Winslow Homer - The Army of the Potomac--A Sharp-Shooter on Picket Duty - Google Art Project

A sharpshooter is one who is highly proficient at firing firearms or other projectile weapons accurately. Military units composed of sharpshooters were important factors in 19th-century combat. Along with "

marksman A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting using projectile weapons (in modern days most commonly an accurized scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle or a sniper rifle) to shoot at high-value targets at longer-than-u ...

" and "expert", "sharpshooter" is one of the three marksmanship badges awarded by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

and the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

. The

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

and the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

use a ribbon with an attached "S" device to note a sharpshooter qualification.

History

Post-American Revolution (1794–1815)

Some of the earliest mentions of rifling and sharpshooting units in the United States originate in the time following the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

and during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. The US army abolished rifle units following the war in 1783, but they were later revived under General

Anthony Wayne Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his mil ...

and used in the

Battle of Fallen Timbers The Battle of Fallen Timbers (20 August 1794) was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between Native American tribes affiliated with the Northwestern Confederacy and their British allies, against the nascent United States ...

in 1794.Shock Troops of the Confederacy, Fred L. Ray The unit was again disbanded in 1796 following the conclusion of the

Northwest Indian War The Northwest Indian War (1786–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native American nations known today as the Northwestern ...

. However, over the next decade, tensions between and US and British would continue to escalate eventually culminating into the

Chesapeake–Leopard affair The ''Chesapeake''–''Leopard'' affair was a naval engagement off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, on June 22, 1807, between the British fourth-rate and the American frigate . The crew of ''Leopard'' pursued, attacked, and boarded the Americ ...

in 1807. As a result of the incident, the US passed legislation increasing the size of the US Army to allow for the establishment of the

Regiment of Riflemen The Regiment of Riflemen was a unit of the U.S. Army in the early nineteenth century. Unlike the regular US line infantry units with muskets and bright blue and white uniforms, this regiment was focused on specialist light infantry tactics, an ...

in 1808. As opposed to the standard

line infantry Line infantry was the type of infantry that composed the basis of European land armies from the late 17th century to the mid-19th century. Maurice of Nassau and Gustavus Adolphus are generally regarded as its pioneers, while Turenne and Monte ...

equipped with

muskets A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...

and bright blue and white uniforms, this new regiment focused on specialist

light infantry Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...

tactics and uniforms were tactically colored in black and green to blend in with surroundings. The unit was equipped with the first American manufactured

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

, the

Harpers Ferry Model 1803 The Harper's Ferry M1803 rifle was the first standard rifle (as opposed to a smoothbore musket), made by an American armory. History Rifles existed long before the 17th century, but were rarely used by military forces. In order to be effectiv ...

. Prior to entering the War of 1812, the unit would seem some of its first combat in the

Battle of Tippecanoe The Battle of Tippecanoe ( ) was fought on November 7, 1811, in Battle Ground, Indiana, between American forces led by then Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory and Native American forces associated with Shawnee leader Tecums ...

in 1811 as part of the preceding

Tecumseh's War Tecumseh's War or Tecumseh's Rebellion was a conflict between the United States and Tecumseh's Confederacy, led by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh in the Indiana Territory. Although the war is often considered to have climaxed with William Henry Har ...

, though they had fought in this battle using smoothbore mustkets. By 1813, the unit had found its way to Canada where they launched a series of raids. In February, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin Forsyth, the regiment led one such successful raid on a British grenadier unit, with one member of the defeated unit later remarking that he had, "Never experienced such sharpshooting."

Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815)

Another use of units of marksmen was during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. While most troops at that time used inaccurate

smoothbore A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars. History Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without signi ...

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...

s, the British " Green Jackets" (named for their distinctive green uniforms) used the famous

Baker rifle The Baker rifle (officially known as the Pattern 1800 Infantry Rifle) was a flintlock rifle used by the rifle regiments of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. It was the first standard-issue, British-made rifle accepted by the British ...

. Through the combination of a leather wad and tight grooves on the inside of the barrel (

rifling In firearms, rifling is machining helical grooves into the internal (bore) surface of a gun's barrel for the purpose of exerting torque and thus imparting a spin to a projectile around its longitudinal axis during shooting to stabilize the pro ...

), this weapon was far more accurate, though slower to load. These

Riflemen A rifleman is an infantry soldier armed with a rifled long gun. Although the rifleman role had its origin with 16th century hand cannoneers and 17th century musketeers, the term originated in the 18th century with the introduction of the ri ...

were the elite of the British Army, and served at the forefront of any engagement, most often in

skirmish Skirmishers are light infantry or light cavalry soldiers deployed as a vanguard, flank guard or rearguard to screen a tactical position or a larger body of friendly troops from enemy advances. They are usually deployed in a skirmish line, an i ...

formation, scouting out and delaying the enemy. Another term; "sharp shooter", was in use in British newspapers as early as 1801. In the ''Edinburgh Advertiser'', 23 June 1801, can be found the following quote in a piece about the North British Militia; "This Regiment has several Field Pieces, and two companies of Sharp Shooters, which are very necessary in the modern "Stile of War"." The term appears even earlier, around 1781, in Continental Europe, translated from the German Scharfschütze.

U.S. Civil War (1861–1865)

During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, sharpshooters saw limited action, as tacticians sought to avoid the heavy casualties inflicted through normal tactics, which involved close ranks of men at close ranges. The sharpshooters used by both sides in the Civil War were less used as snipers, and more as skirmishers and scouts. These elite troops were well equipped and trained, and placed at the front of any column to first engage the enemy. Their battlefield role could be misunderstood, too. At the

Battle of Mine Run The Battle of Mine Run, also known as Payne's Farm, or New Hope Church, or the Mine Run campaign (November 27 – December 2, 1863), was conducted in Orange County, Virginia, in the American Civil War. An unsuccessful attempt of the Union ...

, one sharpshooter company was ordered to conduct a bayonet charge, even though they were equipped with rifles that were unable to take bayonets.

Union Army

Notable sharpshooter units of the Civil War included the 1st and 2nd United States Volunteer Sharpshooter Regiment (USVSR), composed of companies provided by numerous (primarily eastern) Union states. The U.S.V.S.R. were organized by Colonel

Hiram Berdan Hiram Berdan (September 6, 1824 – March 31, 1893) was an American engineer, inventor, military officer, marksman, and guiding force behind and commanding colonel of the United States Volunteer Sharpshooter Regiments during the American Civil W ...

, a self-made millionaire who was reputed to be the best rifle marksman in the nation at that time. There were also battalion size sharp shooter units including the Ohio Battalion Sharp Shooters, The First New York Battalion Sharp Shooters and the First Maine Battalion Sharp Shooters. Both the 1st and 2nd Company Massachusetts Sharpshooters saw extensive combat during the conflict.Senechal de la Roche They were armed with heavy, custom target rifles and Sharps rifles during their service. There was also an all-Native American company of sharpshooters in the

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confedera ...

. These men, primarily

Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ), said to mean "traders", are an Indigenous American ethnic group who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, commonly known as the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. They ha ...

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

, and

Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...

from northern Michigan, comprised the members of Company K of the 1st Regiment Michigan Volunteer Sharpshooters. In the Western Theater were the well known 66th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Western Sharpshooters), originally known as "Birge's Western Sharpshooters" and later the "Western Sharpshooters-14th Missouri Volunteers". The regiment was raised by MG John C. Fremont at St. Louis' Benton Barracks as the Western Theater counterpart to Berdan's sharpshooters. Members were recruited from most of the Western states, predominantly Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Missouri. Competitive induction required candidates to place ten shots in a three-inch circle at 200 yards. They were initially armed with half-stock Plains Rifles built and procured by St. Louis custom gunmaker Horace (H.E.) Dimick. These "Dimick Rifles" (as they were known in the unit) were modified for military use by the installation of the Lawrence Patent Sight, and fired a special "Swiss-chasseur" minie ball selected by Horice Dimick for its ballistic accuracy. They were the only Federal unit completely armed with "sporting rifles". Beginning in the autumn of 1863 soldiers of the regiment began to reequip themselves with the new 16 shot, lever action Henry Repeating Rifle giving them a significant advantage in firepower over their opponents. Over 250 of the Western Sharpshooters purchased Henrys out of their own pocket, at an average price of forty dollars (over three months pay for a Private). Illinois Governor Richard Yates provided Henrys for some members of the

64th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment The 64th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, nicknamed "Yates' Sharpshooters" was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 64th Illinois Infantry was organized at Camp Butler, Illinois and mu ...

or ''Yates Sharpshooters'' and other soldiers of the unit appear to have similarly equipped themselves with Henry Rifles in 1864.

Confederate Army

On the Confederate side, sharpshooter units functioned as

. Their duties included

skirmishing Skirmishers are light infantry or light cavalry soldiers deployed as a vanguard, flank guard or rearguard to screen a tactical position or a larger body of friendly troops from enemy advances. They are usually deployed in a skirmish line, an i ...

and

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

Robert E. Rodes Robert Emmett (or Emmet) Rodes (March 29, 1829 – September 19, 1864) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War, and the first of Robert E. Lee's divisional commanders not trained at West Point. His division led Stonewall Jackso ...

, colonel of the 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment, and later a major general, was a leader in the development of sharpshooter units. The

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

made more widespread use of sharpshooters than Federal forces, often having semi-permanent detachments at the regimental level and battalions of various size attached to larger formations. Dedicated sharpshooter units included the 1st Georgia Sharpshooter Battalion and three more from that state, the 9th (Pindall's) Battalion Missouri Sharpshooters as well as the sharpshooter battalions of the

Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most oft ...

. Confederate sharpshooters were often less well equipped than their Union counterparts, commonly using the muzzleloading

Enfield Rifled Musket The Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle-musket (also known as the Pattern 1853 Enfield, P53 Enfield, and Enfield rifle-musket) was a .577 calibre Minié-type muzzle-loading rifled musket, used by the British Empire from 1853 to 1867; after which many we ...

or (the more uncommon) hexagonal bore British

Whitworth rifle The Whitworth rifle was an English-made percussion rifle used in the latter half of the 19th century. A single-shot muzzleloader with excellent long-range accuracy for its era, especially when used with a telescopic sight, the Whitworth rifle ...

s, rather than the breechloading Berdan Sharps rifles used by the Union Army. These marksmen accompanied regular infantrymen and were usually tasked with eliminating Union artillery crews. However, the exceptional long-range accuracy of the Whitworth rifle allowed the eponymous

Whitworth Sharpshooters Whitworth Sharpshooters were the Confederates' answer to the Union sharpshooter regiments, and they used the British Whitworth rifle. These men accompanied regular infantrymen and their occupation was usually eliminating Union artillery gun crews. ...

to score several high-profile kills, including the infamous deaths of

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

William Lytle at

Chickamauga Chickamauga may refer to: Entertainment * "Chickamauga", an 1889 short story by American author Ambrose Bierce * "Chickamauga", a 1937 short story by Thomas Wolfe * "Chickamauga", a song by Uncle Tupelo from their 1993 album ''Anodyne'' * ''Chic ...

and

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

John Sedgwick John Sedgwick (September 13, 1813 – May 9, 1864) was a military officer and Union Army general during the American Civil War. He was wounded three times at the Battle of Antietam while leading his division in an unsuccessful assault against C ...

at the Spotsylvania. In his memoirs, Confederate soldier Louis Leon detailed his service as a sharpshooter in the Fifty-Third North Carolina Regiment during the Civil War. As a sharpshooter, he volunteered as a skirmisher, served on picket duty, and engaged in considerable shooting practice. Of his company's original twelve sharpshooters, only he and one other were still alive after Gettysburg. As related by the regiment's commanding officer, Col. James Morehead, in a rare one-on-one encounter Pvt. Leon killed a Union sharpshooter, whom the Confederates identified as a "

Canadian Indian First Nations (french: Premières Nations) is a term used to identify those Indigenous peoples in Canada, Indigenous Canadian peoples who are neither Inuit nor Métis. Traditionally, First Nations in Canada were peoples who lived south of the ...

References

{{reflist, 30em Combat occupations Marksmanship Sniper warfare pl:Strzelec wyborowy