Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

eOrganizing The arm
Regiment. To strengthen the Army even further, Congress author ized the president
to raise a temporary army of 10,000 men for a period not exceeding three years, but
no artillery troops were ever organized under this authority. 15
By 1801, fear of war with France had abated, and on 16 March 1802 Congress
passed an act “fixing the military peace establishment of the United States.” The
organizations in the Army were reduced to one regiment of artillery and two of
infantry. The same act empowered the president “to establish a corps of engi neers,”
thus again separating them from the artillery. 16 The Regiment of Artillerists was to
comprise twenty companies organized into five battalions for a total of 1,627 officers
and men. 17 But regimental control of the artillery companies remained virtually
nonexistent because of the continued separation of the companies from each other
and regimental headquarters.
Because the Regular Army did not have enough artillerymen to fight a full-scale
war or even to man the fortifications already built, the state militia resources were
essential. An act of Congress on 8 May 1792 provided the basis for a militia system
that directed the state legislatures to arrange their troops into divisions, brigades,
regiments, battalions, and companies. The size of a division was not specified, and
there were various interpretations of the wording “to each division, there shall be at
least one company of artillery.” The act did make clear, however, that artillery units
were not to exceed one com pany for each infantry regiment. The organization of a
militia artillery company differed only slightly from that of one in the Regular Army,
generally allowing more privates. The act exempted “sundry corps of artillery . . .
[that] now exist in several of the said states, which . . . have not been incorporated
with, or subject to, the general regulations of the militia . . . such corps retain their
accustomed privileges, subject, nevertheless, to all other duties required by this act
in like manner with other mili tia.” 18
Some of these volunteer organizations were of long standing, predating the
Revolutionary War, and some had more social than military functions. Typical examples
were the Charleston Artillery of South Carolina, organ ized in 1756, and the
German Fusiliers, organized in Charleston in 1775; the Newport Artillery of Rhode
Island, organized in 1741; and the United Train of Artillery, organized in Providence
in 1775. 19 In 1804, the militia returns showed slightly fewer than 7,000 men in the
artillery, a third of whom were in Massachusetts alone. By 1812, militia artillery had
increased to 12,195 men, and over half were located in New York, Massachusetts,
and Virginia. 20 Lack of supplies and ord nance and laxity in enforcing attendance on
15 Callan, comp., Military Laws, pp. 122–25.
16 Ibid., pp. 141–49 (quoted words, pp. 141 and 148).
17 Ibid., p. 142; Roll 1, Statement, 2 Dec 1807, encl to Ltr, SecWar to John Dawson, 20 Nov 1807,
Microfilm 220, Reports to Congress, 3 Feb 1803–13 Apr 1818, pp. 46–59, RG 107, NARA.
18 Callan, comp., Military Laws, pp. 95–100 (quotations).
19 Johnson, Traditions and Reminiscences, pp. 206–15; Christopher Gadsden, The Writings of
Christopher Gadsden, 1746–1805 (Colum bia: University of South Carolina Press, 1966), pp. xviii, 13;
Charter of Arty Co of Newport, 1741, copy in CMH files. On chartered military organizations, see copy
of “Report of Militia of the United States” in CMH files.
20 American State Papers, Class 5, Military Affairs, 1:169, 331.
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