HISTORICAL NOTES:
In the late summer of 1864, fourteen companies of heavy artillery were raised throughout Massachusetts for the purpose of coastal defense of the state. They were to be "unattached", thus not part of a regiment, and sent to various military locations for a one-year term. They were numbered 17 through 30, and were the Unattached Companies of Heavy Artillery. They encamped on Gallops Island in Boston Harbor, where they organized and were mustered in during latter part of August and into the first days of September 1864. In September, they were ordered to Washington, DC for garrison duty in the forts surrounding the capital. The last companies to leave, the 29th and 30th, left on 26 Sept and 29 Oct, respectively.
On 12 Nov 1864, a War Department order consolidated 12 of the companies, numbered 17 through 28, into one regiment, the 4th Regiment Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. They remained in Washington for the remainder of the war, until their mustering out on 17 June 1865.
The Regiment lost during service 2 Officers and 23 Enlisted men by disease. Total 25.
29th and 30th Unattached Companies:
While the 17th through 28th Unattached Companies were combined into a single regiment, the 29th and 30th remained single units. They also served in garrisoning the forts around the capital until their time of mustering out on 16 June 1865. The 29th, with 157 officers and enlisted men, lost 2 to disease, while the 30th lost none of their 150 volunteers.
OFFICERS:
Col William Sterling King, formerly of the 35th Massachusetts Infantry, was in command.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Attached to 3rd Brigade, DeRussy's Division, 22nd Army Corps, Dept. of Washington. Garrison duty in the Defences of Washington, south of the Potomac, till June, 1865. Mustered out June 17, 1865.
SERVICE:
Garrison duty in the forts surrounding Washington, DC.
ROSTERS:
The composite roster of this unit contains the names of 2300 men.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
HISTORICAL NOTES: