Active 1775–1777 Allegiance Continental Congress Type Artillery | Country United States Branch Continental Army Size 10 to 12 companies | |
The Continental Artillery Regiment also known as Gridley's Continental Artillery Regiment or Knox's Continental Artillery Regiment was the only large American unit of artillery in the early part of the American Revolutionary War. It was authorized on 10 May 1775 as the Regiment of the Train of Artillery in the Massachusetts State Troops. In May and June, the regiment assembled at Cambridge, Massachusetts in the strength of 10 batteries. Men from five counties were recruited. It became part of the Continental Army on 14 June 1775 as the Continental Artillery Regiment with Colonel Richard Gridley in command. A few days later at Bunker Hill, the American artillery was not handled well. The regiment was reorganized into 11 companies at the end of June.
Colonel Henry Knox took over command from the elderly Gridley on 17 November 1775. He immediately began the task of hauling the noble train of artillery from captured Fort Ticonderoga to Cambridge. This assignment was completed by the end of January. On 1 January 1776 the Rhode Island Train of Artillery merged with the Continental Artillery Regiment to form 12 companies altogether. There were two Rhode Island companies, those of Captains Ebenezer Stevens and Jotham Drury. The Fortification of Dorchester Heights in March 1776, in which Knox's artillery regiment was a critical component, hastened the end of the Siege of Boston.
Knox's regiment participated in the New York and New Jersey Campaign during the summer and fall of 1776. The actions in which cannons were employed were the battles of Long Island, White Plains, and Fort Washington. Elements of the regiment also defended Lake Champlain. Knox's guns were crucial in winning the Battle of Trenton in late December 1776. The regiment was disbanded on 1 January 1777 and replaced by four newly raised artillery regiments.