Artillery was a United States Army field artillery battery that was in service between 1821 and 1901, most notably in extensive service with the Union Army during the American Civil War.

During the Civil War, the battery was present at the Siege of Fort Sumter in April 1861 under the command of Captain Abner Doubleday.

Artillery, the unit continued with this designation until the end of the war.

[1] From 1856 through 1858, the battery was stationed in Florida during the Third Seminole War.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, the battery was stationed at Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina in January 1861, where it was present during the Battle of Fort Sumter in April which sparked the war.

[2] Following the surrender of that post, it moved to Washington, D.C., where it was attached to Patterson's army to October 1861, in the field but not present at the First Battle of Bull Run.

Its new commander, Captain Jefferson C. Davis, was absent on detached service throughout the duration of the war; under the command of subaltern battery officer Lieutenant Alanson Merwin Randol, the battery was merged with Battery G, 1st U.S.

On garrison duty along the East Coast post-war,[4] the battery also participated in the Indian Wars at Wounded Knee.

[5] Defense of Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, April 12–13, 1861.

Reached Fort Hamilton, New York Harbor, April 19.

Duty at the federal arsenal and at Camp Duncan, defenses of Washington, until March 1862.

Artillery was in support of the Colonel James W. Forsyth's 7th U.S. Cavalry at the now-controversial engagement at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890.

The battery was commanded by Captain Allyn Capron and equipped with four Hotchkiss M1875 mountain guns which were used against the Wounded Knee encampment with devastating effect after the fight broke out.

Some estimates report that as many as 200 Lakota Indians were killed or wounded in the engagement, the majority of whom were women and children.

The battery participated in the Spanish–American War in Cuba in 1898, under the command of Captain Capron.

In 1899, the battery was deployed to the Philippine Islands during the Philippine–American War; it remained there until 1901, when the unit was dissolved and reorganized as the First Battery, Field Artillery in the newly organized Artillery Corps of the United States Army.