page_title: 15th Alabama Infantry Regiment
section_title: The Great Snowball Fight
hierarchical_section_title: 15th Alabama Infantry Regiment / Early service and campaigns / The Great Snowball Fight
caption_attribution_description: English: Governor of Alabama William Calvin Oates. Screen capture from documentary "Civil War Combat: America's Bloodiest Battles" (1998) produced by the History channel
context_page_description: The 15th Alabama Infantry Regiment 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 in late 1863 before returning to Virginia in early 1864 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, 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. This assault was recreated in Ronald F.
context_section_description: On January 29, 1863, the 15th Alabama participated with several other regiments of the Army of Northern Virginia in what became known as "The Great Snowball Fight of 1863".  Over 9000 Confederate soldiers engaged in a spontaneous, day-long free-for-all using snowballs and rocks, in which only two soldiers were seriously injured (neither from the 15th).
caption: LTC William C. Oates, commander of the 15th Alabama Infantry from Spring of 1863 to July 1864
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