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" and "expert", "sharpshooter" is one of the three marksmanship badges awarded by the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps. The United States Navy and the United States Coast Guard use a ribbon with an attached "S" device to note a sharpshooter qualification.
Some of the earliest mentions of rifling and sharpshooting units in the United States originate during around the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. During the 1777 battles of Saratoga, Continental Army officer Benedict Arnold strategically arranged for sharpshooter units to target enemy officers and artillery units. All such sharpshooters units were disbanded following the war's end in 1783, but they were later revived in the United States Army under Anthony Wayne and used in the Battle of Fallen Timbers of the Northwest Indian War in 1794. [1] The unit was again disbanded in 1796 following the conclusion of the conflict. [1] However, over the next decade, tensions between the U.S. and Britain would continue to escalate eventually culminating into the Chesapeake–Leopard affair in 1807. As a result of the incident, the US passed legislation increasing the size of the U.S. Army to allow for the establishment of the Regiment of Riflemen in 1808. As opposed to the standard line infantry equipped with muskets and bright blue and white uniforms, this new regiment focused on specialist light infantry 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, the Harpers Ferry Model 1803. Prior to entering the War of 1812, the unit would have seen some of its first combat in the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 as part of the preceding Tecumseh's War, though they had fought in this battle using smoothbore muskets. 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 attack on a British grenadier unit, with one member of the unit later remarking that he had "Never experienced such sharpshooting."
Sharpshooter units were also used during the Napoleonic Wars in the British Army. While most troops at that time used inaccurate smoothbore muskets, the British "Green Jackets" (named for their distinctive green uniforms) used the famous Baker rifle. Through the combination of a leather wad and tight grooves on the inside of the barrel (rifling), this weapon was far more accurate, though slower to load. These Riflemen were the elite of the British Army, and served at the forefront of any engagement, most often in skirmish 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.
During the American Civil War, sharpshooters were used extensively by both sides. Units such as the 1st United States Sharpshooters played a critical role in the war and benefited from technological advances such as the Minié ball, which could kill a target up to a half mile away and was accurate at 250 yards. [2] However, despite advancements, proficiency at long-range shooting required extensive training, which many of these units did not receive, and as a result sharpshooters during the civil war would not uniformly adopt long-range tactics akin to modern-day marksmen. [3] Some of these units, however, would have been considered elite and many were well equipped and trained for such shooting. Common duties of sharpshooters included picket duty, scouting, and skirmishing. In some cases, they were placed at the front of columns to engage the enemy first.[ citation needed ] Their battlefield role could be misunderstood at times.[ citation needed ] At the Battle of Mine Run, one sharpshooter company was ordered to conduct a bayonet charge, even though they were equipped with rifles that were unable to take bayonets. [4]
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, a self-made millionaire who was reputed to be the best rifle marksman in the nation at that time. [5] 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. [6] Both the 1st and 2nd Company Massachusetts Sharpshooters saw extensive combat during the conflict. [7] They were armed with heavy, custom target rifles and Sharps rifles during their service. [7] [8]
There was also an all-Native American company of sharpshooters in the Army of the Potomac. These men, primarily Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi from northern Michigan, comprised the members of Company K of the 1st Regiment Michigan Volunteer Sharpshooters. This regiment saw intense battle during the Battle of the Crater. The sharpshooters were recognized for their effective service during the onslaught and the unit suffered a number of casualties:
A few Indians, of the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters, did splendid work. Some of them were mortally wounded, and drawing their blouses over their faces, they chanted death songs and died - four of them in a group. [9]
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 or Yates Sharpshooters and other soldiers of the unit appear to have similarly equipped themselves with Henry Rifles in 1864.
On the Confederate side, sharpshooter units functioned as light infantry. Their duties included skirmishing and reconnaissance. Robert E. Rodes, colonel of the 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment, and later a major general, was a leader in the development of sharpshooter units. [10] The Confederate States Army 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.
Confederate sharpshooters were often less well equipped than their Union counterparts, commonly using the muzzleloading Enfield Rifled Musket or (the more uncommon) hexagonal bore British Whitworth rifles, 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 to score several high-profile kills, including the infamous deaths of Brigadier General William Lytle at Chickamauga and Major General John Sedgwick 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". [11]
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, 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 both hands and braced firmly against the shooter's shoulder via a buttstock for stability during shooting. Rifles are used extensively in warfare, law enforcement, hunting and target shooting sports.
A designated marksman (DM), squad advanced marksman (AD) or squad designated marksman (SDM) is a military marksman role in an infantry squad. The term sniper was used in Soviet doctrine although the soldiers using the Dragunov SVD were the first to use a specifically designed designated marksman rifle. The analogous role in the Israel Defense Forces is sharpshooter.
A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting. In modern military usage this typically refers to the use of projectile weapons such as an accurized scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle to shoot at high-value targets at longer-than-usual ranges.
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 as scouts, raiders, and skirmishers. These are loose formations that fight ahead of the main army to harass, delay, disrupt supply lines, engage the enemy's own skirmishing forces, and generally "soften up" an enemy before the main battle. Light infantrymen were also often responsible for screening the main body of a military formation.
The Baker rifle was a flintlock rifle used by the rifle regiments of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. It was the first British-made rifle that the British armed forces issued as a standard weapon for all line companies in a regiment. The Pattern 1776 Infantry rifle had been issued on a limited basis of 10 per regiment to units serving in the American War of Independence.
A rifled musket, rifle musket, or rifle-musket is a type of firearm made in the mid-19th century. Originally the term referred only to muskets that had been produced as a smoothbore weapon and later had their barrels replaced with rifled barrels. The term later included rifles that directly replaced, and were of the same design overall as, a particular model of smoothbore musket.
Line infantry was the type of infantry that formed the bulk of most European land armies from the mid-17th century to the mid-19th century. Maurice of Nassau and Gustavus Adolphus are generally regarded as its pioneers, while Turenne and Montecuccoli are closely associated with the post-1648 development of linear infantry tactics. For both battle and parade drill, it consisted of two to four ranks of foot soldiers drawn up side by side in rigid alignment, and thereby maximizing the effect of their firepower. By extension, the term came to be applied to the regular regiments "of the line" as opposed to light infantry, skirmishers, militia, support personnel, plus some other special categories of infantry not focused on heavy front line combat.
Hiram Berdan 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 War. He was the inventor of the Berdan rifle, the Berdan centerfire primer and other weapons and accessories.
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 rifled musket. By the mid-19th century, entire regiments of riflemen were formed and became the mainstay of all standard infantry, and rifleman became a generic term for any common infantryman.
The infantry in the American Civil War comprised foot-soldiers who fought primarily with small arms and carried the brunt of the fighting on battlefields across the United States. The vast majority of soldiers on both sides of the Civil War fought as infantry and were overwhelmingly volunteers who joined and fought for a variety of reasons. Early in the war, there was great variety in how infantry units were organized and equipped - many copied famous European formations such as the Zouaves - but as time progressed there was more uniformity in their arms and equipment.
The M1841 Mississippi rifle is a muzzle-loading percussion rifle used in the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War.
The 1st United States Sharpshooters were an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. During battle, the mission of the sharpshooter was to kill enemy targets of importance from long range.
Schützen is a German plural noun used to designate a type of military unit of infantrymen, originally armed with a rifled musket and used in a light-infantry or skirmishing role – and hence similar to the Jäger. The individual infantrymen are termed Schütze. Prior to the introduction of firearms the word was used for 'archer', and is sometimes used in the form Bogenschütze.
The 66th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Western Sharpshooters) originally known as Birge's Western Sharpshooters and later as the "Western Sharpshooters-14th Missouri Volunteers", was a specialized regiment of infantry sharpshooters that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was intended, raised, and mustered into Federal service as the Western Theater counterpart to Army of the Potomac's 1st and 2nd United States Volunteer Sharpshooters ("Berdan's Sharpshooters").
The history of British light infantry goes back to the early days of the British Army, when irregular troops and mercenaries added skills in light infantry fighting. From the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Army dedicated some line regiments as specific light infantry troops, were trained under the Shorncliffe System devised by Sir John Moore and Sir Kenneth MacKenzie Douglas. The light infantry had the nickname "light bobs" first used during the American Wars of Independence, and commonly applied to the Light Division during the Napoleonic wars.
During the American Civil War, an assortment of small arms found their way onto the battlefield. Though the muzzleloader percussion cap rifled musket was the most numerous weapon, being standard issue for the Union and Confederate armies, many other firearms, ranging from the single-shot breech-loading Sharps and Burnside rifles to the Spencer and the Henry rifles - two of the world's first repeating rifles - were issued by the hundreds of thousands, mostly by the Union. The Civil War brought many advances in firearms technology, most notably the widespread use of rifled barrels.
The Chew's Arkansas Infantry Battalion (1862) was a Confederate Army infantry battalion during the American Civil War. The unit was originally known as Hawthorne's Battalion, but the battalion is most often referred to as Chew's Sharpshooter Battalion. The unit was eventually consolidated with the 39th Arkansas Infantry Regiment.
Company G, 1st U.S. Sharpshooters was an infantry company that served in the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. The unit is sometimes unofficially referred to as the 1st Wisconsin Sharpshooters.
The 2nd Minnesota Sharpshooters Company or Company L of the 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment was a unit of the Union Army during the American Civil War. One of 18 companies of sharpshooters placed under the command of Colonel Hiram Berdan; the companies would eventually form two regiments who shared the nickname of “Berdan’s Sharpshooters.”
The South Carolina Palmetto Sharpshooters were a Confederate sharpshooter unit in the American Civil War. The regiment served with the Army of Northern Virginia from 1862 to 1865. The unit would fight in most of the major battles in the eastern theater, and experience hard fighting in the western theater with James Longstreet in 1863.
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