Reminiscences of the Cleveland Light Artillery

The First Regiment Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery—whose guns thundered on nearly all the great battlefields of the War for the Union, 1861-5—owed its existence to a process of evolution. It was the result of a growth during a period of more than twenty years.

The Cleveland Grays, an independent military company, was formed in 1837. It was composed of active, intelligent, patriotic young men who displayed from the first a laudable pride in the organization, and an ambition to bring it up to the highest possible standard of excellence. Their most praiseworthy efforts were rewarded by a full measure of success, and the company was soon celebrated far and near for its fine appearance, excellent drill, and perfection of military discipline.

In 1839, for the purpose of field instruction, the Grays held an encampment on a vacant lot at the present corner of Superior and Erie streets. As compared to its proportions of today, Cleveland was then scarcely more than an overgrown village, and the territory in the vicinity of the spot designated above—now covered, and for miles beyond, with business houses and dwellings—was almost in its primeval state. By invitation of the Grays, Major Fay’s Light Artillery Company, of Buffalo, famous in those early days for its skill in the art of gunnery, was present at the encampment. The fine evolutions of this command and its proficiency in working and handling artillery attracted much attention and awakened a lively interest in that arm of military science. The Grays caught the artillery fever and at once decided that they would have a gun squad.