The Alabama in the Civil War Message Board

15th Alabama - an Alabama regiment?

Having compiled from the ADAH database a list of men from the 15th Alabama regiment listed as either present or a casualty at Gettysburg, the total comes to about 500, which happens to match the known strength of the regiment in that battle. Of this number, over 200 have their listed place of birth as Georgia, while another 60 were born in either South or North Carolina. While I presume the Carolina natives had moved to Alabama prior to the war, at least some of the Georgians had enlisted in Columbus, which means they were Georgians through and through, and fighting under the banner of another state. My point is that some regiments like the 15th Alabama comprised many such "outsiders." So, for example, when contemplating the heroic struggle at Little Round Top between the 15th Alabama and 20th Maine, one should remember that a lot of Georgians and others were there in the mix as well. I would likewise surmise that the "men from Maine" comprised a number of Canadians, just as the 15th Alabama had a number of foreign-born soldiers who hailed from Ireland, England, Canada, and even New Zealand, etc. We tend to forget the diversity that may be found in individual regiments from a given state.

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15th Alabama - an Alabama regiment?
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