Existing comment:
1838-1865
In 1841, Washington Artillery was renamed the 1st Company, Native Americans (or Native American Artillery) to distinguish the new unit from those composed to French-Spanish members. Inaugurated in combat with General Zachary Taylor in Texas (1845), the Artillery served in the Mexican War as Company A of the Washington Regiment (Infantry) (1846). Architect-command member William A. Freret designed the First Washington Artillery Armory (1859), located on Girod Street on a site donated by the city, "as long as the Washington Artillery remains in possession of the city's cannon." Federal troops, however, seized and sold the armory during the Civil War. Expanded into a battalion of four companies and a band, later adding a fifth company, the Washington Artillery served the Confederacy in two theaters of the war, four companies served in the Army of Northern Virginia, the fifth company served in the Army of Tennessee. |