108th Field Artillery Regiment

1st Battalion, 108th Field Artillery Regiment
1st Battalion, 108th Field Artillery Coat of Arms
Active	December 11, 1840 – present
Country	United States
Branch	U.S. Army National Guard
Type	Field Artillery
Role	Direct Support
Part of	56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team
Garrison/HQ	Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Motto(s)	"Non Sibi—Sed Patriae" (Not Self—But Country)
Engagements	American Civil War World War I World War II Korean War Operation Iraqi Freedom
Commanders
Current commander	LTC Darryl Bertani
Notable commanders	Maj. Gen. Randall Marchi
Insignia
Distinctive unit insignia

The 1st Battalion, 108th Field Artillery Regiment, 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, is the only direct support field artillery battalion in the only National Guard Stryker Brigade in the United States Army.

The 1-108th Field Artillery's mission in support of the 56th SBCT is to provide accurate and responsive fires including close and counterfire to the maneuver units of the SBCT.

The 108th Field Artillery was formed on December 11, 1840, at a time when many militia units were forming across the country. It was established as an infantry company in the 1st Volunteer Infantry Regiment by CPT Thomas Tustin, and was called The National Guards after the Marquis de Lafayette's unit Les Guardes de Nationale, one of several in the state to use this name. It recruited for the Mexican War and volunteered for service but it was not needed since Pennsylvania had already supplied its required quota of troops. In 1856 the unit incorporated itself as the Infantry Corps of National Guards of the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The unit eventually expanded from a company to a battalion and by 1860 it expanded into a regiment, the 2d Infantry Regiment, and paraded as such on December 11, 1860. It was part of the Reserve Brigade Militia and was known as the First Blue Reserves. On February 22, 1861, the Regiment was in Harrisburg to receive President-elect Abraham Lincoln.

At the beginning of the Civil War the regiment volunteered for three months' service and became the 19th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. The regiment served the majority of its time garrisoning and occupying the City of Baltimore as it harbored a large number of Confederate sympathizers. It was instrumental in the apprehension of Marshal Kane, the Sheriff of Baltimore, who was a Confederate sympathizer suspected of planning revolt. At the end of the ninety days a large portion opted to re-enlist thus forming a new unit called the 90th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. The unit was equipped with modified Harper's Ferry .69 caliber smoothbore muskets. The 90th saw action at Second Manasas (where it suffered approximately 218 casualties), Antietam and Fredericksburg in 1862. In 1863, the regiment was lightly engaged during the battle of Chancellorsville but was in heavy fighting at Gettysburg. The 90th was part of 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, I Corps in the Army of the Potomac. It was heavily involved during the battle on July 1, 1863, and was positioned as the far right of the I Corps line. When the XI Corps was forced to retreat the regiments right flank was exposed and forced to fall back.

It was at this time, during the retreat through town that the Regimental Chaplain was killed after visiting with the wounded of the regiment who were in a church behind enemy lines. The 90th then spent the rest of the battle in reserve arriving on the scene of Picket's Charge just as it was being repulsed. During the battle, the regiment suffered 8 killed, 45 wounded and 40 missing/captured. The majority of the casualties occurred on the first day with most of the missing captured during the retreat through town. After Gettysburg the unit took part in the fall campaign in Virginia. In 1864, the regiment took part in the battles of Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor suffering several hundred casualties. The regiment took place in the campaign leading up to Petersburg and the early stages of the Siege of Petersburg. It was engaged at Petersburg during the fateful mine explosion on June 30, 1864. During a skirmish at Weedon Station on July 17–18, 1864, the regiment was heavily engaged and Confederate troops had succeeded in penetrating the unit on the 90th's right flank and were in the rear of the 90th. The 90th began to receive fire from both the Confederates and the Union Artillery to its rear. The regiment received the order to withdraw but lost approximately 90 men captured including its commander LTC Leech and around 20 dead and wounded. The survivors were pulled from the line and those soldiers whose enlistments had not expired were merged with the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. The 90th Regiment fought in 12 campaigns during the Civil War and earned seven Medals of Honor. During the Civil War the unit suffered well over eight hundred casualties including 103 combat deaths; it also suffered 127 non-battle deaths in its three years of service. After the heavy fighting during the Petersburg campaign, the unit was mustered out of Federal Service on November 26, 1864.