ANDREW C. NIXON
Andrew Nixon was born in 1844. He enlisted in Company I of the 15th Indiana Infantry on June 14, 1861, at Lafayette, Indiana. He was only 16 years old.
Private Nixon and the 15th Indiana fought in the battles of Elkwater and Greenbrier in West Virginia in the fall of 1861. The regiment next moved to Tennessee and fought at the battle of Shiloh in April of 1862. The following month Nixon and the 15th Indiana fought in the battle and siege of Corinth, Mississippi. They also saw hard combat at the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, in October of 1862.
From December 30, 1862 to January 3, 1863, Nixon and the 15th Indiana fought at the battle of Stones River, Tennessee. The regiment had 188 men killed or wounded at this battle, and captured an entire Confederate regiment. In September of 1863, Nixon and the regiment fought at the battle of Missionary Ridge in Tennessee, where the 15th Indiana suffered 202 men killed or wounded, which was over 60% of the regiment.
In February of 1864, Private Nixon and the 15th Indiana went on garrison duty at Chattanooga. On May 1, Private Nixon was arrested on charges of “ larceny, stealing, and conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline.” Apparently, Private Nixon and two other members of the 15th Indiana had been caught stealing some clothing from a government warehouse. He was sentenced to 1 year of hard labor, with all pay forfeited and to be dishonorably discharged at the conclusion of his sentence.
Nine months later, some citizens of his hometown wrote a letter to his commanding general, asking for leniency. The letter worked, and private Nixon was released from prison and his dishonorable discharge was revoked in March of 1865.
No information is currently available on Private Nixon’s postwar life. He died in 1877 at age 32.