Draw the Sword

Location: Hancock Avenue north of the Angle.

Order of Battle: 2nd Corps Artillery Brigade

Number Engaged: 6 Ordnance Rifles and 139 men; 3 killed, 28 wounded, 1 missing

Commander: Capt. William A. Albert (1830-1908)

Raised: Providence County

Monument Specifications: Tapered monument stands on a rough-hewn base. Polished imaged on the front is a wheel with crossed rammers and an anchor with the Rhode Island motto, “Hope.” The finial is an elongated trefoil, the corps insignia. The monument indicates the position held by Arnold’s Battery A on the morning of July 2, 1863. On July 3, the battery expended every round of solid shot except canister, and as Longstreet’s assault bore in on their position the artillerymen also exhausted their supply of canister. The battery was withdrawn to avoid capture.

Dedication Date: Oct. 12, 1886.

Sculptor/Artist/Company: Smith Granite Company, fabricator.

Other Monuments and Memorials: None.

Regimental History ~ Dyer’s Compendium of the War of the Rebellion:

Organized at Providence and mustered in June 6, 1861. Left State for Washington, D.C., June 19. Attached to Burnside’s Brigade, Hunter’s Division, McDowell’s Army of Northeast Virginia, to August, 1861. Dept. of the Shenandoah to October, 1861. Banks’ Division, Army of the Potomac, to March, 1862. Artillery, 2nd Division, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to June, 1863. Artillery Brigade, 2nd Army Corps, Army Potomac, to September, 1864.

SERVICE.–Duty in the Defenses of Washington, D.C., until July 16, 1861. Advance on Manassas, Va., July 16-21. Battle of Bull Run July 21. Moved to Sandy Hook, Md., July 28. Duty there and at Berlin and Darnestown until September. Moved to Harper’s Ferry September 16. Action at Bolivar Heights October 16. At Muddy Branch and Poolesville, Md., until March, 1862. Moved to Washington, thence to Hampton, Va., March 22-April 1. Virginia Peninsula Campaign April to August. Siege of Yorktown April 5-May 4. Battle of Fair Oaks (Seven Pines) May 31-June 1. Seven days before Richmond June 25-July 1. Peach Orchard and Savage Station June 29. Charles City Cross Roads and Glendale June 30. Malvern Hill July 1. At Harrison’s Landing until August 16. Movement to Alexandria August 16-28. March to Fairfax C. H. August 28-31. Cover retreat of Pope’s Army from Bull Run to Washington August 31-September 1. Maryland Campaign September. Battles of South Mountain, Md., September 14, and Antietam September 16-17. Moved to Harper’s Ferry September 22, and duty there until October 30. Reconnaissance to Charlestown October 16-17. Action at Charlestown October 16. Advance up Loudoun Valley and movement to Falmouth, Va., October 30-November 17. Battle of Fredericksburg December 11-15. Duty at Falmouth until April, 1863. Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Maryes Heights, Fredericksburg, May 3. Salem Heights May 3-4. Gettysburg (Pa.) Campaign June 11-July 24. Battle of Gettysburg July 1-4. Advance from the Rappahannock to the Rapidan September 13-17. Bristoe Campaign October 9-22. Bristoe Station October 14. Auburn Heights October 14. Advance to line of the Rappahannock November 7-8. Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2. At Stevensburg, Va., until May, 1864. Demonstration on the Rapidan February 6-7. Morton’s Ford February 6-7. Campaign from the Rapidan to the James May-June. Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7; Spotsylvania May 8-12; Po River May 10; Spotsylvania C. H. May 12-21. Assault on the Salient May 12. North Anna River May 23-26. Line of the Pamunkey May 26-28. Totopotomoy May 28-31. Shallow Creek May 31. Cold Harbor June 1-12. Before Petersburg June 16-18. Non-Veterans mustered out June 18, 1864. Siege of Petersburg June 16-September 30. Jerusalem Plank Road June 21-23. Deep Bottom July 27-28. Mine Explosion, Petersburg, July 30 (Reserve). Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, August 14-18. Ream’s Station August 25. Transferred to Battery “B,” 1st Rhode Island Artillery, September 30, 1864. Battery lost during service 1 Officer and 12 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 5 Enlisted men by disease. Total 18.