The XV Army Corps was a corps of the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to the ...

during the American Civil War. It served in the

Army of the Tennessee An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

under Maj. Gens. Ulysses S. Grant and

William T. Sherman William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

. It was commanded by Sherman in the

siege of Vicksburg The siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mis ...

and then by Maj. Gen.

John A. Logan John Alexander Logan (February 9, 1826 – December 26, 1886) was an American soldier and politician. He served in the Mexican–American War and was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He served the state of Illinois as a s ...

in Sherman's Atlanta Campaign. Brig. Gen. Peter J. Osterhaus commanded the corps in the March to the Sea, but Logan was back in command during Sherman's Carolina Campaign. When General Howard became head of the Freedman's Bureau, Logan became the commander of the Army of the Tennessee for the final march to Washington. William Hazen became the XV Corps final commander. The XV Corps' badge was a shield with a cartridge box in the middle with the Corps motto "40 Rounds." The badge and motto originated from the Western XV Corps' rivalry with the eastern

XII Corps 12th Corps, Twelfth Corps, or XII Corps may refer to: * 12th Army Corps (France) * XII Corps (Grande Armée), a corps of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * XII (1st Royal Saxon) Corps, a unit of the Imperial German Army * XII ...

. When the Western and Eastern soldiers finally met up near Chattanooga in late 1863, the XI and XII Corps soldiers bragged about their crescent and star-shaped corps badges. When asked what badge the XV Corps had (The XV Corps did not have one yet at the time), an Irish soldier of the XV Corps said, "Moon and stars is it? Sure it was the light of both ye needed to find your way home from Chancellorsville!" (The XI Corps had been routed at that battle) whereupon he slapped his cartridge box and said, "Corps badge? ''This'' is the badge of the Fifteenth Corps; 40 rounds!" This saying eventually reached the ears of General Logan. He soon sent out the following circular to his men: An alternate retelling of the tale behind the unique corps-badge, as given by Sherman in his ''Memoirs'': The Fifteenth Corps is highlighted near the end of Chapter III of MacKinlay Kantor's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Andersonville" (1955).

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XV Corps history
15 1862 establishments in the United States Military units and formations established in 1862 Military units and formations disestablished in 1865 {{AmericanCivilWar-unit-stub

See also

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