17th 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...

.

Service

The battery was organized in 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 May 20, 1862 for three years service.

The battery was attached to Defenses of Baltimore, Maryland, VIII Corps, Middle Department

Middle Department

The Middle Department was an administrative military district created by the United States War Department early in the American Civil War to administer the troops in the Middle Atlantic states....

, to January 1863. Defenses, Upper Potomac, VIII Corps, to March 1863. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, VIII Corps, to June 1863. Maryland Brigade, French's Command, VIII Corps, to July 1863. 2nd Brigade, Maryland Heights Division, Department of West Virginia, July 1863. 1st Brigade, Maryland Heights Division, Department of West Virginia, to December 1863. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Department of West Virginia, to January 1864. Wheaton's Brigade, 1st Division, Department of West Virginia, to April 1864. Reserve Division, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, to August 1864. Reserve Artillery, XIX Corps, Army of the Shenandoah, Middle Military Division, to October 1864. Garrison Artillery, Frederick City, Maryland, and Winchester, Virginia, to December 1864. Artillery Brigade, XIX Corps, Army of the Shenandoah, to March 1865. Artillery Reserve, Army of the Shenandoah, to July 1865.

The 17th Indiana Battery Light Artillery mustered out July 8, 1865 in Indianapolis.

Detailed service

Left Indiana for Baltimore, Md., July 5, 1862. Garrison duty at Baltimore, Md., July 7 to December 27, 1862. Moved to Harpers Ferry, W. Va., December 27, and garrison duty there until July 1863. Evacuation of Harpers Ferry July 1, 1863. Reoccupation of Harpers Ferry and Maryland Heights July 7, 1863, and garrison duty there until July 1864. Action at Berryville, Va., October 18, 1863. Well's Demonstration from Harpers Ferry December 10-24, 1863. Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign August 7-November 28, 1864. Battle of Opequan, Winchester, September 19. Strasburg September 21. Fisher's Hill September 22. Battle of Cedar Creek October 19. Garrison duty at Frederick City, Md., and at Winchester, Va., until June 19, 1865 when the battery was ordered to Indianapolis, Ind.

Casualties

The battery lost a total of 16 men during service; 4 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 2 officers and 10 enlisted men due to disease.

See also

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