second cousin of President James K. Polk...

, William J. Hardee

William J. Hardee

William Joseph Hardee was a career U.S. Army officer, serving during the Second Seminole War and fighting in the Mexican-American War...

, Joseph E. Johnston

Joseph E. Johnston

Joseph Eggleston Johnston was a career U.S. Army officer, serving with distinction in the Mexican-American War and Seminole Wars, and was also one of the most senior general officers in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...

 and their staffs. Sherman pointed them out to Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard

Oliver O. Howard

Oliver Otis Howard was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War...

, commander of the IV Corps, and ordered him to fire on them. Captain Simonson obeyed the order within minutes. The first round came close and a second even closer, causing the men to disperse. A third shell struck Polk's left arm, went through the chest, and exited hitting his right arm then exploded against a tree; nearly cutting Polk in two.

Casualties

The battery lost a total of 36 men during service; 1 officer and 11 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 24 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

• Captain Peter Simonson - killed by a sniper, June 16, 1864, while serving as Acting Chief of Artillery, 1st Division, IV Corps
• Lieutenant Daniel H. Chandler

See also

• List of Indiana Civil War regiments
• Indiana in the Civil War