The 15th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

 regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

 that served in the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

.

Service

The 15th Kentucky Infantry was organized at New Haven, Kentucky

New Haven, Kentucky

New Haven is a city in Nelson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 849 at the 2000 census.New Haven was founded as Pottinger's Landing in 1781 and later named New Haven by Samuel Pottinger after the Connecticut town...

 and mustered in for a three year enlistment on December 14, 1861 under the command of Colonel

Colonel (United States)

In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...

 Curran Pope.

The regiment was attached to 16th Brigade, Army of the Ohio

Army of the Ohio

The Army of the Ohio was the name of two Union armies in the American Civil War. The first army became the Army of the Cumberland and the second army was created in 1863.-History:...

, to December 1861. 17th Brigade, Army of the Ohio, to January 1862. 17th Brigade, 3rd Division, Army of the Ohio, to September 1862. 17th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps, Army of the Ohio, to November 1862. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, Center, XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland

Army of the Cumberland

The Army of the Cumberland was one of the principal Union armies in the Western Theater during the American Civil War. It was originally known as the Army of the Ohio.-History:...

, to January 1863. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, XIV Corps, to April 1863. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, XIV Corps, to October 1863. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, XIV Corps, to November 1863. Post of Chattanooga to April 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Division, XIV Corps, to November 1864.

The 15th Kentucky Infantry mustered out of service at Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

 on January 14, 1865.

Detailed Service Timeline

Duty at New Haven and Bacon Creek, Ky., until February 1862. Advance on Bowling Green, Ky., February 10–15. Occupation of Bowling Green February 15–22. Advance on Nashville, Tenn., February 22–25. Advance on Murfreesboro, Tenn., March 17–19. Occupation of Shelbyville, Fayetteville, and advance on Huntsville, Ala., March 18-April 11. Capture of Huntsville April 11. Advance on Decatur, Ala., April 11–14. Action at West Bridge, near Bridgeport, Ala., April 29. At Huntsville until August. Guntersville and Law's Landing July 28. Old Deposit Ferry July 29, March to Louisville, Ky., in pursuit of Bragg August 27-September 26. Pursuit of Bragg into Kentucky October 1–15. Battle of Perryville October 8. March to Nashville, Tenn., October 16-November 7, and duty there until December 26. Bacon Creek, near Munfordville, Ky., December 26 (detachment). Advance on Murfreesboro December 26–30. Battle of Stones River December 30–31, 1862 and January 1–3, 1863. At Murfreesboro until June 1863. Tullahoma Campaign June 23-July 7. Hoover's Gap June 24–26. Occupation of Tullahoma July 1. Occupation of middle Tennessee until August 16. Passage of Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga Campaign August 16-September 22. Steven's Gap September 6. Davis Cross Roads or Dug Gap September 11. Battle of Chickamauga, September 19–21. Rossville Gap September 21. Siege of Chattanooga September 24-November 23. Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23–27. Missionary Ridge November 25. In reserve, post duty at Chattanooga, until April 1864. Atlanta Campaign May 1-September 8. Demonstration on Rocky Faced Ridge May 8–11. Buzzard's Roost Gap May 8–9. Battle of Resaca May 14–15. Advance on Dallas May 18–25. Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5. Operations about Marietta and against Kennesaw Mountain June 10-July 2. Pine Hill June 11–14. Lost Mountain June 15–17. Assault on Kennesaw June 27. Ruff's Station July 4. Chattahoochie River July 6–17. Buckhead, Nancy's Creek, July 18. Battle of Peachtree Creek July 19–20. Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25. Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25–30. Red Oak August 29. Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1. Lovejoy's Station September 2–6. Operations in northern Georgia and northern Alabama against Hood October 1–26. Duty at Chattanooga, and Bridgeport, Ala., until December. Ordered to Louisville, Ky..

Casualties

The regiment lost a total of 251 men during service; 9 officers and 128 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 1 officer and 113 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders

• Colonel Curran Pope - wounded at the battle of Perryville; died of "fever of typhoid symptoms" November 6, 1862 while recovering from his wound
• Colonel James B. Forman
• Colonel Marion Cartright Taylor
• Lieutenant Colonel Joseph R. Snider

See also

• List of Kentucky Civil War Units
• Kentucky in the Civil War
  Kentucky in the Civil War
  Kentucky was a border state of key importance in the American Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln recognized the importance of the Commonwealth when he declared "I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky." In a September 1861 letter to Orville Browning, Lincoln wrote "I think to lose...
  
  

External links

• Kentucky Historical Society - image of the 15th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry national colors