An experienced officer of the Massachusetts militia, Cobb was selected to organize and command the battery on April 20, 1861, however he did not go with the unit when it departed for the field.

It was one of the Massachusetts regiments organized in response to President Abraham Lincoln's call on May 2, 1861, for volunteer troops to serve a term of three-years.

[1] Departing the Boston area on August 8, the battery first served garrison duty near Baltimore and in operations in eastern Maryland.

The regiment saw combat during the early stages of the Siege of Vicksburg, and suffered badly from disease and general debility during the operations.

Some of these chose to reenlist and, receiving new recruits, the unit went on to serve an additional year, seeing action during operations against Fort Blakeley, Alabama.