After his appointment as captain of the 5th Maine Battery, Pennsylvanian George Leppien traveled to Augusta in late fall 1861 to help recruit men for the new unit. He led the battery into several battles before being ordered to deploy the 5th Maine's six cannons near the Chancellor House on Sunday, May 3, 1863. Outnumbered perhaps 10-to-1 by Confederate cannons and attacked by enemy infantry, the 5th Maine Battery suffered terrible casualties. Leppien was seriously wounded; he died on May 24.