5th Independent Battery Indiana Light Artillery

5th Indiana Battery Light Artillery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was often referred to as Simonson's Battery.

Service

The battery was organized at Indianapolis, Indiana and mustered in for a three year enlistment on November 22, 1861. It was mustered in under the command of Captain Peter Simonson.

The battery was attached to 3rd Division, Army of the Ohio, to September 1862. 9th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November 1862. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, Right Wing, XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to January 1863. Artillery, 2nd Division, XX Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to October 1863. Artillery, 1st Division, IV Corps, Army of the Cumberland, to July 1864. Artillery Brigade, IV Corps, to September 1864. Garrison Artillery, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Department of the Cumberland, to November 1864.

The 5th Indiana Battery Light Artillery mustered out of service on November 26, 1864.

Detailed service

Left Indiana for Louisville, Ky., November 27. Duty at Camp Gilbert, Louisville, Ky., until December 20, 1861, and at Bacon Creek, Ky., until February 1862. Advance on Bowling Green, Ky., and Nashville, Tenn., February 10–25. Occupation of Bowling Green, Ky., February 15, and of Nashville February 25. Moved to Murfreesboro, Tenn., March 18. Reconnaissance to Shelbyville, Tullahoma and McMinnville March 25–28. Advance on Fayetteville and Huntsville, Ala., April 7–11. Capture of Huntsville April 11. Advance on and capture of Decatur April 11–14. Duty at Bridgeport, Ala. (detachment), and along Nashville & Chattanooga R. R. until August. Moved to Stevenson, Ala., August 24. Moved to Nashville, Tenn.; thence to Louisville, Ky., in pursuit of Bragg, August 31-September 26. Pursuit of Bragg into Kentucky October 1–15. Battle of Perryville, Ky., October 8. March to Nashville, Tenn., October 20-November 9, and duty there until December 26. Advance on Murfreesboro, Tenn., December 26–30. Battle of Stones River December 30–31, 1862, and January 1–3, 1863. Duty at Murfreesboro until June. Tullahoma Campaign June 22-July 7. Liberty Gap June 22–24. Occupation of middle Tennessee until August 16. Passage of the Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga Campaign August 16-September 22. Battle of Chickamauga September 19–20. Siege of Chattanooga, Tenn., September 24-October 26. Reopening Tennessee River October 26–29. Outpost duty at Shellmound until February 1864. Demonstrations on Dalton February 22–27. Tunnel Hill, Buzzard's Roost Gap and Rocky Faced Ridge February 23–25. Stone Church, near Catoosa Platform, February 27. Atlanta Campaign May 1 to September 8. Tunnel Hill May 6–7. Demonstration on Rocky Faced Ridge and Dalton May 8–13. Buzzard's Roost Gap May 8–9. Near Dalton May 13. Battle of Resaca May 14–15. Near Kingston May 18–19. Near Cassville May 19. Advance on Dallas May 22–25, Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Operations about Marietta and against Kennesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Pine Hill June 11–14. Lost Mountain June 15–17. Assault on Kennesaw June 27. Ruff's Station July 4. Chattahoochie River July 5–17. Peachtree Creek July 19–20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25–30. Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1. Lovejoy's Station September 2–6. Ordered to Chattanooga, Tenn., September 20. Veterans and recruits transferred to 7th Indiana Battery Light Artillery.

Death of Polk

At Pine Mountain, Georgia the battery was ordered to fire on a cluster of Confederate officers in an exposed area spotted by Major General William T. Sherman. The officers were Generals Leonidas Polk, William J. Hardee, Joseph E. Johnston and their staffs. Sherman pointed them out to Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, commander of the IV Corps, and ordered him to fire on them. Captain Simonson obeyed the order within minutes. The first round came close and a second even closer, causing the men to disperse. A third shell struck Polk's left arm, went through the chest, and exited hitting his right arm then exploded against a tree; nearly cutting Polk in two.^[1]

Casualties

The battery lost a total of 36 men during service; 1 officer and 11 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 24 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

• Captain Peter Simonson - killed by a sniper, June 16, 1864, while serving as Acting Chief of Artillery, 1st Division, IV Corps
• Lieutenant Daniel H. Chandler

See also

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

Indiana Military Units in the Civil War Heavy Artillery 1st Regiment Light Artillery 1st Regiment 2nd Regiment 3rd Regiment 4th Regiment 5th Regiment 6th Regiment 7th Regiment 8th Regiment 9th Regiment 10th Regiment 11th Regiment 12th Regiment 13th Regiment 14th Regiment 15th Regiment 16th Regiment 17th Regiment 18th Regiment 19th Regiment 20th Regiment 21st Regiment 22nd Regiment 23rd Regiment 24th Regiment 25th Regiment 26th Regiment Cavalry 1st Regiment 2nd Regiment 3rd Regiment 4th Regiment 5th Regiment 6th Regiment 7th Regiment 8th Regiment 9th Regiment 10th Regiment 11th Regiment 12th Regiment 13th Regiment Stewart's Company Bracken's Company Mounted Scouts (Independent Company) Infantry (3 Month Enlistments) 6th Regiment) 7th Regiment 8th Regiment 9th Regiment 10th Regiment 11th Regiment 54th Regiment Infantry (1 Year Enlistments) 12th Regiment 16th Regiment Infantry 6th Regiment 7th Regiment 8th Regiment 9th Regiment 10th Regiment 11th Regiment 12th Regiment 13th Regiment 14th Regiment 15th Regiment 16th Regiment 17th Regiment 18th Regiment 19th Regiment 20th Regiment 21st Regiment 22nd Regiment 23rd Regiment 24th Regiment 25th Regiment 26th Regiment 27th Regiment 28th Regiment 29th Regiment 30th Regiment 31st Regiment 32nd Regiment 33rd Regiment 34th Regiment 35th Regiment 36th Regiment 37th Regiment 38th Regiment 39th Regiment 40th Regiment 41st Regiment 42nd Regiment 43rd Regiment 44th Regiment 45th Regiment 46th Regiment 47th Regiment 48th Regiment 49th Regiment 50th Regiment 51st Regiment 52nd Regiment 53rd Regiment 54th Regiment 55th Regiment 56th Regiment 57th Regiment 58th Regiment 59th Regiment 60th Regiment 61st Regiment 62nd Regiment 63rd Regiment 64th Regiment 65th Regiment 66th Regiment 67th Regiment 68th Regiment 69th Regiment 70th Regiment 71st Regiment 72nd Regiment 73rd Regiment 74th Regiment 75th Regiment 76th Regiment 77th Regiment 78th Regiment 79th Regiment 80th Regiment 81st Regiment 82nd Regiment 83rd Regiment 84th Regiment 85th Regiment 86th Regiment 87th Regiment 88th Regiment 89th Regiment 90th Regiment 91st Regiment 92nd Regiment 93rd Regiment 94th Regiment 95th Regiment 96th Regiment 97th Regiment 98th Regiment 99th Regiment 100th Regiment 101st Regiment 102nd Regiment 103rd Regiment 104th Regiment 105th Regiment 106th Regiment 107th Regiment 108th Regiment 109th Regiment 110th Regiment 111th Regiment 112th Regiment 113th Regiment 114th Regiment 115th Regiment 116th Regiment 117th Regiment 118th Regiment 119th Regiment 120th Regiment 121st Regiment 122nd Regiment 123rd Regiment 124th Regiment 125th Regiment 126th Regiment 127th Regiment 128th Regiment 129th Regiment 130th Regiment 131st Regiment 132nd Regiment 133rd Regiment 134th Regiment 135th Regiment 136th Regiment 137th Regiment 138th Regiment 139th Regiment 140th Regiment 141st Regiment 142nd Regiment 143rd Regiment 144th Regiment 145th Regiment 146th Regiment 147th Regiment 148th Regiment 149th Regiment 150th Regiment 151st Regiment 152nd Regiment 153rd Regiment 154th Regiment 155th Regiment 156th Regiment 157th Regiment 158th Regiment 159th Regiment See also: Lists of American Civil War Regiments by State and List of Indiana Civil War regiments

Indiana in the American Civil War People William A. Bowles Jesse D. Bright Ambrose Burnside Harrison H. Dodd Alvin P. Hovey Andrew Humphreys Lambdin P. Milligan Oliver P. Morton Francis A. Shoup Lew Wallace Indiana regiments Places Camp Joe Holt Camp Morton Jefferson General Hospital Jeffersonville Quartermaster Depot Military Park New Albany National Cemetery Battles Raids Battle of Corydon Battle of Pogue's Run Hines' Raid Morgan's Raid Newburgh Raid See also: Indianapolis in the American Civil War

Notes

1. ↑ Smith, pp. 253-54; Foote, p. 356.

References

• Berkley, John Lee. In the Defense of This Flag: The Civil War Diary of Pvt. Ormond Hupp, 5th Indiana Light Artillery (Brandenton, FL: McGuinn & McGuire), 1994. ISBN 1-881117-06-5
• Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908.
• Foote, Shelby. The Civil War: A Narrative, Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox (New York: Random House), 1974. ISBN 0-394-74913-8
• Holm, D. D. History of the Fifth Indiana Battery: Compiled and Written from the "field diary" of Lieutenant Daniel H. Chandler, and from Official Reports of Officers of the Army of the Cumberland (S.l.: s.n.), 1900.
• Smith, Derek. The Gallant Dead: Union & Confederate Generals Killed in the Civil War (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books), 2005. ISBN 0-8117-0132-8

Attribution

• This article contains text from a text now in the public domain: Dyer, Frederick H. (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Des Moines, IA: Dyer Publishing Co.