Civil War Military Units from Minnesota: 2nd Minnesota Battery of Light Artillery

Mustered into service in the winter of 1861 - 1862.  They were commanded by William A. Hotchkiss, a veteran artillery officer who had served in the Mexican War.  In April 1862 the battery was sent of Benton Barracks, Missouri where it received further training and equipment.  They joined General Rosecrans forces at the siege of Corinth, Mississippi at the end of May.  

 

After the fall of Corinth, the battery continued with Rosecran's forces in Tennessee and Kentucky seeing its first action at the Battle of Perryville, Ky on October 8, 1862.  On December 31, they were again in combat at the Battle of Stones River or Murfreesboro. Here they were involved in very heavy fighting with three men of the battery killed, six wounded and one man missing.  In the summer and fall of 1863 the 2nd Battery took part in Rosecrans campaign through Tennessee that climaxed with the battle of Chickamauga Sept. 19 - 20. 1863. Here the Second Battery was engaged in fierce fighting on the first day of the battle, but had a limited role in the rest of the fighting.

 

Following the defeat at Chickamauga, the 2nd Battery along with the remainder of the Army of the Cumberland, was stranded for months in the city of Chattanooga. On November 25th the Union Army broke out of the city storming the Confederate positions on Missionary Ridge.  The Second Battery took part in the fighting particularly in the pursuit of the retreating Confederates.  During the following spring, enlistments of many men in the battery expired and they were invited to reenlist or "veteranize".  Although 50 men chose to do so, there were not enough to act as an artillery battery. For the remainder of their service the men of the Second Battery acted as mounted troops, patrolling the Union supply lines near Chattanooga.  They were mustered out of service on August 16, 1865.