Campaign of Battery D, First Rhode Island Light Artillery

An artilleryman's recollections place the movement of guns, horses and supply wagons at the heart of a Civil War campaign. Ezra Knight Parker follows Battery D, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, through Kentucky and East Tennessee in 1863. His account begins with the unit's transfer west under General Burnside and describes mountain roads, river crossings, camps and repeated changes of orders. Meals, forage and exhausted marches give the military movements a practical, personal scale.

At Campbell's Station, Parker describes the ground from the battery's position on a plateau, watching opposing infantry and artillery form across the open country. Coffee and corn bread share space with observations of gunfire, terrain and command decisions. Published by the Rhode Island Soldiers and Sailors Historical Society in 1913, this short narrative offers readers a participant's view of how an artillery unit moved and fought within a larger army.