Chicago Mercantile Independent 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 Chicago, Illinois and mustered in for a three year enlistment on August 29, 1862 under the command of Captain Charles G. Cooley.

The battery was attached to 5th Division, District of Memphis, Tennessee, XIII Corps, Department of the Tennessee, and to 2nd Division, District of Memphis, Tennessee, XIII Corps, to December 1862. Artillery, 10th Division, Right Wing, XIII Corps, 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. Artillery, 4th Division, XIII Corps, Department of the Gulf, to March 1864. Artillery, 1st Division, XIII Corps, to June 1864. Defenses of New Orleans, Louisiana, to July 1864. Artillery Reserve, Department of the Gulf, to November 1864. Artillery, Cavalry Division, Department of the Gulf, to May 1865. Defenses of New Orleans, Louisiana, to July 1865.

Chicago Mercantile Independent Battery Light Artillery mustered out of service on July 10, 1865 in Chicago.

Detailed service

Duty at Camp Douglass, near Chicago, Ill., until November 8. Moved to Memphis, Tenn., November 8-11, 1862. Grant's Central Mississippi Campaign November and December 1862. "Tallahatchie March" November 24-December 12. Sherman's Yazoo Expedition December 20, 1862, to January 2, 1863. Chickasaw Bayou December 26-28. Chickasaw Bluff December 29. Expedition to Arkansas Post, Ark., January 3-10, 1863. Assault and capture of Fort Hindman. Arkansas Post, January 10-11. Moved to Young's Point, La., January 17, and duty there until March, and at Milliken's Bend, La., until April 25. Movement on Bruinsburg and turning Grand Gulf April 25-30. Battle of Magnolia Hills, or Port Gibson, May 1. Battle of Champion Hill May 16. Big Black River Bridge May 17. Siege of Vicksburg, Miss., May 18-July 4. Assaults on Vicksburg May 19 and 22. Advance on Jackson, Miss., July 5-10. Siege of Jackson July 10-17. Ordered to New Orleans, La., August 6, then to Brashear City. Western Louisiana Campaign October 3-November 30. Camp at Franklin until December 19. Moved to Algiers, La. Expedition to the Rio Grande, Texas, December 26, 1863-January 1, 1864. At Pass Cavallo

Pass Cavallo (Texas)

Pass Cavallo, alternately known as Cavallo Pass, is one of five natural water inlets which separate the Gulf of Mexico and Matagorda Bay, in the U.S. state of Texas. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle came ashore in Texas at this point. Matagorda Island Lighthouse was originally built on...

, Texas, until March. Ordered to Berwick City, La. Red River Campaign March-April. Battle of Sabine Cross Roads April 8. Battery cut to pieces and guns captured. Retreat to Alexandria, then to New Orleans, La., April 9-30. Duty at Camp Parapet, Defenses of New Orleans, until November. Moved to Baton Rouge November 1. Davidson's Expedition against Mobile & Ohio Railroad November 27-December 13. Moved to New Orleans December 31, then to Baton Rouge, and duty there until May 1865. At New Orleans, La., until June, then ordered home for muster out.

Casualties

The battery lost a total of 18 men during service; 2 officers and 5 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 11 enlisted men died of disease.

Notable members

• Private John Tyler Cutting
  John T. Cutting
  John Tyler Cutting was a U.S. Representative from California.Born in Westport, New York, Cutting was left an orphan at ten years of age, when he journeyed westward.Resided in Wisconsin and Illinois from 1855 to 1860....
  
   - U.S. Representative
  United States House of Representatives
  The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
  
   from California
  California
  California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
  
  , 1891-1893

See also

• List of Illinois Civil War units
• Illinois in the Civil War

External links

• Battery roster transcribed by Jim Willison