Battery L (Paperback)

Robert Simmonds

ISBN 10: 1937721841 / ISBN 13: 9781937721848

Published by Peter E. Randall Publisher, 2023

About this Item

Paperback. This book is based upon the extensive service record of Battery L, a part of the Old Army the Regulars.In 1860, Battery L was a part of a contingent of 2,684 U. S. troops stationed in Texas. By early 1861 secession sentiment had reached the tipping point and the whole U. S. contingent were surrendered to the Texas commissioners two days after that state seceded on February 16, 1861. Escaping, Battery L was sent to Fort Pickens, off Pensacola, to resist its seizure by the Florida militia. Pickens was held, but a long standoff had begun. Almost all of the coastal forts like it, most notably Sumter, off Charleston, fell to the Confederacy. At that early time, the Confederacy viewed pushing the Union from its soil as a necessary projection of its power, and as a defense of its new realm, which included the Mississippi River and the Tennessee Line in the north.It was not long, however, before the bold actions of an unknown brigadier by the name of Grant captured the two essential forts in the Tennessee line, causing the Confederacy to abandon the coast and head to the defense of the Mississippi Valley.Battery L saw most of the subsequent action there, and after Grant was promoted to lieutenant-general, effectively giving him control of the entire Union war effort, they were shipped to yet another valley the Shenandoah, to fight in the battles that led to the end of the war. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781937721848

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Battery L (Paperback)
• Publisher: Peter E. Randall Publisher
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1937721841
• ISBN 13: 9781937721848
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

BATTERY L
FIRST UNITED STATES ARTILLERY
This edition is a revised version of Through the Eyes of a Soldier, a hardcover published in 2017.
Take a tour with a Regular Army (the "Old Army") following them through the beginnings of the Civil War, the war, and its end. The book is framed around the service records – the muster rolls and monthly reports - of Battery L.
They were serving in Texas when the entire U.S. Army contingent there surrendered to the Texas authorities in February of 1861. They escaped. They then went on to fight in some far-flung and lesser-known theaters of the war: Florida, Louisiana, and a second time in Texas – yet in 1864 found themselves in the Shenandoah Valley, destined to fight in all of those memorable and bloody battles that paved the way for Grant’s final push.
The author’s interest in the preparation of this volume, as well as the original, is family history. His great-grandfather served in Battery L from February 1860 to March 1867.

About the Author

Robert C. Simmonds received a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1958. After service in the army, he began employment in machinery research and development. He received an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University in 1967. His great-grandfather served in Battery L before, during, and after the Civil War.