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Massachusetts 15th Volunteer Infantry (Union)

7/12/61

Organized - Massachusetts 15th Volunteer Infantry - Massachusetts

10/21/61

Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel Charles Devens

10/21/61

Battle - Ball's Bluff - Loudoun County, Virginia

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Ball's Bluff

On the evening of October 20, 1861, Union army commander George B. McClellan ordered Gen. Charles Stone to send a scouting party across the Potomac River to identify the positions of Confederate Col. Nathan Evans's troops near Leesburg. In the darkness the party's inexperienced leader, Capt. Chase Philbrick, mistook a line of trees for a line of tents, and reported that he had stumbled across an unguarded Confederate camp. Early the next day, Col. Charles Devens was sent across the river to attack the ca…READ MORE

4/5/62

Battle - Siege of Yorktown (1862) - York County, Virginia; Newport News, Virginia

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Siege of Yorktown (1862)

Most of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army was not on the peninsula on April 4th when Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan departed Fortress Monroe on his Peninsula Campaign. The only force opposing the Yankee advance up the peninsula toward the Confederate capital at Richmond was Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder's small force of two divisions at Yorktown behind the Warwick River. Magruder's deceptive theatrics, conspicuously parading his men back and forth behind his defenses, convinced the Federals that his works were s…READ MORE

5/31/62

Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel John W. Kimball

5/31/62

Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General Willis A. Gorman

Brigadier GeneralWillis A. Gorman

5/31/62

Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General John Sedgwick

Brigadier GeneralJohn Sedgwick

5/31/62

Battle - Seven Pines - Henrico County, Virginia

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Seven Pines

Gen. Joseph E. Johnston withdrew his army from the Virginia Peninsula toward the Confederate capital of Richmond as Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's army pursued him. By the end of May, Johnston held a defensive position seven miles east of the city on the Richmond and York River Railroad. McClellan's army facing Johnston straddled the Chickahominy River and stretched south. Capturing the initiative from his Union foe, Johnston attempted to overwhelm two Federal corps isolated south of the river. The Confed…READ MORE

6/27/62

Battle - Fair Oaks, Virginia

7/1/62

Battle - Malvern Hill - Henrico County, Virginia

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Malvern Hill

On June 30th, the retreating Federal Army of the Potomac finally stopped at the James River at the end of seven days of fighting outside of Richmond.READ MORE

9/17/62

Leadership Change - Regiment - Lieutenant Colonel John W. Kimball

Lieutenant ColonelJohn W. Kimball

9/17/62

Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Oliver O. Howard, and Major General John Sedgwick

Brigadier GeneralOliver O. Howard

Major GeneralJohn Sedgwick

9/17/62

Leadership Change - Division - Major General John Sedgwick

Major GeneralJohn Sedgwick

9/17/62

Battle - Antietam - Sharpsburg, Maryland

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Antietam

The Army of the Potomac, under the command of Maj. Gen. George McClellan, mounted a series of powerful assaults against General Robert E. Lee's forces along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 17th, 1862.READ MORE

12/13/62

Leadership Change - Regiment - Captain Charles H. Watson, Captain John Murkland, and Major Chase Philbrick

12/13/62

Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General Alfred Sully

Brigadier GeneralAlfred Sully

12/13/62

Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General Oliver O. Howard

Brigadier GeneralOliver O. Howard

12/13/62

Leadership Change - Regiment - Major Chase Philbrick

12/13/62

Battle - Fredericksburg - Fredericksburg, Virginia

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Fredericksburg

In early November, Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside took command of the Army of the Potomac, and made immediate plans to move the army once again toward Richmond.READ MORE

4/30/63

Leadership Change - Regiment - Major George C. Joslin

4/30/63

Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General Alfred Sully, Colonel Byron Laflin, and Colonel Henry W. Hudson

Brigadier GeneralAlfred Sully

ColonelByron Laflin

ColonelHenry W. Hudson

4/30/63

Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General John Gibbon

Brigadier GeneralJohn Gibbon

4/30/63

Battle - Chancellorsville - Spotsylvania County, Virginia

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Chancellorsville

On April 27, 1863, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker launched a turning movement designed to pry Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia out of its lines at Fredericksburg.READ MORE

5/3/63

Battle - Second Fredericksburg - Fredericksburg, Virginia

7/1/63

Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel George H. Ward, Lieutenant Colonel George C. Joslin, and Major Isaac H. Hooper

ColonelGeorge H. Ward

Lieutenant ColonelGeorge C. Joslin

MajorIsaac H. Hooper

7/1/63

Leadership Change - Brigade - Brigadier General William Harrow, and Colonel Francis E. Heath

Brigadier GeneralWilliam Harrow

ColonelFrancis E. Heath

7/1/63

Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General John Gibbon, and Brigadier General William Harrow

Brigadier GeneralJohn Gibbon

Brigadier GeneralWilliam Harrow

7/1/63

Leadership Change - Regiment - Colonel George H. Ward

7/1/63

Leadership Change - Brigade - Colonel Francis E. Heath

7/1/63

Leadership Change - Division - Brigadier General John Gibbon

Brigadier GeneralJohn Gibbon

7/1/63

Battle - Gettysburg - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

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Gettysburg

In the summer of 1863, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee launched his second invasion of the Northern states. Lee sought to capitalize on recent Confederate victories and defeat the Union army on Northern soil, which he hoped would force the Lincoln administration to negotiate for peace. Lee also sought to take the war out of the ravaged Virginia farmland and gather supplies for his Army of Northern Virginia. Using the Shenandoah Valley as cover for his army, Lee was pursued first by Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Ho…READ MORE

11/27/63

Battle - Mine Run - Orange County, Virginia

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Mine Run

After the inconclusive Bristoe Campaign in the fall of 1863, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade planned one more offensive against Gen. Robert E. Lee in northern Virginia before winter weather ended military operations. In late November, Meade attempted to steal a march southeast from Culpeper Courthouse, turn south through the Wilderness and strike the right flank of the Confederate army south of the Rapidan River. On November 27th, Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early, in command of Ewell's Corps, marched east on the Orange…READ MORE

5/5/64

Battle - Wilderness - Spotsylvania County, Virginia; Orange County, Virginia

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Wilderness

The first battle between Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee erupted late in the morning of May 5, 1864, as Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren's Union V Corps attacked Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps on the Orange Turnpike southwest of the old Chancellorsville battlefield. Although Federal infantry managed to break through at several points, the Confederate line held. Fighting shifted to the south as Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill's Third Corps engaged Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's II Corps and ele…READ MORE

5/8/64

Battle - Spotsylvania Court House - Spotsylvania County, Virginia

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Spotsylvania Court House

Following the Battle of the Wilderness, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant marched the Union army south with the hope of capturing Spotsylvania Court House and preventing Robert E. Lee's army from retreating further. Lee's Confederates, however, managed to get ahead of the Federals and block the road. Fighting began on May 8th, when the Union Fifth Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren and the Sixth Corps under Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick engaged Confederate Maj. Gen. Richard Anderson's First Corps at Laurel Hi…READ MORE

5/28/64

Battle - Totopotomoy Creek - Hanover County, Virginia

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Totopotomoy Creek

Operations along Totopotomoy Creek northeast of Richmond opened with cavalry combat at the Pamunkey River crossing at Dabney's Ferry (near Hanovertown) and at Crump's Creek on May 27th. During the cavalry fight at Haw's Shop on May 28th, Union and Confederate infantry arrived in the vicinity and the Confederates entrenched behind Totopotomoy Creek. On the 29th, the Union army Second, Ninth, and Fifth Corps probed Lee's position along the creek, while the Sixth Corps felt its way toward Hanover Court House.…READ MORE

5/31/64

Battle - Cold Harbor - Hanover County; near Mechanicsville, Virginia

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Cold Harbor

After two days of inconclusive fighting along Totopotomoy Creek northeast of Richmond, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Robert E. Lee turned their sights on the crossroads of Cold Harbor. Roads emanating through this critical junction led to Richmond as well as supply and reinforcement sources for the Union army. On May 31, 1864, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's cavalry captured Cold Harbor. The next day, Sheridan held the crossroads against a Confederate attack. With reinforcements from both armies arriving…READ MORE

6/15/64

Battle - Second Petersburg - Petersburg, Virginia

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Second Petersburg

As the Overland Campaign concluded, the strategic goals of Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant shifted from the defeat of Robert E. Lee's army in the field to eliminating the supply and communication routes to the Confederate capital at Richmond. The city of Petersburg, 24 miles south of Richmond, was the junction point of five railroads that supplied the entire upper James River region. Grant knew Petersburg was the key to the capture of Richmond and that Lee would be forced to defend it. Marching south from Co…READ MORE

6/21/64

Battle - Jerusalem Plank Road - Petersburg, Virginia

7/26/64

Mustered Out - Massachusetts 15th Volunteer Infantry - Massachusetts

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