author
Earl Fenner
b. 1841
A Rhode Island Civil War veteran turned his firsthand knowledge of artillery service into detailed regimental histories that preserve the daily life and campaigns of Union soldiers. His work remains a valuable window into how one battery remembered the war a generation later.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1841, Earl Fenner is known for writing detailed histories of Rhode Island artillery units from the Civil War era. His best-known work, The History of Battery H, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, in the War to Preserve the Union, 1861–1865, was published in the 1890s and draws on records, recollections, and the perspective of someone close to the events.
Available records identify him as a veteran as well as an author, and that background helps explain the practical, grounded feel of his writing. Rather than treating the war only as grand strategy, Fenner focused on the men in the battery, their movements, their hardships, and the way military service shaped their lives.
He died in Providence in 1901. Today, his books are still read by Civil War researchers, local historians, and anyone interested in the lived experience of Union artillerymen from Rhode Island.