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The 15th Regiment of Alabama Infantry was a Confederate volunteer infantry unit from the state of Alabama during the American Civil War. Recruited from six counties in the southeastern part of the state, it fought mostly with Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, though it also saw brief service with Braxton Bragg and the Army of Tennessee before returning to Virginia for the duration of the war. Out of 1958 men listed on the regimental rolls throughout the conflict, 261 are known to have fallen in battle, with sources listing an additional 416 deaths due to disease, 218 were captured (46 died), 66 deserted and 61 were transferred or discharged. By the end of the war, only 170 men remained to be paroled  The 15th Alabama is most famous for being the regiment that confronted the 20th Maine on Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863. Despite several ferocious assaults, the 15th Alabama was ultimately unable to dislodge the Union troops, and was eventually forced to retreat in the face of a desperate bayonet charge led by the 20th Maine's commander, Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain.

 

The 15th Alabama was organized by James Cantey, a planter originally from South Carolina, who was residing in Russell County, Alabama at the outset of the Civil War. "Cantey's Rifles" formed at Ft. Mitchell, on the Chattahoochee River, in May 1861. Cantey's company was joined by ten other militia companies, all of which were sworn into state service by governor Andrew B. Moore on July 3, 1861, with Cantey as Regimental Commander.[2]One of these companies, from Henry County, was formed by William C. Oates, a lawyer and newspaperman from Abbeville. Oates, who would later command the whole regiment at Little Round Top, put together a company composed mostly of Irishmen recruited from the area, calling them "Henry Pioneers" or "Henry County Pioneers". Other observers, after seeing their colorful uniforms (bright red shirts, with Richmond grey frock coats and trousers), dubbed them "Oates' Zouaves".[6]According to one source, the youngest private in the 15th Alabama was only thirteen years old; the oldest, Edmond Shepherd, was seventy

 

The 15th initially consisted of approximately 900 men; its companies, and their counties of origin, were:[8]Co. "A", known as "Cantey's Rifles", from Russell County;Co. "B", known as the "Midway Southern Guards", from Barbour County;Co. "C", no nickname given, from Macon County;Co. "D", known as the "Fort Browder Roughs", from Barbour County;Co. "E", known as the "Beauregards",[9] from Dale County (which then included parts of present-day Geneva and Houston counties);Co. "F", known as the "Brundidge Guards", from Pike County;Co. "G", known as the "Henry Pioneers", from Henry County (which then included nearly all of present-day Houston County);Co. "H", known as the "Glenville Guards", from Barbour and Dale counties;Co. "I", no nickname given, from Pike County;Co. "K", known as the "Eufaula City Guard", from Barbour County; andCo. "L", no nickname given, from Pike County.

 

Engagements:  Rappahannock River April 1862 Front Royal23 May 1862Winchester25 May 1862Cross Keys/Port Republic8-9 June 18621st Cold Harbor/Gaines Mill27-28 June 1862Malvern Hill1 July 1862Cedar Run 9 August 1862 Rappahannock River 12 August 1862 Hazel River & Manassas Junction22 August 1862Groveton 28 August 1862 2nd Manassas29-30 August 1862Chantilly1 September 1862Harper's Ferry 14-15 September 1862Sharpsburg17 September 1862Shepherdstown 19 September 1862 Fredericksburg13 December 1862Suffolk28 April - 3 May 1863Gettysburg2-3 July 1863Battle Mountain 24 July 1863Chickamauga19-20 September 1863Browns Ferry & Lookout Valley28 October 1863Campbell's Station 16 November 1863 Knoxville17 November - 4 December 1863Bean's Station23 December 1863Dandridge 16 January 1864 The Wilderness 5-7 May 1864 Spotsylvania 8 - 18 May 1864 Hanover Court House 25 May 1864 Ashland 31 May 1864 Mechanicsville Rd. 1 June 1864 2nd Cold Harbor 1-12 June 1864 Chester Station 17 June 1864 Petersburg 18 June - 25 July 1864 Deep Bottom 14 August 1864 Fussell's Mill 16 August 1864 Fort Gilmer 29 September 1864 Fort Harrison 30 September 1864 Darbytown Rd. 7 October - 10 December 1864 Appomattox Court House 9 April 1865

15th Alabama Company E

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