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| 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment | |
|---|---|
| Unit name | 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment |
| Dates | October 21, 1861 – July 14, 1865 |
| Country | United States |
| Allegiance | Union |
| Branch | Infantry |
| Size | Regiment |
| Garrison | Madison, Wisconsin |
| Battles | Battle of Shiloh, Siege of Vicksburg, Vicksburg Campaign, Chattanooga Campaign, Atlanta Campaign, March to the Sea, Carolinas Campaign, Battle of Bentonville |
| Notable commanders | George E. Bryant, John A. Savage |
15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment The 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment was a Union regiment raised in Wisconsin during the American Civil War. Mustered in during 1861, the regiment served in the Western Theater, participating in campaigns across Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, and the Carolinas. The unit saw action at major engagements including Shiloh, the Vicksburg Campaign, the Atlanta Campaign, and Sherman's March to the Sea, and mustered out in 1865.
Organized at Madison, Wisconsin and mustered on October 21, 1861, the regiment drew volunteers from counties including Dane, Crawford, Grant, Iowa, and Sauk. Initial leadership included George E. Bryant, a lawyer and politician with prior service in the Wisconsin State Assembly, and staff officers commissioned under authority of Abraham Lincoln and Gideon Welles. Assigned initially to duty in the Department of the Missouri and later to formations under Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman, the regiment's companies were lettered A through K and followed organizational tables of the United States Army for volunteer infantry.
After mustering, the regiment moved to St. Louis, Missouri and then to Paducah, Kentucky before joining operations on the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers. Attached to brigades and divisions of the Army of the Tennessee, the 15th participated in movement toward Pittsburg Landing, arriving prior to the Battle of Shiloh and later joining Grant's drives on Corinth, Mississippi and the Vicksburg Campaign. During the Vicksburg operations the regiment served in siege lines, siege works, and riverine operations coordinated with the United States Navy under Gideon Welles's department. Following the fall of Vicksburg the regiment moved through Chattanooga, Tennessee to engage in operations culminating in the Chattanooga Campaign and later took part in the Atlanta Campaign under William T. Sherman. In 1864 the regiment marched in the March to the Sea from Atlanta, Georgia to Savannah, Georgia and in 1865 participated in the Carolinas Campaign including contact at Bentonville, North Carolina. The unit participated in final Grand Review movements and duty assignments before mustering out on July 14, 1865.
Regimental commanders included Colonel George E. Bryant and Colonel John A. Savage, each of whom had civil ties to Wisconsin State Government and prior militia experience. Major and staff officers included line officers who later served in state legislature roles, municipal offices in Madison, Wisconsin, and veterans' organizations such as the Grand Army of the Republic. Company commanders and lieutenants were often local notables from towns like Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, Platteville, Wisconsin, and Baraboo, Wisconsin. The regiment's surgeon and medical staff coordinated with United States Sanitary Commission efforts and corresponded with officers in the Army of the Tennessee.
Engagements for the regiment included major battles and operations: initial contact at Shiloh, the operations and siege of Vicksburg, skirmishing and battles during the Chattanooga Campaign, sustained combat in the Atlanta Campaign including actions near Kennesaw Mountain, participation in Sherman's March to the Sea with engagements en route, and clashes in the Carolinas Campaign highlighted by the Battle of Bentonville. The regiment sustained casualties from combat wounds at engagements connected to Pittsburg Landing and Vicksburg and endured disease losses common in riverine and siege conditions, such as typhoid and dysentery noted in period reports to the United States War Department. Total losses included men killed or mortally wounded and those who died of disease, with officers and enlisted men recorded in unit returns and compiled rosters.
Life in the 15th mirrored the experience of volunteer infantry serving in the Western Theater: long marches across Mississippi River crossings, trench and sap work during sieges, picket duty along rail lines such as the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and foraging during the March. Equipment issued included pattern-issue muskets and rifled muskets typical of Union Army volunteer units, accoutrements regulated under U.S. Army regulations, cartridge boxes, haversacks, and tents standardized by the Quartermaster Department. Medical evacuations ran through field hospitals and general hospitals in cities like Cairo, Illinois and Memphis, Tennessee, with convalescent soldiers receiving passes and furloughs to return to Wisconsin towns. Soldiers engaged in regimental drills, camp sanitation programs promoted by the United States Sanitary Commission, and veteran reunions after hostilities ceased.
After mustering out, veterans of the regiment returned to Wisconsin where many entered civic life as farmers, merchants, judges, and legislators, participating in organizations such as the Grand Army of the Republic and memorial associations commemorating campaigns like Vicksburg and Atlanta Campaign. Regimental histories and rosters were compiled by veterans and publishers in Madison, Wisconsin and referenced by state archives and Wisconsin Historical Society. Monuments and markers honoring companies and fallen soldiers appear at battlefield sites including Shiloh National Military Park and Vicksburg National Military Park, and the regiment's service is recalled in state commemorations on anniversaries of Sherman's March to the Sea and the Appomattox Campaign era celebrations. Many veterans were interred in cemeteries across Wisconsin with memorial tablets and entries in veterans' registers.
Category:Units and formations of the Union Army from Wisconsin Category:1861 establishments in Wisconsin