The Old First Massachusetts Coast Artillery in War and Peace

The volume chronicles the origins, organization, and service of a Massachusetts coast-artillery militia unit from the post-Revolutionary era through the Civil War and into the early 20th century. It follows changes from obsolete train-band practices to volunteer companies and formal artillery battalions, describing uniforms, drill customs, camp life, battlefield deployments, postwar reorganizations, and institutional memory. Chapters combine chronological narrative, anecdotal illustrations, officers’ lists, genealogy of companies, and an appendix of sources to show how local pride and military adaptation shaped the unit’s identity in war and peace.