[2] Vaughn previously commanded Battery B, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery from 25 August 1861[3] until 1 December 1861 when he resigned his commission.

[4] Vaughn led the Rhode Island battery at the Battle of Ball's Bluff where the unit suffered the loss of one gun and several casualties.

The battery originally included a section (two guns) of M1841 12-pounder howitzers, so that it also reported having the following 12-pounder smoothbore ammunition: 72 common shell, 42 spherical case, and 50 canister shot.

From December 1862 to March 1863, Vaughn's Illinois Battery defended the Post of Bolivar, District of Jackson, XVI Corps.

[1] The Springfield Illinois Light Artillery arrived at Bolivar and was assigned to a brigade commanded by Mason Brayman.

[9] The battery was parceled out to guard the Memphis and Charleston Railroad with one section each at Moscow, Collierville, and Germantown through 23 August 1863.

[10] On 5 August 1863, Steele began his campaign by marching from Helena to the White River with two infantry divisions and one cavalry brigade.

Steele met John Davidson's 6,000 Union cavalry and the combined 13,000-man force advanced west from DeValls Bluff on 18 August.

[11] The Springfield Illinois Light Artillery fought at the Battle of Bayou Fourche and the subsequent capture of Little Rock on 10 September.

[1] On the evening of 9 September, Federal engineers began constructing a pontoon bridge at Terry's Ferry on the Arkansas River downstream from Little Rock.

The next morning, the bridge was fired on by Confederate artillery, but it was quickly silenced by a converging bombardment by several Union batteries deployed on the north bank.

Supported by artillery firing from the north bank of the Arkansas River, Glover's brigade turned the Confederate left flank.

[1] Steele's VII Corps seized Camden but was unable to maintain its position because Confederate cavalry wrecked two supply convoys at Poison Spring and Marks' Mills.

The Federal column reached the Saline River on 29 April and paused while the engineers built a pontoon bridge across the rain-swollen stream.

Though outnumbered, Salomon's soldiers improvised defensive positions on the south bank and repulsed repeated Confederate assaults during the morning.