Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

54 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of field arTillery
10-pounder Parrott from Capt. Rufus D. Pettit’s Battery B,
1st New York Light Artillery, near Fair Oaks, Virginia
in the Regular Army were brought into the Army of the Potomac; most of the rest
served at one time or another with the other field armies. Only four Regular Army
companies were never organized as field artillery between 1861 and 1865, and they
served at fixed installa tions as foot artillery throughout the war. 21
On 22 July 1861, Congress authorized the President to accept volunteers for
service in the Army, and the vast bulk of the Union army consisted of volunteers
recruited and organized by the states. The volunteers were not to exceed 500,000
in number, they were to serve not less than six months or more than three years,
and they were to be disbanded at the end of the war. They were to be divided into
regiments of infantry, except that companies of cavalry and artillery could be
raised in numbers not to exceed one company of each arm for each infantry regiment.
The artillery units were to be organized in the manner outlined for the 5th
Regiment of Artillery. 22 Under this and subsequent calls made during the war, the
states furnished approximately thirty-five regiments, one battalion, and ten companies
of heavy artillery, along with approximately eleven regiments, two battalions,
21 Birkhimer, Historical Sketch, pp. 69–71.
22 Callan, comp., Military Laws, pp. 466–71; WD GO 49, 3 Aug 1861.