Confederate Sharpshooter by daniel.campo

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Confederate Sharpshooter

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The mission of the sharpshooter was to kill from a distance. Feared by both sides. While most useful in a siege he was also useful in combat. With a superior weapon fired from a rest such as a tree limb, skilled shots could hit small targets at half a mile or more!

Confederate troops were often thought to be the best sharpshooters in the Civil War. The southern soldier is often thought as the skilled squirrel hunter. Unfortunately this skill level only belongs to a few chosen men in each regiment or brigade. These men changed the tide of a battle with their deadly accuracy.

Confederate sharpshooter companies and battalions were originally organized during the early months of 1862. Colonel Robert Rodes was the creator of the southern sharpshooter. On May 3rd the Confederate Congress passed General Orders Number 34. These orders were put into effect immediately by all commanders.

Confederate marksmen would eventually find their mark through trial and error in the battles of 1862. The first engagement of the First North Carolina Sharpshooters came at the Battle of Cross Keys, where Major Wharton and his command weakens the enemy position, then quickly retreated back to the main line.

It was in 1863 that Confederate sharpshooters began their rise to deadly accuracy. The sharpshooters of McGowan’s Brigade started training under Captain William Haskell in January of 1863. Sharpshooters of Davis's and Archer’s brigades skirmished with Union cavalry before Gettysburg on the First of July, pushing the troopers of Herr’s Ridge before the main attack began. Gettysburg marked the first time that the corps of Confederate sharpshooters as a whole began to live up to its elite status.

The sharpshooters gained their elite status in the winter of 1863. A reorganization of the units began when young, energetic commanders took command. In McGowan’s brigade, Who made a draft on the regiments, taking the most accurate shots in each company into his battalion. These men, like their companion units in other brigades, trained extensively every day. By the spring of 1864, every man was expected to hit a man sized target at 1000 yards!

In the remaining months of the war, the sharpshooter battalions of the Confederacy became known for their deadly accuracy. These troops were often deployed far in advance of the main line, incurring high casualty percentages. Although enlisting in the sharpshooters was considered a death wish, many young men wished to be known as the feared marksmen of the Confederacy.