Book Review: From the Wilderness to Appomattox: The Fifteenth New York Heavy Artillery in the Civil War

From the Wilderness to Appomattox: The Fifteenth New York Heavy Artillery in the Civil War. By Edward A. Altemos. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2023. Softcover, 424 pp. $39.95.

Reviewed by Tim Talbott

Capt. Alfred Lee of the 82nd Ohio Infantry wrote to the Delaware, Ohio Gazette soon after the battle of Chancellorsville, blaming the May 2, 1863 collapse of his own Eleventh Corps on the many German regiments that served in it. “Had the German regiments fought at all, had they stood firmly upon our flanks as we expected they would, in short had they rendered us any assistance worth naming, I have no doubt at all but the enemy would have found himself unable to pass the breastwork and would have been driven back in confusion,” penned Lee.[1] The captain was not alone in his criticism or prejudice. Numerous soldiers faulted their “Dutch” comrades, not only for the Eleventh Corps rout, but also for the Army of the Potomac’s ultimate defeat at Chancellorsville. Disparaging comments and ethnic blame only increased when the Eleventh Corps initially received another rough handling two months later at Gettysburg. Following these two unfortunate events, it became evident that units consisting of large numbers of Germans would unfairly have to prove themselves in battle before they received any trust or respect.

With his publication of From the Wilderness to Appomattox: The Fifteenth New York Heavy Artillery in the Civil War, author Edward A. Altemos ably chronicles a predominantly German regiment that began its combat service under this bigoted dark cloud. Their experience is one of potential, determination, and eventually, dutiful performance under fire.

Not only was the Fifteenth soldiering under the bias of perceived shortcomings unfairly associated with its members’ ethnicity, their service in a unit designated as heavy artillery (but fighting as infantry) made their already difficult position even more so. Labeled as “Lincoln’s Pets” and “band box soldiers” for stationing the large artillery in Washington, D.C.’s ring of defenses, and thus seeing little if any previous combat, left their comrades skeptical of their fighting abilities.

Due largely to their garrison existence for much of the war, most of the heavy artillery regiments contained many more men than standard field infantry regiments by 1864. At the beginning of the Overland Campaign, some  heavy artillery units counted about as many men in their ranks as some of the Army of the Potomac’s infantry brigades.

After Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant decided to attach himself to the Army of the Potomac, he found the garrisons of “heavies” to be a ready source of additional infantrymen and called forward a number of regiments—including the Fifteenth—to the army’s camps near Brandy Station. Others would come later. Arriving in March, the Fifteenth spent considerable time drilling and reorganizing itself into a regiment of three battalions.

Fighting as infantry for the first time during the battle of the Wilderness, the Fifteenth’s soldiers produced mixed results. But they also gained valuable experience and confidence. Similarly at Spotsylvania, despite receiving orders to constantly shift around, they had witnessed the war at its worse and turned in a rather solid performance with other heavies on May 19, 1864, at Harris Farm. By the fighting at North Anna, the Fifteenth was receiving praise from its corps commander, Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren. More Overland Campaign marching and the fighting at Bethesda Church provided the Fifteenth with additional hardening. The Petersburg Campaign, which for the Fifteenth included actions in the First Offensive, the Weldon Railroad (Globe Tavern), Peebles Farm, Hatcher’s Run, White Oak Road, and Five Forks, offered them many opportunities to show their developing abilities and courage. Participation in the Appomattox Campaign, although trying, likely provided a satisfying conclusion to their combat experience.

Drawing from the Official Records, soldiers’ letters, Fifteenth New York Heavy Artillery regimental records, letter collections of soldiers and regimental histories of units who served alongside the Fifteenth, and numerous other sources, Atlemos does an excellent job of supplying readers with a detailed account of the regiment’s happenings from its formation and initial service in Washington, D.C.’s defenses to victory at Appomattox.

Altemos admittedly regrets not finding more source information directly from the regiment’s German soldiers during his years-long research process. This, he explains, “undoubted leaves a void in terms of describing what the German members were thinking and feeling and how they perceived events—at least to the extent those thoughts, feelings, and perceptions differed from those of their Anglo comrades.” (xxxv)

Included in the book are over 20 detailed maps by historian and cartographer Edward Alexander showing the movements and actions of the Fifteenth. Period photographs of some of the personalities mentioned in the book, as well scenes of some of the locations where they fought, also inform readers. Two appendices conclude the work. One discusses the court martial of Col. Louis Schirmer and the other is a group of 15 photographs from the collection of Patrick A. Schroeder, showing junior officers, noncommissioned officers, and enlisted men who served in the Fifteenth.

From the Wilderness to Appomattox: The Fifteenth New York Heavy Artillery in the Civil War helps fill a void in the scholarship about the service that heavy artillery units provided to the Army of the Potomac during the war’s last year. Hopefully this book will serve as a model for additional studies on other units that transitioned from heavy artillery service to infantry roles and helped win the war.

[1] Dan Masters, ed., Alfred Lee’s Civil War: On Campaign with the Armies of the Potomac and the Cumberland, Perrysburg, OH: Columbian Arsenal Press, 2018, p. 93.