fficers:

Colonel----Wm. DeSaussure.
Lieutenant Colonel----Joseph Gist.
Major ----

The regiment remained in camp undergoing a thorough course of
instruction until Hilton Head, on the coast of South Carolina, was
threatened; then the Fifteenth was ordered in the field and hurried to
that place, reaching it on the afternoon of the day before the battle
of that name. The Fifteenth, with the Third Battalion and other State
troops, was placed under the command of Brigadier General Drayton,
also of South Carolina, and put in position. The next day, by some
indiscretion of General Drayton, or so supposed at that time, the
Fifteenth was placed in such position as to be greatly exposed to the
heavy fire from the war vessels in the harbor. This caused the loss of
some thirty or forty in killed and wounded. The slaughter would have
been much greater had it not been for the courage and quick perception
of Colonel DeSaussure in maneuvering them into a place of safety.
After the battle the regiment lay for some time about Hardeesville and
Bluffton doing guard and picket duty, still keeping up their course
of daily drills. They were then sent to James Island, and were held in
reserve at the battle of Secessionville. After the great Seven Days'
Battles around Richmond it and the Third Battalion were ordered to
Virginia and placed with a regiment from Alabama and one from Georgia
in a brigade under General Drayton. They went into camp below Richmond
as a part of a division commanded by Brigadier General D.R. Jones, in
the corps commanded by Longstreet. When Lee began his march northward
they broke camp on the 13th of August, and followed the lead of
Longstreet to Gordonsville, and from thence on to Maryland. They were
on the field during the bloody battle of Second Manassas, but not
actually engaged, being held in the reserve line on the extreme right.
At South Mountain they received their first baptism of fire in a
battle with infantry. On the memorable 17th of September at Sharpsburg
they were confirmed as veteran soldiers in an additional baptism of
blood. However, as yet considered raw and undisciplined troops, they
conducted themselves on each of these trying occasions like trained
soldiers. Colonel DeSaussure was one of the most gallant and efficient
officers that South Carolina ever produced. He was a Mexican War
veteran and a born soldier. His attainments were such as fitted him
for much higher position in the se