O. P. (Orlando Phelps) Cutter

O. P. Cutter, identified in library and ebook records as Orlando Phelps Cutter, is known for Our Battery; Or, The Journal of Company B, 1st O.V.A., first published in 1864. The book is a Civil War narrative centered on Company B of the 1st Ohio Volunteer Artillery, and multiple editions and catalog records connect Cutter directly to that work.

From the surviving descriptions of the book, Cutter appears to have written from personal experience as a member of the unit he describes. That firsthand perspective is what makes his writing stand out: instead of a distant history, Our Battery reads as a soldier’s view of marches, camp life, and major engagements faced by an Ohio artillery company.

Very little biographical information about Cutter is easy to confirm from widely available sources today, which makes his book the clearest window into his life and voice. For many readers, he is remembered less through a formal biography than through this compact, direct record of Union service during the American Civil War.