15th Regiment Alabama Infantry 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 . This assault was recreated in Ronald F . Maxwell ' s 1993 film " Gettysburg " . Recruitment , organization and equipment . Recruitment . 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 . 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 ' Zouave s " . According to one source , the youngest private in the 15th Alabama was only thirteen years old ; the oldest , Edmond Shepherd , was seventy . Organization . The 15th initially consisted of approximately 900 men ; its companies , and their counties of origin , were : Following its formal swearing - in , the 15th Alabama was ordered to Pageland Field , Virginia for training and drill . During their sojourn at Pageland , the regiment lost 150 men to measles . In September 1861 , the 15th was transferred to Camp Toombes , Virginia , in part to escape the measles outbreak . Equipment . Companies " A " and " B " of the 15th Alabama were equipped with the M1841 Mississippi Rifle , a . 54 caliber percussion rifle that had seen extensive service in the Mexican - American War and was highly regarded for its accuracy and ease of use . The other companies in the regiment were given older " George Law " smoothbore muskets , which had been converted from flintlock s to percussion rifles . Later , the regiment received British Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle - muskets and Springfield Model 1861 rifled muskets . Since the 15th had initially enlisted for three years , it received its arms from the Confederate government , which refused to provide weapons to any regiment enlisting for a lesser period . While details of the specific uniforms worn by other companies of the 15th has not been preserved , Oates ' Co . " G " is recorded to have sported , in addition to their red and gray clothing , a " colorful and diverse attire of headgear " . Each cap bore an " HP " insignia , which stood for " Henry Pioneers " ( though some said it actually meant " Hell ' s Pelters " ) . Each soldier also wore a " secession badge " , with the motto : " Liberty , Equality and Fraternity " , which had been the motto of the French Revolution . Early service and campaigns . Valley Campaign . At Camp Toombs , the 15th Alabama was brigaded with the 21st Georgia Volunteer Infantry , the 21st North Carolina Infantry and the 16th Mississippi Infantry regiments in Trimble ' s Brigade of Ewell ' s Division , part of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia . After that force moved over toward Yorktown , the 15th was transferred to Maj . Gen . Stonewall Jackson ' s division , where it participated in his Valley Campaign . During this time , the 15th participated in the following engagements : The 15th was mentioned in dispatches by its division commander , Maj . Gen . Ewell , who stated that during the Battle of Cross Keys , " the regiment made a gallant resistance , enabling me to take position at leisure " . Its brigade commander , Brig . Gen . Trimble , also singled out the regiment for honors during this engagement : " to Colonel Cantey for his skillful retreat from picket , and prompt flank maneuver , I think special praise is due " . During the Battle of Cross Keys , soldiers of the 15th Alabama had the unusual opportunity of participating in every major phase of a single battle , starting with the opening skirmish at Union Church on the forward left flank , followed by withdrawing underneath the artillery duel in the center , and then finally participating in Trimble ' s ambush of the 8th New York and the subsequent counterattack on the Confederate right flank which brought the battle to its conclusion . Seven Days Battles . Following the victorious conclusion of Jackson ' s Valley Campaign , the 15th accompanied its commander in his attack on Maj . Gen . George B . McClellan ' s flank during the Seven Days Battles . During this time , the 15th fought in the following sorties : Northern Virginia Campaign . Following McClellan ' s retreat from Richmond , the 15th was engaged in the Northern Virginia Campaign , where it participated in the following battles : Maryland Campaign . Next up was Lee ' s Maryland Campaign , where the 15th Alabama saw action at : After Antietam , acting brigade commander Col . James A . Walker cited Cpt . Isaac B . Feagin , acting regimental commander , for outstanding performance while extolling the regiment as a whole : " Captain Feagin , commanding the Fifteenth Alabama regiment , behaved with a gallantry consistent with his high reputation for courage and that of the regiment he commanded " . Fredericksburg and Suffolk . Following the Confederate defeat at Antietam , the 15th Alabama participated with Jackson ' s corps at the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 15 , 1862 . Total casualties there were 1 killed and 34 wounded . The regiment was given detached duty at Suffolk , Virginia during May 1863 , where it lost 4 killed and 18 wounded . The Great Snowball Fight . 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 ) . Oates takes command . Following the Battle of Fredericksburg , the 15th Alabama was transferred from Jackson ' s corps to the newly formed " Alabama Brigade " in Maj . Gen . James Longstreet ' s corps , with Col . Evander Law as brigade commander . Appointed to command the regiment during this time was Lt . Col . William C . Oates , who had originally organized Co . " G " when the regiment first formed in 1861 . In later years , Oates would serve as Governor of Alabama , and would also command three U . S . Brigades ( none of which saw combat ) during the Spanish - American War . Oates had lived a drifter ' s existence in Texas during his early adulthood , participating in numerous street brawls and spending time as a gambler . However , by 1861 he had returned to Alabama , finished his schooling , studied law , and set up a successful practice in Henry County that also included ownership of a weekly newspaper in his hometown . Opposed to Abraham Lincoln ' s election , Oates cautioned against precipitate secession ; however , once Alabama decided to leave the Union , he threw himself wholeheartedly into the Southern cause , raising a company of volunteers that became Co . " G " of the 15th Alabama when it was initially accepted for service under Col . Cantey . After Cantey ' s promotion and transfer to a new position , Oates assumed command of the 15th Alabama as a whole . While some of his men thought Oates to be too aggressive for his own good and theirs , most admired his courage and affirmed that he was always to be found at the front of his men , in the thick of combat , and that he never asked them to go anywhere that he was not willing to go himself . A political rival , Alexander Lowther , caused Oates to be relieved of command in July 1864 ; Lowther assumed command of the regiment thereafter . It was Oates , however , who led the 15th Alabama into its most noted engagement of the war , at Little Round Top on July 2 , 1863 during the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg . Action at Gettysburg . Little Round Top . During the Battle of Gettysburg , the 15th Alabama and the rest of Law ' s Brigade formed part of Maj . Gen . John B . Hood ' s division , which was a part of Lt . Gen . James Longstreet ' s corps . Arriving on the field late in the evening on July 1 , the 15th played no appreciable role in the contest ' s first day . This changed on the 2nd , as Gen . Robert E . Lee had ordered Longstreet to launch a surprise attack with two of his divisions against the Federal left flank and their positions atop Cemetery Hill . During the course of this engagement , which was launched late in the afternoon of July 2 , the 15th Alabama found itself advancing over rough terrain on the eastern side of the Emmitsburg Road , which combined with fire from the 2nd U . S . Sharpshooters at nearby Slyder ' s Farm to compel Law ' s brigade ( including the 15th Alabama ) to detour around the Devil ' s Den and over the Big Round Top toward Little Round Top . During this time , the 15th was under constant fire from Federal sharpshooters , and the regiment became temporarily separated from the rest of the Alabama brigade as it made its way over Big Round Top . Little Round Top , which dominated the Union position on Cemetery Ridge , was initially unoccupied by Union troops . Union commander Maj . Gen . George Meade ' s chief engineer , Brig . Gen Gouverneur K . Warren , had climbed the hill on his superior ' s orders to assess the situation there ; he noticed the glint of Confederate bayonets to the hill ' s southwest , and realized that a Southern attack was imminent . Warren ' s frantic cry for reinforcements to occupy the hill was answered by Col . Strong Vincent , commanding the Third Brigade of the First Division of the Union V Corps . Vincent rapidly moved the four regiments of his brigade onto the hill , only ten minutes ahead of the approaching Confederates . Under heavy fire from Southern batteries , Vincent arranged his four regiments atop the hill with the 16th Michigan to the northwest , then proceeding counterclockwise with the 44th New York , the 83rd Pennsylvania , and finally , at the end of the line on the southern slope , the 20th Maine . With only minutes to spare , Vincent told his regiments to take cover and await the inevitable Confederate assault ; he specifically ordered Col . Joshua L . Chamberlain , commanding the 20th Maine ( at the extreme end of the Union line ) , to hold his position to the last man , at all costs . Were Chamberlain ' s regiment to be forced to retreat , the other regiments on the hill would be compelled to follow suit , and the entire left flank of Meade ' s army would be in serious jeopardy , possibly leading them to retreat and giving the Confederates their desperately needed victory at Gettysburg . The 15th Alabama attacks . In their attack on Little Round Top , the 15th Alabama would be joined by the 4th and 47th Alabama Infantry , and also by the 4th and 5th Texas Infantry regiments . All of these units were thoroughly exhausted at the time of the assault , having marched in the July heat for over 20 miles ( 37 kilometers ) prior to the actual attack . Furthermore , the canteen s of the Southerners were empty , and Law ' s command to advance did not give them time to refill them . Approaching the Union line on the crest of the hill , Law ' s men were thrown back by the first Union volley and withdrew briefly to regroup . The 15th Alabama repositioned itself further to the right , attempting to find the Union left flank which , unbeknownst to it , was held by Chamberlain ' s 20th Maine . Chamberlain , meanwhile , had detached Company " B " of his regiment and elements of the 2nd U . S . Sharpshooters , ordering them to take a concealed position behind a stone wall 150 yards to his east , hoping to guard against a Confederate envelopment . Seeing the 15th Alabama shifting around his flank , Chamberlain ordered the remainder of his 385 men to form a single - file line . The 15th Alabama charged the Maine troops , only to be repulsed by furious rifle fire . Chamberlain next ordered the southernmost half of his line to " refuse the line " , meaning that they formed a new line at an angle to the original force , to meet the 15th Alabama ' s flanking maneuver . Though it endured incredible losses , the 20th Maine managed to hold through five more charges by the 15th over a ninety - minute period . Col . Oates , commanding the regiment , described the action in his memoirs , forty years later : Chamberlain ' s desperate charge . Out of ammunition , and facing what he was sure would be yet another determined assault by the Alabamians , Col . Chamberlain decided upon a most unorthodox response : ordering his men to fix bayonet s , he led what was left of his outfit in a pell - mell charge down the hill , executing a combined frontal assault and flanking maneuver that caught the 15th Alabama completely by surprise . Unbeknownst to Chamberlain , Oates had already decided to retreat , realizing that his ammunition was running low , and worried about a possible Union attack on his own flank or rear . His younger brother lay dying on the field , and the blood from his regiment ' s dead and wounded " was standing in puddle s on some of the rocks " . Hardly had Oates ordered the withdrawal than Chamberlain began his charge , which combined with fire from " B " company and the hidden sharpshooters to cause the 15th to rush madly down the hill to escape . Oates later admitted that " we ran like a herd of wild cattle " during the retreat , which took those surviving members of the 15th ( including Oates ) who weren ' t captured by Chamberlain ' s men up the slopes of Big Round Top and toward Confederate lines . In later years , Oates would assert that the 15th Alabama ' s assault had failed because no other Confederate regiment appeared in support of his unit during the attack . He insisted that if but one other regiment had joined his attack on the far left of the Union army , they would have swept the 20th Maine from the hill and turned the Union flank , " which would have forced Meade ' s whole left wing to retire " . However , Oates also paid tribute to the courage and tenacity of his enemy when he wrote : " There never were harder fighters than the Twentieth Maine men and their gallant Colonel . His skill and persistency and the great bravery of his men saved Little Round Top and the Army of the Potomac from defeat . " Chamberlain in turn extolled the bravery of his Alabama foes when he later wrote : " these [ the 15th Alabama ] were manly men , whom we could befriend and by no means kill , if they came our way in peace and good will " . The 15th Alabama spent the remainder of the Battle of Gettysburg on the Confederate right flank , helping to secure it against Union cavalry and sharpshooters . It took no part in Pickett ' s Charge on July 3 . Out of 644 men engaged from the 15th Alabama at the Battle of Gettysburg , the regiment lost 72 men killed , 190 wounded , and 81 missing . From Gettysburg to Appomatox . Immediate aftermath . Following the action at Gettysburg , the 15th Alabama was briefly engaged at Battle Mountain , Virginia on July 17 , reporting negligible losses . It then spent time recuperating and refitting in Virginia with the rest of Longstreet ' s corps , until being ordered west to bolster the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Braxton Bragg , which was operating in eastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia . In Tennessee . During its time with Longstreet in the Army of Tennessee , the 15th Alabama participated in the following engagements : The 15th Alabama was the principal Confederate regiment guarding the Lookout Valley during the Union attack there ; due to miscommunication between himself and three reserve regiments assigned to augment his force , Col . Oates was unable to effectively counterattack the Union force advancing up the valley from Brown ' s Ferry on the Tennessee River . The resulting Federal victory allowed the opening of Ulysses S . Grant ' s famous " Cracker Line " , which contributed to the breaking of the Confederate Siege of Chattanooga . Oates himself was wounded in this battle , but later recovered and continued to lead his regiment until replaced by Alexander A . Lowther in July 1864 . For its actions during the Battle of Chickamauga , the 15th was once again mentioned in dispatches , this time by Brig . Gen . Zachariah C . Deas , who wrote that the " regiment behaved with great gallantry " during the battle . Return to Virginia . Having quarrelled with Bragg during his time in Tennessee , Longstreet decided to return to Virginia with his corps ( including the 15th Alabama ) in the spring of 1864 . Here , the 15th participated in the following engagements : The 15th Alabama continued to serve until the surrender of Lee ' s army at Appomatox Court House on April 9 . It was paroled together with the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia , and its surviving members made their way back to Alabama where they resumed their lives as civilians . At the time of its surrender , the 15th had been transferred to Perry ' s " Florida Brigade " , under the command of Col . David Lang . The regimental commander at the time of surrender was Capt . Francis Key Schaff , formerly of Co . " A " . Southern Cross of Honor . The Confederate government awarded the Southern Cross of Honor ( the Confederate equivalent of the U . S . Medal of Honor ) to twenty - two members of the 15th Alabama during the Civil War : One last battle . In 1904 and 1905 , an aged William Oates and Joshua Chamberlain waged what one writer described as " one last battle " over the proposed construction of a monument on the Little Round Top to the 15th Alabama . While Chamberlain indicated that he had no quarrel whatsoever to the erection of a memorial to his old enemies , he strenuously objected to the precise spot proposed by Oates , which he insisted was farther up the hill than Oates ' regiment had actually gotten during the battle . A somewhat - testy exchange of letters between the two men failed to resolve their differences , and no monument to the 15th Alabama was ever erected . Chamberlain had visited the battlefield several years after the war , and had personally directed the removal of a pile of stones placed atop Little Round Top by veterans of the 15th Alabama . At the time , as he did later in his conflict with Oates , Chamberlain stated that he had no objections to the erection of a monument to the 15th , but not atop the hill that so many of his men had died to hold . More recent efforts to create a pile of stones atop the Little Round Top have been foiled by Gettysburg park ranger s . Modern re - enactment groups . The 15th Alabama has proven popular with modern historical reenactors . One such group ( recreating Co . " G " , 15th Alabama Infantry ) is headquartered in Bellingham , Washington , while another ( recreating Co . " E " , 15th Alabama Infantry ) is located in Holly Hill , Florida . Other units are found in Farmington , Maine ( recreating Co . " G " ) and in Ocala , Florida ( recreating Co . " B " ) .