A. J. Bennett, private , First Massachusetts Light Battery, The story of the First Massachusetts Light Battery , attached to the Sixth Army Corps : glance at events in the armies of the Potomac and Shenandoah, from the summer of 1861 to the autumn of 1864.

---

[195] execution. The battery on this occasion threw 600 shells and spherical case, sometimes within 200 yards range. An attempt by a determined charge, with massed columns of infantry, to capture the position, was repulsed with great slaughter, Porter's howitzers making wide gaps in the enemy's lines. There is a good picture of this fight in Harper's Weekly of July, 1862. The battle of Malvern Hills was fought next day, in which, also, the battery participated. This was the sixth of the seven days fighting. Upon the defeat of Pope's army the Army of the Potomac marched to his support, and Captain Porter came up with his battery after the crushing defeat of the Second Bull Run, or Manassas, or Gainesville, as it is variously called, and subsequently held a covering position in the works at Centreville. The battery subsequently took part in the advance into Maryland, and participated in the action at Crampton's Gap, where the Sixth Corps, under cover of the artillery fire, charged up the slopes of the Blue Ridge. Following close upon this came Antietam, where Porter's battery had position in the open fields in front of the woods and close to the cornfield where such terrible slaughter took place.

After this battle, urgent private business compelled Captain Porter to apply for leave of absence, which being returned disapproved, with the flattering endorsement that so able and brave an officer could not be spared, he was forced to resign, and, turning over the battery to the next in command, returned to Boston. Subsequently, strong efforts were made to induce him to resume command, but without success. He was reappointed to fill the vacancy created by his own resignation, but declined to accept a commission requiring immediate service. His retirement was much regretted. It is hoped, for the good of the Twenty-second and the service, that Colonel Porter will be induced to withdraw his resignation. Action is being taken toward this end in all the companies of the regiment, and by the board of officers.

New York Evening Express, Aug. 23, 1879.

---

Wm. H. McCartney

Was born in New Hampshire, 1832. Was educated in the public schools, studied law, and was admitted to practice. Several years before the outbreak of the civil war, he was located in Boston, diligently employed in his profession. McCartney, during these years, was an active and enthusiastic member of military organizations, was an officer in a regiment of infantry, and later a member and then an officer of light artillery. He served during the three months campaign, in response to the first call for troops (75,000), as junior first lieutenant of the Boston Light Artillery. He seems in this campaign to have acquired reputation both as a disciplinarian and tactician; and immediately on the return of the battery to Massachusetts was commissioned senior first lieutenant