The Boys of Adams’ Battery G

Raised from Rhode Island farmers and millworkers in the autumn of 1861, the Union soldiers of Battery G fought in such bloody conflicts as Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Spotsylvania, and Cedar Creek. At the storming of Petersburg on April 2, 1865, seven cannoneers were awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in the face of the enemy. This history captures the battlefield exploits of the “Boys of Hope” but also depicts camp life, emerging cannon technology, and the social events of the Civil War.

The author of fifteen books on American military history, Robert Grandchamp lives in Jericho, Vermont, where he works as an analyst with the government.

Robert Grandchamp

Foreword by Glenn Laxton

Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 313
Bibliographic Info: 92 photos, 21 maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, indexes
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4473-1
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5457-0
Imprint: McFarland

List of Maps      viii
Acknowledgments      ix
Foreword by Glenn Laxton      1
Introduction      3

1. Traditions      9
2. Organization and Equipment      16
3. Recruiting      30
4. Duty on the Potomac      41
5. The Peninsula      53
6. “A Savage Continual Thunder”      73
7. First Fredericksburg      89
8. The Death Warrant      107
9. Gettysburg      126
10. Winter at Brandy      142
11. Overland to Richmond      156
12. Into the Valley      173
13. Bloody Autumn      183
14. Consolidation      205
15. “The Forlorn Hope”      211
16. Taps      230

Appendix I: Roster of Battery G, First Rhode Island Light Artillery      247
Appendix II: Roster of Attached Men      256
Appendix III: Casualties of Battery G, First Rhode Island Light Artillery            258
Appendix IV: Enlistments by Town      259
Appendix V: Occupations of Battery G Soldiers      259
Chapter Notes      261
Bibliography      281
Index      293

“Good battery studies do not exactly abound in the Civil War literature, making Grandchamp’s book all the more important, both as a font of information and an example for others to follow. The Boys of Adams’ Battery G is a fine unit history. Highly recommended”—Civil War Books and Authors.