6th Heavy Artillery Regiment
Civil War
Anthony Wayne Guard

History
The following is taken from New York in the War of the Rebellion, 3rd ed. Frederick Phisterer. Albany: J. B. Lyon Company, 1912.

Mustered in as the 135th regiment of infantry: September 2, 1862.
Designated 6th regiment of heavy artillery: October 3,1862.
Mustered out: August 24, 1865.

Col. Lewis G. Morris, succeeded by Col. Wm. H. Morris, received August 14, 1862, authority to recruit a regiment in the counties of Putnam, Rockland and Westchester. The regiment was organized under Col. W. H. Morris and Lieut.-Col. J. Howard Kitching, at Yonkers, as the 135th Regiment of Infantry, and there mustered in the service of the United States for three years, September 2, 1862; having been converted into an artillery regiment, it was, October 6, 1862, designated the 6th Regiment of Artillery, and two additional companies were recruited for it and mustered, December 4, 1862, in the United States service for three years; Company M was consolidated into Company A, January 26, 1864, and a new company formed of the men recruited by M. R. Pierce, for the 14th Artillery, transferred to this regiment January 13, 1864; February 2, 1864, surplus men of the I4th and 16th Artillery, about 400, were also transferred to this regiment. June 28, 1865, the men whose term of service would expire October I, 1865, were, under the command of Col. George C. Kibbe, mustered out at Petersburg, Va.; those remaining were organized into a battalion of four companies, A, B, C and D; and there were added to them, July 19, 1865, the men not discharged at the muster-out of their regiments, of the 10th Artillery, forming Companies L, F and G, and of the 13th Artillery, forming Companies H, I, K, L and M, thus reorganizing the regiment.

The original companies were recruited principally: A and F at Peekskill and Yonkers; B at Greenburgh, White Plains, Scarsdale, Harrison and Mt. Pleasant; C at West Farms; D at Somers, North Salem, Bedford and Poundridge; E at Port Chester, Harrison, New Rochelle, Mamaroneck and Rye; G at South East, Kent and Carmel; H at Morrisania; I at Ossining, New Castle, Yorktown, Cortland, Mt. Pleasant and Bedford; K at Orangetown, White Plains, West Farms, Clarkstown, Scarsdale and Greenburgh; L at Cold Springs, Carmel, Yorktown and Greenborough, at Paterson and town of Kent, N. J.; and Company M at Haverstraw, Yonkers, Somers, Poundridge, Bedford, Mt. Pleasant, North Salem and New Castle.

The regiment (ten companies) left the State, September 5, 1862, and served in the Railroad Division of the 8th Corps, Middle Department, from September, 1862; Companies L and M joined it at Baltimore, Md., in December, 1862; the regiment served at Harper's Ferry, W. Va., defenses of the Upper Potomac, from January, 1863; in the 2d Brigade, 1st Division, 8th Corps, from March 27, 1863; in the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 8th Corps, from June, 1863; in the 1st Brigade, 3d Division, 3d Corps, Army of Potomac, from July 10, 1863; with the Reserve Artillery, Army of Potomac, as Ammunition Guard from August, 1863; in the 1st Brigade, Reserve Artillery, Army of Potomac, from April, 1864; in the Heavy Artillery Brigade, 5th Corps, from May 13, 1864; in the 3d Division, 5th Corps, from May 30, 1864; in the 3d Brigade, 2d Division, 5th Corps, from June 2, 1864; in the 1st Brigade, Harden's Division, 22d Corps, from July, 1864; in the 1st Brigade, Kitching's Provisional Division, Army of the Shenandoah, from September 27, 1864; in the 2d Brigade, Ferrero's Division, Army of the James, at Bermuda Hundred, Va., from December, 1864. It served as heavy artillery and infantry.

Commanded by Col. Stephen Baker, the regiment was honorably discharged and mustered out August 24, 1865, near Washington, D. C., having during its service lost by death, killed in action, 1 officer, 62 enlisted men; of wounds received in action, 5 officers, 68 enlisted men; of disease and other causes, 6 officers, 278 enlisted men; total, 12 officers, 408 enlisted men; aggregate, 420; of whom 57 enlisted men died in the hands of the enemy.

Battles and Casualties Table from Phisterer

Civil War Newspaper Clippings

6th Heavy Artillery Flank Markers

Further Reading

Atkins, Thomas Astley. Yonkers in the rebellion of 1861-1865, including a history of the monument to honor the men of Yonkers who fought to save the Union, by Thomas Astley Atkins and John Wise Oliver. [Yonkers]: Yonkers Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument Association [New York: De Vinne Press], 1892.

Gedney, John. Diary, 1862-1864.
Abstract: Diary concerning his Civil War experiences in Company B of the 6th New York Heavy Artillery, 1862-1864, with a photograph of Gedney in his uniform and several clippings concerning reunions of his unit and his obituary, undated.
Located at the Westchester County Historical Society. Library, Elmsford, NY.

Irving, Theodore. "More than conqueror", or, Memorials of Col. J. Howard Kitching, Sixth New York Artillery, Army of the Potomac. New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1873.

Whiteaker, Larry H. and W. Calvin Dickinson, eds. Civil War letters of the Tenure family : Rockland County, N.Y., 1862-1865. New City, N.Y.: Historical Society of Rockland County, c1990.

Miller, Mary B. Letters, 1863-1864.
Number of Pages: 15
Abstract: Letters from Lieut. Charles P. Miller, serving in Virginia in Co. C, 6th New York Artillery, to his mother, Mary B. Miller, at Brighthope in or near New York, N.Y., and two letters from her to her son. Charles Miller's letters describe his poor health and his attempts to get out of the army and to get an appointment at West Point.
Located in the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (#3185.2).

Reynolds, Orson Leroy. Orson Leroy Reynolds Correspondence, 1864-1865.
Abstract: Consists of 25 letters written to his wife.
Located at Saint Lawrence University.

Items the museum holds are in bold.

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