William Schouler, A history of Massachusetts in the Civil War: Volume 1

The Eleventh Company of Light Artillery, commanded by Captain Edward J. Jones, left Readville Camp for Washington, Feb. 5.

The Fourteenth Company of Light Artillery, under command of Captain Joseph W. B. Wright, left Readville Camp for Washington, April 4.

The Sixteenth Company of Light Artillery, under command of Captain Henry D. Scott, left Readville Camp for Washington, April 19.

These light batteries joined the Army of the Potomac.

Four companies of heavy artillery were raised and forwarded to Fortress Monroe, March 7: one commanded by Captain John Pickering, one by Captain Lyman B. Whiton, and one by Captain Joseph M. Parsons, sailed from Gallop's Island, by transports, to Washington, June 23. Another company was raised by Captain Cornelius F. Driscoll, and was sent forward to Washington, by transport, on the 22d of September. These four companies were attached to the eight companies of heavy artillery which were raised in 1863, and forwarded to the front in May, 1864, to which reference has been made, and were organized into a regiment, known as the Third Regiment Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, of which Captain William S. Abert, U. S. A., was commissioned colonel.

In addition to these new organizations, several thousand men were sent forward as recruits to fill old regiments.

The end of the war was approaching. The last grand campaign had begun. The right man to command the Union forces had been found. A plan had been adopted, and was being carried out. General Grant was at the head of the Union army, with the rank of lieutenant-general, and therefore outranked all others. To insure success, he required co-operation, and co-operation necessitated a system. The enemy held the interior lines, which embraced all means of communication by railroads, telegraphs, turnpikes, rivers, and county roads. While he held these, without an organized system of attack from the Union forces, he had the vantageground.