15th Alabama Infantry Regiment Muster Roll

In my first post I discussed the circumstances of the wounding of one of my great-great-great grandfathers, David Franklin Averett (1837-1927), at the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia in 1864. He had enlisted in Company "A" (the "Canty Rifles") of the 15th Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Fort Mitchell, Alabama on 3 July 1861. The muster roll for his Company is available on Ancestry.com (which I highly recommend) and this post will document his enlistment and his service in the Company.

Source:  Ancestry.com, Alabama Civil War Muster Rolls, 1861-1865 [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Original data:  Muster rolls of Alabama Civil War Units. SG025006-25100. Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama Department of Archives & History.
Description:  These rolls are for Confederate units formed in Alabama during the Civil War - though many operated outside of the state over the course of the war. The records include rolls for infantry, cavalry, artillery, reserves, and often wounds, sickness, leave status, or other reasons for men being away from the unit are includes.

The muster roll runs twenty pages and the pages relevant to David Averett are displayed and transcribed here. It also contains several links to Wikipedia and other online articles on the specific battles in which he and/or his Company fought.

The first page is an identifier.

UNIT 15th Ala Inf Regt.
CO. "A"
BOOK/FOLDER  8/13

The third and fourth pages (click to enlarge) are shown immediately below and the transcription follows them. Below the transcription is an image that I spliced together because it was difficult to line up the entries for D.F. Averett when looking back and forth between the two pages in the process of transcribing them. The pages are opposite leaves in a book meant to be viewed together. Verbatim transcriptions are italicized.

Record of Company (A) Cantey [sic] Rifles Fifteenth Regiment Volunteer Infantry from the State of Alabama in the service of the Confederate States of America in the war with the United States from the 3rd day of July 1861, (date of organization) to the 31st day of December 1864.

On the third line of the third section, we find the record for David Averett:

Name: D F Averett
Rank: Pvt.
Enlisted: July 3, 1861 at Fort Mitchell, Alabama
Period: War
Born: Georgia
Occupation: Farmer
Residence (nearest Post Office): Tallassee, Alabama
Age when enlisted: 23
Marital status: Single

☞ Under "ENGAGEMENTS," head the column with name and date of battles; where the engagement lasted more than one day, take a column for each day; and use the following characters to mean P. Present and unhurt; w. Wounded; s.w. Severely wounded; k. Killed; a. Absent without leave; a.f. Absent on furlough or satisfactorily; a.d. Absent on detail or duty by order; a.s. Absent sick; a.w. Absent wounded; a.c. Absent captured; a.a. Absent under arrest; c. Captured; X. Deserted; m. Missing. M.W. Mortally wounded. + Re-enlisted under Act Dec 11 1861.

The column headings are as follows. Note the hyperlinks to online documentation of the individual engagements.

1. Winchester, Virginia on 28 May 1862 ("present and unhurt"); 
2. Cross Keys, Virginia on 8 Jun 1862 ("present and unhurt"); 
3. Cold Harbor, Virginia on 27 Jun 1862 ("present and unhurt"); 
4. Malvern Hill, Virginia on 2 Jul 1862 ("present and unhurt"); 
5. Cedar Run, or Slaughter’s Mountain, Virginia on 9 Aug 1862 ("present and unhurt"); 
6. Hazel River, Virginia on 22 Aug 1862 ("present and unhurt");
7. Manassas Junction, Virginia [2nd Battle of Manassas, aka 2nd Battle of Bull Run] on 28 Aug 1862 ("present and unhurt");
8. Manassas Plains, Virginia [2nd Battle of Manassas] on 29 Aug 1862 ("present and unhurt");
9. Manassas Plains, Virginia [2nd Battle of Manassas] on 30 Aug 1862 ("present and unhurt");
10. Chantilly Farm, Virginia on 1 Sep 1862 ("present and unhurt");
11. Harpers Ferry, Virginia on 15 Sep 1862 ("present and unhurt");
12. Sharpsburg [Battle of Antietam], Maryland on 17 Sep 1862 ("present and unhurt")
13. Shepardstown, Virginia on 20 Sep 1862 ("present and unhurt")
14. Fredericksburg, Virginia on 13 Dec 1862 ("present and unhurt");
15. Suffolk, Virginia on 8 May 1863 ("present and unhurt");
16. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania  on 2-3 Jul 1863 ("present and unhurt");
17. Big Battle Mountain, Virginia on 24 Jul 1863 ("present and unhurt");
18. Chickamauga, Georgia on 19-20 Sep 1863 ("present and unhurt");
19. Moccasin Point, Tennessee on 27 Oct 1863 ("present and unhurt");
20. Lookout Valley, Tennessee on 28 Oct 1863 ("present and unhurt");
21. Campbell’s Station, Tennessee on 16 Nov 1863 ("present and unhurt");
22. Knoxville, Tennessee on 25 and 29 Nov 1863 ("present and unhurt");
23. Dandridge, Tennessee on 24 Jan 1864 ("absent on furlough or satisfactorily");
24. Wilderness, Virginia on 6 May 1864 ("severely wounded");
25. Spotsylvania, Virginia on 8 May 1864 ("absent wounded");
26. Spotsylvania, Virginia on 12 May 1864 ("absent wounded");
27. Cold Harbor, Virginia on 3 June 1864 ("absent wounded");
28. Chester Station, Virginia on 17 June 1864 ("absent wounded") Problem:  The battle of Chester Station occurred on 10 May 1864, according to Wikipedia. Ambiguity to be resolved.
29. Deep Bottom, Virginia on 14 August 1864 ("absent wounded");
30. Fussell's Mill, Virginia on 16 August 1864 ("absent wounded");
31. Fort Gilmer[, Virginia] on 29 September 1864 ("absent wounded");
32. Fort Harrison[, Virginia] on 30 [?] September 1864 ("absent wounded");
33. Darbytown[, Virginia] on 7 October 1864 ("absent wounded");
34. Darbytown, Virginia on 13 October 1864 ("absent wounded");
35. Williamsburg Road, [state?] on 27 October 1864 ("absent wounded") Problem: Need to find documentation about this battle.

REMARKS. 

 ☞ Herein show accurately all dates, as of elections, promotions, resignations, deaths, transfers, desertions, discharges, retirement, capture, exchange or escape. Mention meritorious or dishonorable facts, and character of serious and disabling wounds, and when and where received. Note "conscripts" and "substitutes," and for whom the latter were received. Note also, "reenlisted men" under Act of Dec. 11th, 1861, and where and from what organization." 

 "Promoted Corporal Mch [March] 1 62 [1862], To 1st Sergt [Sergeant] Feb [February] 16 62 [should be 1863?]; a good true soldier & one of the bravest of the [unreadable]; promoted for merit & good soldiership"

My corrections are based on the book The War Between the Union and the Confederacy and Its Lost Opportunities with a History of the 15th Alabama Regiment and the Forty-Eight Battles in Which It Was Engaged, by [CSA Colonel] William C. Oates, 1905 [Reprinted by Morningside Bookshop, Dayton, Ohio in 1985] on page 575:

"D.F. Averett was 23 years old when enlisted. He was one of the best soldiers in his company, and participated in all the campaigns and nearly all the battles in which the regiment was engaged. At the Wilderness, May 6, 1864, he was severely wounded and disabled, and did not return to duty until about the 1st of 1865. He was promoted to corporal in 1862 and to first sergeant early in 1863, and remained at his post to the surrender at Appomattox."

HISTORICAL MEMORANDA.

☞ Make such succinct narrative or organization and service, as of Stations, Marches, Battles, incidents, &c., as may be necessary for perfect record, being particular as to dates.

This company was organized at Fort Mitchell Russell Co [County] Alabama [inserted:  July 26, 1861] Ninety one (91) enlisted men and four officers one of whom has been promoted to the Colonelcy of the Regt [Regiment] one died and two assigned and one Killed in action [inserted:  + Chories (? -- unreadable)] This latter officer was the adjutant of the Regt and was unanimously by by [sic] the Company as its Captain after the promotion of Capt Lowther. His name does not appear on the rolls of the Company. The Company holding its position on the right flank of the Regt necessarily became one of the skirmish Companies and was principally drilled with that object in view. It has been engaged in many skirmishes [two words unreadable, the second being "kindest"?] of general engagements when the active Regt was engaged and particularly during the Campaign of 1864, in conjunction with another [?] Company (G) did all all the skirmishing for the Regt being out every other day and frequently twice a day. It is and has been one of the best companies for aptness at drill [unreadable word] good soldiership [unreadable word] and easily managed in the service and deserves all the encomiums that could be heaped upon it. Like other bodies of men it has had Its bad members but as a body there has been no better body of men extant. [Inserted text:  + The company went as a part of the organization of the 15th Ala Regt of Infantry which was formed at the same time & place]

I hereby certify that the foregoing Record of names, dates, facts, and historical memoranda, is correctly given.
STATION: Camp near Richmond, Va [Virginia]
DATE:  December 21st 1864
[signed] F. Key Shaaff, Battalion Com'dg. [Commanding] 


Inspection of the Roster of Commissioned Officers of Company A (click to enlarge) reveals that Alex A. Lowther was elected Captain of the Company on 26 July 1861 and that Francis K Shaaff was appointed by [then] General Canty on 16 August 1862.

Parenthetically, the page also indicates that there were a total of seven commissioned officers and 115 enlisted men in Company A.


This 15th Alabama Infantry Regiment muster roll record stops on 31 December 1864. The Wikipedia article on the 15th Alabama Infantry (viewed 2 September 2011) indicates that the only engagement in which the 15th Alabama participated was the "Appomattox Campaign from March 29 to April 9". Unfortunately, the article, again as of 2 September 2011, provides no reference for this campaign and I will research this further with respect to the service of David Averett. The extremely valuable book by Confederate States Army Colonel William C. Oates, quoted above and in my first post on this blog, does not contain much detail on what happened with respect to the 15th Alabama Regiment in 1865, although Oates confirms that David Averett was with his unit in the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, when it surrendered on 9 April 1865. (Oates was wounded at Petersburg, Virginia, losing his right arm, and had returned home when news of the surrender at Appomattox arrived.)

This final engagement of the 15th Alabama, at which David Averett was certainly present, remains to be investigated and documented by me at a future date.