With the coming the Gettysburg Campaign, a group of students from Lancaster, Pennsylvania's Franklin & Marshall College followed their professor of Greek to the front. A former student at the college and the son of one of its presidents, professor Robert Nevin had served with distinction as an officer with the 122nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville before returning to his position at the college.His new fledgling artillery battery was first sent to the Columbia, along the Susquehanna River, and then to Harrisburg, the state capital, as the waves of the Confederate offensive lapped at the city. While the Confederate forces were recalled to Gettysburg, the battery was officially mustered into service as Independent Battery I, Pennsylvania Light Artillery to serve for six months.Following its mustering in, the battery was sent to Philadelphia to quell expected draft riots. Following a period of training, the battery found itself moving to the front at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. At Harpers Ferry, its cannon were taken away. Not to be sidelined, the men of the battery volunteered for service in "ironclad" railcars defending the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, receiving their baptism of fire. Also, the men of the battery found themselves serving as "pioneers," building fortifications on Maryland Heights.After reforming into a "three-years" unit, Independent Battery I was sent to the defenses of Washington DC, serving in forts Worth, Ward, Williams and Whipple. The battery was present for the Confederate attack on the Washington defenses, known as the Monocacy campaign. The men of the battery trained on heavy artillery, closely followed the 1864 presidential campaign, visited local sites such as Arlington House, were present for Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, manned the fortifications on the night of Lincoln's assassination and witnessed the Grand Review.In 1865, Independent Battery I was mustered out of service, and Lancaster's only artillery battery became a part of history. Its commander, Robert Nevin, went on to be the most famous American in Europe at the end of the 19th century. Now a member of the clergy, he founded the first Protestant church within the walls of Rome, and mixed with people such as Theodore Roosevelt, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, Prime Minister William Gladstone of England, the Grant Family and George McClellan.The book includes rosters of the battery in the various forms it existed (student battery, six months battery, three years battery and one years men). In addition, the book contains an appendix with biographical information on many of the men of the military unit, as well as information on their uniform and corps designation.