The Creation of the 3rd New York Battery

The 3rd New York Battery began its existence as Company D of the 2nd New York Militia. It was designated a howitzer

Howitzer

A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...

 company. It was to Washington, D. C.  with the regiment, which became the 82nd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Led by Capt Thaddeus P. Mott

Thaddeus P. Mott

Thaddeus Phelps Mott was a 19th-century American adventurer, world sailor and soldier of fortune. A former Union Army officer during American Civil War, he also took part in wars in Mexico, Italy, and Turkey...

, the company left New York State on May 19, 1861. Shortly after the regiment was mustered into federal service on June 17, the company was detached and organized as a battery of light artillery. On December 7, 1861, the unit was designated the 3rd New York Independent Battery.http://www.dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/artillery/3rdIndBat/3rdIndBatHistSketch.htm

The battery served in the defenses of Washington until March 17, 1862, when it was send south to serve in the Peninsula Campaign

Peninsula Campaign

The Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War was a major Union operation launched in southeastern Virginia from March through July 1862, the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater. The operation, commanded by Maj. Gen. George B...

. It had been assigned to BG William F. Smith

William F. Smith

William F. Smith may refer to:*William Farrar Smith , Union Army General*William Francis Smith , U.S. District Court judge*William French Smith , U.S. Attorney General...

's division of the Army of the Potomac

Army of the Potomac

The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.-History:The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was then only the size of a corps . Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen...

 in January of that year, and the division had joined IV Corps

IV Corps (ACW)

There were two corps of the Union Army called IV Corps during the American Civil War. They were separate units, one serving with the Army of the Potomac and the Department of Virginia in the Eastern Theater, 1862–63, the other with the Army of the Cumberland in the Western Theater,...

 in March of, 1862. The division joined VI Corps

VI Corps (ACW)

The VI Corps was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Formation:The corps was organized as the Sixth Provisional Corps on May 18, 1862, by uniting Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin's Division, which had just arrived on the Virginia Peninsula, with Maj. Gen. William F. Smith's...

 when it was formed in May 1862. It first saw combat under Capt Mott at the Battle of Yorktown

Battle of Yorktown (1862)

The Battle of Yorktown or Siege of Yorktown was fought from April 5 to May 4, 1862, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. Marching from Fort Monroe, Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac encountered Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder's small Confederate force...

, and it was heavily engaged in the Battle of Williamsburg

Battle of Williamsburg

The Battle of Williamsburg, also known as the Battle of Fort Magruder, took place on May 5, 1862, in York County, James City County, and Williamsburg, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War...

. The battery was engaged during the Seven Days Battles

Seven Days Battles

The Seven Days Battles was a series of six major battles over the seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia during the American Civil War. Confederate General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, away from...

, including at the Battle of White Oak Swamp

Battle of White Oak Swamp

The Battle of White Oak Swamp took place on June 30, 1862 in Henrico County, Virginia as part of the Seven Days Battles of the American Civil War. As the Union Army of the Potomac retreated southeast toward the James River, its rearguard under Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin stopped Maj. Gen. Thomas J...

 and the Battle of Malvern Hill

Battle of Malvern Hill

The Battle of Malvern Hill, also known as the Battle of Poindexter's Farm, took place on July 1, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia, on the seventh and last day of the Seven Days Battles of the American Civil War. Gen. Robert E. Lee launched a series of disjointed assaults on the nearly impregnable...

. Mott resigned soon thereafter. Lt William Stuart was in command in the Maryland Campaign

Maryland Campaign

The Maryland Campaign, or the Antietam Campaign is widely considered one of the major turning points of the American Civil War. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North was repulsed by Maj. Gen. George B...

, in which the battery served with the division of BG Darius N. Couch

Darius N. Couch

Darius Nash Couch was an American soldier, businessman, and naturalist. He served as a career U.S. Army officer during the Mexican-American War, the Second Seminole War, and as a general officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.During the Civil War, Couch fought notably in the...

.

William Harn’s Command of the Battery

Lt Harn took charge of the battery late in 1862, commanding it in the division of BG Albion Howeat the Battle of Fredericksburg

Battle of Fredericksburg

The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside...

. Harn previously had been a lieutenant in the 1st New York Light Artillery Regiment. Commissioned first lieutenant of Battery E on March 1, 1862, Harn had moved to Battery G on April 13 of the same year. He moved to the 3rd New York Battery in late 1862 but was not commissioned Captain until April 13, 1863.

Under Harn’s command, the battery served with the Light Division of Col Hiram Burnham

Hiram Burnham

Hiram Burnham was an officer in the Union Army who commanded a regiment and then a brigade in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War...

 at the Second Battle of Fredericksburg and the Battle of Salem Church

Battle of Salem Church

The Battle of Salem Church, also known as the Battle of Banks' Ford, took place on May 3–4, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, as part of the Chancellorsville Campaign of the American Civil War....

. In the artillery brigade of VI Corps, the 3rd New York served at the Battle of Gettysburg

Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...

. It then participated in the Bristoe Campaign

Bristoe Campaign

The Bristoe Campaign was a series of minor battles fought in Virginia during October and November 1863, in the American Civil War. Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, commanding the Union Army of the Potomac, began to maneuver in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern...

, especially at the Battle of Rappahannock Station, and in the Battle of Mine Run

Battle of Mine Run

The Battle of Mine Run, also known as Payne's Farm, or New Hope Church, or the Mine Run Campaign , was conducted in Orange County, Virginia, in the American Civil War....

.

Harn’s battery remained in VI Corps in 1864, participating in the Overland Campaign

Overland Campaign

The Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union armies, directed the actions of the Army of the...

. It then participated in the Siege of Petersburg

Siege of Petersburg

The Richmond–Petersburg Campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War...

, not campaigning with MG Philip Sheridan

Philip Sheridan

Philip Henry Sheridan was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close association with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S...

 in the campaign of the Army of the Shenandoah. When VI Corps returned to the Petersburg front, Harn’s battery rejoined its artillery brigade. In that formation, it participated in breaking a confederate attack in the Battle of Sayler's Creek

Battle of Sayler's Creek

-External links:* * : Maps, histories, photos, and preservation news...

 during the Appomattox Campaign

Appomattox Campaign

The Appomattox Campaign was a series of battles fought March 29 – April 9, 1865, in Virginia that culminated in the surrender of Confederate General Robert E...

.

Capt Harn was dismissed from the service on April 5, 1864, but he was reinstated on April 20. He was mustered out with the Battery on June 24, 1864.

Post war

Major Harn became keeper of a lighthouse, St. Augustine Light

St. Augustine Light

The St. Augustine Light is an active lighthouse on the north end of Anastasia Island, within the current city limits of St. Augustine, Florida. The tower, built in 1874, is owned by the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum, Inc. , a not-for-profit maritime museum and private aid-to-navigation...

 in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, beginning circa 1879. The major and his wife, The keeper’s house was constructed during his tenure at the lighthouse. The Harn’s earned a reputation for hospitality, including by serving lemonade to visitors. William Harn died on May 31, 1889 at the age of 54 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Saint Augustine.http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16860312

The monument to Harn’s battery in the Gettysburg National Military Park

Gettysburg National Military Park

The Gettysburg National Military Park is an administrative unit of the National Park Service's northeast region and a subunit of federal properties of Adams County, Pennsylvania, with the same name, including the Gettysburg National Cemetery...

, on the Taneytown Road, was made by the Smith Granite Company.