[94] in which the corps participated, and the veteran columns marched gayly oil to the final review at Washington. The organization was ordered discontinued August 1, 1865.
Fifteenth Corps.
- Chickasaw Bluffs -- Arkansas Post -- Deer Creek -- Black Bayou -- Snyder's Bluff -- Jackson -- assault on Vicksburg, May 19th -- assault on Vicksburg, May 22nd -- Vicksburg Trenches -- Clinton -- Jackson -- Brandon -- Cherokee -- Tuscumbia -- Lookout Mountain -- Missionary Ridge -- Ringgold -- Resaca -- Dallas -- Big Shanty -- Kenesaw Mountain -- Nickajack Creek -- battle of Atlanta -- Ezra Church -- Jonesboro -- Lovejoy's Station -- Siege of Atlanta -- Allatoona Pass -- Taylor's Ridge -- Griswoldville -- Fort McAllister -- River's Bridge -- Congaree Creek -- Columbia -- Lynch Creek -- Bentonville.
The Fifteenth Corps was one of the organizations resulting from the partition of the Thirteenth Corps, December 18, 1862. General William T. Sherman was assigned to its command. Part of the Fifteenth Corps--the divisions of Generals Steele and Morgan L. Smith, together with other troops — were engaged under Sherman at Chickasaw Bluffs in the first attempt on Vicksburg. These two divisions lost in that action, 144 killed, 579 wounded, and 189 missing; total, 912. The entire loss of the Army at Chickasaw Bluffs was 1,776. A few days later these two divisions accompanied McClernand's expedition to Arkansas Post, a successful affair which resulted in the capture of that place. General Sherman was present with these two divisions of his corps; General M. L. Smith having been severely wounded at Chickasaw Bluffs, his division was commanded at Arkansas Post by General David Stuart. The loss of the Fifteenth Corps in this affair was 86 killed, 501 wounded, and 11 missing; total, 598. The loss of the entire Army was 1,061. During the spring of 1863 the corps participated in the Bayou expeditions about Vicksburg, preceding the campaign in the rear of that city. On that campaign the corps was composed of the three divisions of Steele, Blair, and Tuttle, numbered respectively as the First, Second, and Third Divisions; they were previously known as the Eleventh, Fifth, and Eighth, of the Army of the Tennessee. These three divisions contained 41 regiments of infantry, 7 batteries of light artillery (36 guns), and 5 companies of cavalry, numbering in all, 15,975 present for duty, out of 19,238 present in the aggregate. Present and absent, it numbered 27,416 men. Of the series of battles in the rear of Vicksburg, the battle of Jackson, May 14, was the only one in which the Fifteenth Corps took part. In that action Tuttle's Division was slightly engaged, losing 6 killed, 22 wounded, and 4 missing. The corps was engaged, next, in the investment of Vicksburg. In the assault of May 19th, it lost 134 killed, 571 wounded, and 8 missing; total, 713. In this assault the Fifteenth sustained the principal loss, the total of the casualties amounting to 942. In the general assault which occured three days later--May 22d--the corps lost 150 killed, 666 wounded, and 42 missing; total, 858. After the surrender of Vicksburg, the Army moved on Jackson and invested that place, the corps losing there,--July 10--16th,--10 killed, 32 wounded, and 38 missing. During the latter movement the First Division was commanded by General John M. Thayer. After the evacuation of Jackson by the enemy, the Army returned to Vicksburg and its vicinity, the Fifteenth Corps encamping there until the latter part of September, when it moved to Memphis. The Third Division (Tuttle's) was left behind at Vicksburg, and it never rejoined the corps. Its place was taken by John E. Smith's Division (formerly Quinby's), Seventeenth Corps, which joined at Memphis and remained permanently attached, as the Third Division. William S. Smith's Division was detached from time Sixteenth Corps, in
