15th Ohio Volunteer Infantry

Welcome To Our New and Updated Home Page This page will serve as both a history of the 15th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and the homepage of the Willich's Brigade Descendants Association. Please note that this is a work in progress with new items being added as time permits. Check the WBDA homepage for some new items. A journal kept by Captain Doolittle of Company G has just been added on its own page. Click on the link and then click on the photo to enlarge it for better viewing. (June 23, 2008) We have identified the location of a great 1902 reunion photo. See Reunion Page (June 8, 2008) Company Rosters are complete and can be found on the Company Roster Page. Click on each page to enlarge it for better viewing. (May 15, 2008) We have just added a Brigade Biography page with new bio's being added as soon as possible. Let us hear from you if you have any ideas on what you would like to see on this website. If you have any new information to add, please feel free to contact me. Your comments are always welcomed. A great new picture was located by Richard Mann of Fostoria, Ohio. It shows the 15th Ohio being presented with a flag in 1861. This would be the 90-day 15th Ohio Infantry. This picture is a rare find--the first we have ever seen. Our thanks go out to Dick for sending this picture to us.) October 9, 2008 An old 1900 photo of Major Wilbur Goodspeed, Battery A, First Ohio Light Artillery has been found in a Reunion book of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland. It can be viewed on the Biography page. (Feb. 8, 2009) A new article called "The Gallant Boys Are Not Weary of Well Doing--The 15th Ohio and the Copperheads" is due out in the May, 2009 issue of the Ohio Civil War Genealogical Journal. In addition, Dick Mann's new book on the 49th Ohio is due out in late spring. We will give you all the details here when his book comes out. If you would like to be on the Publishers contact list for this book, just email me at rfbundy31@hotmail.com. (January 26, 2009) We have three new photos of 15th Ohio Officers--Alex Cope, Colin Leiter, Moses Dickey and Robert Cochran--all courtesy of Robert Van Dorn. These are beautiful views with the Leiter photo being exceptional in that it shows a corps badge on his hat. Our thanks go out to Bob for allowing us post this views. (One note---We ask that no one duplicate any photos found on this website. Most are from private collections who have graciously allowed us to post them here. It would not be legal or proper to reproduce these photos without permission. Thank you in advance for your consideration.) July 2, 2009---A copy of the diary of Co. A's Frank Schreiber has been found by his great-great-grandson. This diary was used by Alex Cope in the writing of the regimental history of the 15th Ohio. This is a great find, with many interesting insights into the history of the regiment. Our thanks go out to Peter Wood of Tennessee for providing us with a copy. MOSES DICKEY--PATRIOT OR TRAITOR? Moses Dickey was the first commander of the 15th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He resigned in an apparent huff when command of the Brigade went to General August Willich instead of himself. In April of 1863, he did something that earned him the outrage of not only the 15th Ohio but the entire brigade. See the Brigade Stories page for an account of his actions. (added June 21, 2008)
	BATTLES AND CAMPAIGNS Mustered in Mansfield, Ohio September 12, 1861 Camp Nevin, Kentucky--October 31, 1861 Camp Wood, Kentucky--Nov. 1-Dec. 31, 1861 SHILOH, TN----------------APRIL 6-7, 1862 Near Corinth, Mississippi--April, 1862 Huntsville, Alabama--May-August 1862 With Army on march--Sept./Oct. 1862 STONE RIVER, TN--------DEC. 31, 1862-JAN. 2, 1863 Camp Sill-Murfreesboro, Tenn-Jan/June 1863 LIBERTY GAP, TN--------JUNE 25-26, 1863 CHICKAMAUGA, GA----SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1863 MISSION RIDGE, TN----NOVEMBER 25, 1863 Strawberry Plains, TN--January 1, 1864 Veteran Infantry--Furloughed Feb/March, 1864 Camp Chase, Ohio-March 13, 1864 Nashville, TN--March 22, 1864 Chattanooga, TN--April 5, 1864 ROCKEY FACE RIDGE, GA-MAY 5-9, 1864 RESACA, GA------------MAY 13-16, 1864 CASSVILLE, GA--------MAY 19-22, 1864 PICKETT'S MILL, GA--MAY 27, 1864 KENESAW MOUNTAIN, GA--JUNE 9-30, 1864 PEACHTREE CREEK, GA--JULY 20, 1864 ATLANTA, GA---------JULY 22, 1864 LOVEJOY'S STATION, GA--SEPT. 2-6, 1864 FRANKLIN, TN-------NOVEMBER 30, 1864 NASHVILLE, TN------DECEMBER 15-16, 1864 Huntsville, Alabama---Nov.1864-Feb. 1865 Camp Harker, Nashville, Tenn.--March-April 1865 New Orleans, Louisiana--May-June 1865 Texas Campaign--June-November 1865
COL. HUNT PRESENTING THE AMERICAN FLAG TO CAPT. P.A. TYLER COMPANY G, 15TH OHIO INFANTRY APRIL 23, 1861 (Upper Sandusky, Wyandot Co. Pictorial Memories 1976--Watkins Printing Co.) This great picture was located by Richard Mann--historian/author-49th Ohio Volunteer Infantry) The Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry was among the first troops to respond to President Lincoln's call for troops in April 1861. The troops assembled at Camp Jackson, Columbus, Ohio and were mustered into the service of the State to date from April 27, 1861. Four days later, the Regiment removed to Zanesville, Ohio. The Regiment was used to guard the B&O Railroad in Western Virginia and were engaged at Philippi, Laurel Hill and Carrick's Ford. With its term about to expire, the regiment was reorganized into a three year unit. In September of 1861, the unit began to gather at Mansfield, Ohio. Moses R. Dickey was named Colonel. William T. Wilson served as Lt. Col. and William Wallace as Major. The regiment was fully orgainzed by September 20, 1861 and was mustered into service on September 21st with equipment being issued on the 22nd. The regiment arrived in Columbus, Ohio on September 26 and moved the next day to Camp Dennison. Colonel Dickey resigned on October 24, 1862, reportedly because command of the brigade was given to General August Willich. In April of 1863, a copy of the Mansfield Shield and Banner newspaper arrived in camp containing a speech by Col. Dickey which the men of the regiment felt was unpatriotic. On the evening of April 16th, men from the 15th Ohio, 49th Ohio and 32nd Indiana gathered and wrote a response to the paper denouncing Col. Dickey's speech. William Wallace took command of the regiment and led it in the fighting at Shiloh in April of 1862 (Col. Dickey was absent) and Stone River. Following that campaign, Wallace returned to Ohio because of ill health and took command of Camp Chase, a prison camp outside of Columbus. Col. Askew was left in command of the regiment and led it throughout the remainder of the war. Col. Wallace returned briefly for the Atlanta Campaign but was mustered out after hurting his back in a severe fall at Pickett's Mill. The most well known and honored commander of the 15th Ohio was Frank Askew of Belmont Co. Ohio. His father was a harnessmaker in Barnesville. Askew attended the University of Michigan in 1859 with the hopes of becoming a lawyer. With the outbreak of the war, he enlisted in the 17th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, a 90-day unit. At the end of his initial enlistment, he reenlisted as a Captain in the 15th Ohio. Askew was wounded and captured at the Battle of Stone River but was left behind by his captors when the Confederate Army retreated from Murfreesboro. He reported back for duty in May of 1863 as commander of the regiment. He led the regiment, except for a brief period in the early part of the Atlanta Campaign when Col. Wallace returned, for the rest of the war. He was wounded again at Nashville but did not leave the field. His appointment to Colonel and later Bvt. Brig. General, was met with get satisfaction with the men of the regiment who trusted Col. Askew as a "man of unusual skill and efficiency and a man of unusual qualifications and fitness for higher command."
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