Assault of Heg's Brigade

15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry

Chickamauga '99

Taken September 18, 1999, at the Chickamauga Reenactment
What is left of Heg's Brigade is just visible in the fog of smoke and dust
Photo courtesy of Judy Sandberg, 15th descendant.

This photo was taken near the end of the hour-long "Assault of Heg's Brigade" battle scenario, which took place at the reenactment of the September 19-20, 1863 Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia. The reenactment was held near Ringgold, Georgia, just a few miles from the original Chickamauga battlefield. The Assault of Heg's Brigade was intended to reprise the original fighting that took place around Viniard's Farm on the first day of the battle.

The photo shows the remnants of Heg's Brigade, which included the 15th Wisconsin, barely visible in the thick smoke and dust just past the trees. Heg's Brigade (3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 20th Army Corp) suffered very serious casualties in the original fighting at Viniard's Farm. The 15th went in with some 200 soldiers and lost over half of them.

The haze in the photo was created by white smoke from the firing of some 200,000 rounds of musket ammunition and several hundred cannon rounds, combined with the fine red dust of Georgia that was thrown up by some 5,000 reenactors manouvering on the battlefield. An even thicker haze settled over the original fighting in 1863, reducing visibility to as little as 20 feet.

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