18th Independent Battery Indiana Light Artillery
Military unit
The 18th Independent Battery Indiana Light Artillery, also known as Lilly's Hoosier Battery and Lilly's Battery, was a civil war artillery battery formed in Indiana during the American Civil War. The battery was formed at the end of 1860 by 22-year-old Eli Lilly, an Indianapolis pharmacist. He had recruitment posters placed around the city and recruited primarily among his friends and classmates. The unit were first issued 6 "Rodman Guns" and was manned by 156 men. The Battery members stated preference to 3" Ordnance Rifles over the 10 pound Parrott Rifle due to its tendency to bursting. The unit mustered in Indianapolis where it was drilled during 1861, excelling at their skill with firing accuracy. Lilly was elected captain of the unit in August 1862 when the unit was deployed to join the Lightning Brigade commanded by Col. John T. Wilder.
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This entry incorporates text from “18th Independent Battery Indiana Light Artillery” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.