15th Infantry Regiment, organized in the spring of 1861 at Athens, Georgia, contained men from Hancock, Stephens, Elbert, Lamar, Warren, Wilkes, Taliaferro, and Oglethorpe counties. On July 22, 1861, the unit was reported to be en route to Virginia and upon its arrival was assigned to the Potomac District. Later it was placed in General Toombs' and Benning's Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. The 15th was involved in the campaigns of the army from the Seven Days' Battles to Cold Harbor, except when it was detached with Longstreet at Suffolk, Chickamauga, and Knoxville. It continued the fight in the Petersburg siege north of the James River and later around Appomattox. The regiment totalled 441 men in April, 1862, and lost 108 during Seven Days' Battles. It sustained 54 casualties at Second Manassas, 36 during the Maryland Campaign, and forty percent of the 368 engaged at Gettysburg. From April 14, to May 6, there were 73 disabled, and from August 1 to December 31, 1864, it lost 50 killed and wounded. At the surrender, 20 officers and 226 men were present. The field officers were Colonels Dudley M. DuBose, William M. McIntosh, William T. Millican, and Thomas W. Thomas; Lieutenant Colonels Stephen Z. Hearnsberger, Peter J. Shannon, T.J. Smith, and Linton Stephens; and Major Joseph T. Smith.