Chatham Artillery

Organized on May 1, 1786, the Chatham Artillery was first commanded by Captain Edward Lloyd, a former sergeant major at the battle of Savannah, and first served in June 1786 by rendering funeral honors for General Nathanael Greene. It participated in the Oconee wars from 1789 to 1793, and in 1792 George Washington presented it with two cannon in appreciation for its services, one captured at Yorktown and one given by France. Under later commanders including Captain Josiah Tattnall, it served at Fort Jackson on the Savannah River in 1815, acted as honor guard for Lafayette in May 1825, served in Florida during the Second Seminole War in 1836, and offered its services in the Mexican War in 1846. When Georgia seceded in 1861, it entered Confederate service and took part in the capture of Fort Pulaski, then occupied defensive positions around Coffee Bluff, Green Island, Skidway Island, and Fort Jackson in 1862-63, served at Battery Wagner and Secessionville in 1863, joined the 6th Georgia Regiment in the successful repulse of the Federal invasion of Florida at the Battle of Olustee in 1864, returned to Charleston in July 1864, marched north with General Johnson in early 1865, and surrendered on April 26, 1865, before marching home as a unit. Reorganized as state militia on May 1, 1872, it celebrated its 100th anniversary on May 1, 1886, with General John B. Gordon in attendance. From 1886 to 1986, it carried out local state duties, bought a Tybee site in 1888 for a clubhouse and artillery practice, joined memorial services for Jefferson Davis in 1889, was federalized for the Spanish-American War in 1898 and served at Camp Northern in Griffin and Camp Thomas in Chickamauga before returning to state control, and in 1916 went to the Mexican border during the campaign against raids by Pancho Villa, training near Macon and at El Paso before being released in June 1917. Federalized for World War I, it trained at Fort McPherson and Camp Wheeler with the 31st Division, then went in July 1918 to Camp Jackson and on to France for combat duty with the Allied Forces. Reorganized in 1920 as part of the First Field Artillery Regiment and equipped with horse-drawn 75 mm guns, it was redesignated in 1922 as the 118th Field Artillery Regiment, part of the 55th Field Artillery Brigade of the Georgia National Guard. Activated on September 16, 1940, as part of the 30th Division, it served at Fort Jackson, Camp Blanding, and Camp Atterbury, arrived in England in February 1944, landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day plus four while temporarily attached to the 29th Division, then rejoined the 30th Division and fought in major campaigns from Normandy to the Elbe River, including Saint Lo, Mortain, Domfront, the breaching of the Siegfried Line, and the Battle of the Bulge, until Germany surrendered on May 9, 1945.

Savannah, Georgia · United States