1ST MAINE HEAVY ARTILLERY
HISTORY
The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment was organized and Mustered into service as the 18th Maine Infantry, at Bangor on August 18, 1862 with Colonel Daniel Chaplin in command. The regiment left Maine on August 24 and reported to Washington, D.C. where it was assigned to the city’s defenses. The regiment remained assigned to the Defenses of Washington until February, 1863.
On January 6, 1863 the regiment was redesignated as the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery and assigned to the 2nd Brigade, Haskins Division, 22nd Army Corps. Its duties were to build and garrison the forts protecting the capital city.
In the Spring of 1864 the Army of the Potomac was in desperate need of manpower. The new commander of Union forces, General Ulysses S. Grant, had been particularly aggressive in his Overland Campaign against Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The Army of the Potomac, having been severely handled by Lee's forces, had suffered horrendous casualties.
At Grant’s request the heavy artillery units, who had up to this time seen only light duty guarding the city, were ordered to join the Army of the Potomac to bolster the diminished numbers of troops in the army’s infantry divisions. Armed as infantry the “Heavies” left Washington and took to the field.
The 1st Maine reached Belle Plain, Virginia on May 15, 1864 and was assigned to Tyler’s Heavy Artillery Division.
When the Heavy Artillery units first joined the Army of the Potomac the veterans ridiculed them as shirkers and called them " Bandbox Soldiers". This would soon change. Beginning on May 18, 1864, on the Fredericksburg Road, the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery would be involved in some of the heaviest and costliest fighting of the war. At the Battle of Harris' Farm on the 19th of May the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery faced the 2nd Corps of Lee's much vaunted Army of Northern Virginia. These Rebels , now veterans of three years of hard campaigning, were the disciples of the legendary "Stonewall" Jackson who had died of wounds received at Chancellorsville the year before. Now led by Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, the 2nd Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia was an experienced and formidable foe even though it had been badly mauled a week earlier, in what the troops called "The Mule Shoe". In this fight the 1st Maine lost 155 Killed, 325 Wounded, and 2 Captured. This was a portent of things to come. No longer would the "Heavies" be the objects of ridicule by their veteran comrades.
On June 18, 1864 the 1st Maine took part in the assault on Petersburg. This action resulted in horrendous casualties for the unit. Out of 900 engaged 685 became casualties. This was the highest loss of any one regiment in any one action of the war.
The 1st Maine continued to serve gallantly until the close of hostilities in April, 1865. The regiment has the distinction of sustaining the greatest loss in battle of any unit during the war, Federal or Confederate. This in only one year of field service.
The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery was mustered out of service on September 11, 1865 and ordered to Bangor, Maine where it was discharged on September 20, 1865.
ROSTER
Commissioned Officers
Maj. Boucher21
2Lt. Ippan
Non-Commissioned Officers
Sgt. Grozni
Cpl. Daniel H
Enlisted
Rgl. TheQuickOne
Pvt. Nevich
Pvt. Punksdo
Pvt. Tachibana
Pvt. Fordo
Pvt. Phoebus
Rct. Matijas
Rct. Madcat
Rct. NexX
Rct. TheOldman
Rct. Randalf
Rct. Best Mermaid NA
Rct. Juan Jose Jalapino
Rct. Airsoft
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