Sharps rifle

[Caserta34]

Who carried the sharps rifle in the civil war

[Ry1459]

Berdan's Sharpshooters (1st and 2nd USSS) carried them. Hiram Berdan, the leader, specially designed it for them I believe. They were breechloaders and were good for what the sharpshooters needed them for. My profile picture is a painting of them.

[Caserta34]

Oh ok so sharpshooter

[Bravescot]

Also the 42nd Pennsylvania Volunteers (Bucktails) carried them.

[Caserta34]

Cool thanks for the reply

[Historical Player]

Wasn't that the kind of rifle that Confederate Sniper was using when he killed General John Sedgwick?

[Soulfly]

Sedgwick is believed to be shot by a Whitworth rifle as far as i know.

[Hinkel]

Just a fun fact:

The Berdan sharpshooters got their Sharps in May/June 1862.. they used the Colt revolving rifles before ;)
Just by pressure of General McClellan, the sharpshooters were armed with those Sharps Rifles.

[Fancy Sweetroll]

This one? :p

https://youtu.be/f_GyyfMkxws?t=16m49s

Excellent show btw.

[Soulfly]

Thanks for the link. The guy is excellent too, i had no idea that they put paper cartridges into the cylinder...

[Caserta34]

How many sniper regiments was there

[Paul]

The word to use is sharpshooters. 'Snipers' are very very small tactical unit of just a couple men, they did exist in the civil war but were definitely different to modern day snipers. Sharpshooters however were formed into companies, battalions and regiments. They typically used Repeating Rifles, Breechloaders, Target Shooting Rifles, or personal weapons. The union had two very famous sharpshooter regiments that wore green and used Sharps rifles, they were formed specifically as sharpshooter regiments. They were there 1st and 2nd United States Sharpshooters. Another 'famous' sharpshooter regiment was the 1st Michigan Volunteer Sharpshooters. There were other infantry regiments that were formed as infantry but got the 'Sharpshooter' name because of their skills and effectiveness. Notably the 66th Illinois Veteran Volunteer regiment, which many of it's volunteers bought Henry Rifles because of the $600ish dollar bounty they received as returning veterans.

The confederates had many more sharpshooter companies, but had a few battalions and regiments of sharpshooters.
Shamelessly copied from wikipedia because I have no prior knowledge of confederate sharpshooters and am lazy...
"Dedicated sharpshooter units included: (Pindall's) 9th Battalion Missouri Sharpshooters; the 1st & 2nd Battalions Georgia Sharpshooters; and the sharpshooter battalions of the Army of Northern Virginia."

[Hinkel]

Thank you Paul, was about to post something too :)

Like he said, the sharpshooters were mostly organised in companies since may 1862 and were sent to regiments, which needed them.
For example in Gettysburg, the 20th Maine recieved a green-uniformed sharpshooter company for their left flank, which was under the command of Col. Chamberlain.

[Soulfly]

So basically the name "Sharpshooter" was a credit for their effectiveness/ skills, so how were "real" snipers organized ? Have they been attached to a regular infantry unit serving as DM/ SDM ? or were they free to move around the battlefield looking for some top brass to shoot ?

Since i am thinking about the scene of Gettysburg were Reynolds gets shot, i am wondering how common those snipers with their scopes actually were ? So many questions....

[Hinkel]

So basically the name "Sharpshooter" was a credit for their effectiveness/ skills, so how were "real" snipers organized ? Have they been attached to a regular infantry unit serving as DM/ SDM ? or were they free to move around the battlefield looking for some top brass to shoot ?

Since i am thinking about the scene of Gettysburg were Reynolds gets shot, i am wondering how common those snipers with their scopes actually were ? So many questions....

In April 1862 the Confederate Congress passed an act to organize battalions of sharpshooters:

SECTION 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the Secretary of War my secure to be organized a battalion of sharpshooters for each brigade, consisting of not less than three nor more than six companies, to be composed of men selected from the brigade or otherwise, and armed with long-range muskets or rifles, said companies to be organized, and the commissioned officers therefore appointed by the President, by and with the advice, and consent of the Senate. Such battalions shall constitute parts of the brigades to which they belong, and shall have such field and staff officers as are authorized by law for similar battalions, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

So basicly, each brigade had a battalion of sharpshooters (mostly around 120 men) acting like Skirmishers on the Field.

[Paul]

For some regiments it was a name, but others were formed as sharpshooter regiments, made specifically for raids, skirmishing, picket duty and intelligence gathering. 'Snipers' as seen in Gettysburg could be attached to companies, regiments or even brigades (usually in companies) and would no doubt be assigned special duties or told to act on their own accord with in a realistic area.

The scopes of these snipers were quite often just mounted telescopes and every shot they could be misaligned because of the recoil, just like cheap scopes of today.

Edit: Been beaten to the post.

[Caserta34]

Ok thanks for the information and reply

[Soulfly]

'Snipers' as seen in Gettysburg could be attached to companies, regiments or even brigades (usually in companies) and would no doubt be assigned special duties or told to act on their own accord with in a realistic area.

The scopes of these snipers were quite often just mounted telescopes and every shot they could be misaligned because of the recoil, just like cheap scopes of today.



Thanks for all the information you two, regarding the quote...is there a source for this ?

[Paul]

I should have phrased the sentence on scopes differently. Scopes for guns which developed just before the ACW did exist, but were very expensive. The man who is credited with the first worked for a telescope company and no doubt had designs based on telescopes. A telescope 'could' also be used since many did in fact have 'crosshairs' to help judge distance for surveyors and other people that need telescopes. It is also interesting to note that many scopes could mounted to the side of the rifle, not on top. I have only heard of telescopes mounted from third party sources, but it seems realistic enough if someone could not afford a telescopic sight.

If you look at the word usage of 'telescope' and 'telescopic' it shows the decline of the word Telescope in the 1860's and the rise of the word Telescopic in the 1840's which could translate to the use of new ways of describing Telescopes or Scopes, which makes it hard to determine what is what in literature.

On the comment of misaligning, I figured it highly likely, because it has been a problem throughout history and up until present day even though we have much better manufacturing. Telescopes especially were not designed to have the forces of recoil put through them.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=telescopic&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=7&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Ctelescopic%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3 Btelescopic%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BTelescopic%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BT ELESCOPIC%3B%2Cc0
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=telescope&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=7&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Ctelescope%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3B telescope%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BTelescope%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BTELE SCOPE%3B%2Cc0

http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/sights-telescopic-sight-i.html
http://www.berdansharpshooter.org/target_scopes.htm
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/confederate-army-civil-war-telescopic-rifle-sight.112669/

[Soulfly]

brilliant ! thank you very much, i will take a look at the links provided...they look indeed promising

[Julianator]

I think also its great