Stories About Sharpshooters

Not all was glory with the Sharpshooters, and one man, Joe Durkee of “C,” was killed while on a scout within 40 yards of a Rebel rifle pit. In such an exposed position, Durkee’s body could not be recovered during daylight, and he lay there with his Colt rifle beside him. Came nighttime, and the Sharpshooters went out to get him. Instead of the .56 Colt they found a note, stating which Southern regiment had it, and declaring the Confederates’ intention to have them all before long. They were evidently elated to know they had killed a Sharpshooter. The boaster’s promise was never kept. The 5th Wisconsin in its famous bayonet charge against the 5th North Carolina recovered the Colt rifle. Its possessor was just one more K.I.A. on Confederate rolls.
The Petersburg (Va.) Express drew the longbow in telling of this incident:

“A McClellan Sharpshooter had been picked off by a Kentucky hunter, at two hundred yards distance, and on approaching the pit where the Sharpshooter lay, it was found to contain a cushioned arm chair, choice liquors and segars, and food of the best description.”

Riflemen performed unusual military tasks in the War. While the pious hope had been expressed that all the Sharpshooters would kill one Confederate for each shot fired, more practical yet more unusual duties were also demanded of them.
Rifles against cannon proved to be more than a match for the big boys. Not firepower, nor yet weight of metal thrown, but shrewdness, sometimes balanced things in favor of the riflemen. One group of Berdan’s regiment, under command of Lieutenant Bronson of Company F, managed to blow up a cannon with rifle fire. This was one of the Confederate big guns dubbed “Petersburg” by the Sharpshooters, and it had been making life difficult for them. Bronson, formerly an artilleryman with Greble’s battery, had learned that sand or gravel thrown into a cannon muzzle after it is loaded will very likely cause it to burst. On April 30, 1861, Bronson noticed that the muzzle of “Petersburg” was surrounded with sand bags. The big gun was rolled back inside the revetment, and loaded. As soon as it was loaded, while being run up to fire, Bronson ordered his men to fire at the sand bags so as to splash sand into the muzzle. After the 13th shot, with the Sharpshooters still peppering the sand bags, the gun went into the air. The Sharpshooters had really exploded the cannon.
“Old Seth” from New Hampshire was another Sharpshooter who captured a cannon. He was a dyed-in-thewool shooter who had been complaining about camp duty and his inability to be up in the front of the fighting. When a call came from Colonel Berdan “to select a special detail of sharp shots for important service,” Old Seth was in his element. The group of skirmishers moved out, Seth with them, equipped with his single shot scope-sighted match rifle. Most of the other men were from another company, and carried Colts.
Seth took up a position in a rifle pit, somewhat in advance of the other men. When the Johnnies woke up to the fact that the pit the Yankee rifleman was occupying was one dug the night before by one of their

Sharpshooters served in a special capacity, detached to cause harassing fire on the enemy’s flank or headquarters positions. Here a famous battle photo by Matthew Brady shows a Confederate sniper dead in the “Devil’s Den” rifle pit at Gettysburg. The soldier has had his pockets picked and blouse loosened to get at his money belt. The U.S. Rifle Musket is probably a Brady prop; the barrel is white because of primitive retouching on the negative. Rebels claimed Yanks had segars and “choice foods” in their rifle pits; both sides actually were lucky to have so well protected a pit as this. No rock barricade could protect this dead sniper from careless exposure to an enemy bullet.

own men, but not yet occupied, they commenced throwing everything they had at Old Seth.

The New Hampshire man would have had no chance with his slow-firing target rifle, except for the fact that he was backed up by the fast-firing Colt repeaters. The Confederates were quickly silenced by the rifle fire, and Old Seth turned his rifle on larger game. A huge cannon had been firing at him for sometime, breaking its shells

Yankee gun flanking Peachtree St. outside of Atlanta is emplaced similarly to cannon called “Petersburg” by Sharpshooters. Rifleman Bronson caused gun to burst by kicking sand from revetment into muzzle from rifle bullet hits.

all around him without effect. Seth concluded he was in a tight spot, until he thought on the fact that the cannon was a muzzle-loader and the Confederates had to load it. As soon as one of the crew stepped up to the muzzle with a swab, Seth got off a shot. The rebel gunner dropped. Another took his place in the embrasure. Seth fired again.
So successfully did he place his shots around the big gun, that it was not long before firing ceased, and he virtually had the cannon captured. It was to all intents and purposes his gun—they couldn’t load it. From that time until the siege was over, two days after, the Sharpshooter held his place, keeping the cannon quiet. Day and night he remained at his post; he had got away from camp and was just in his glory, with plenty of ammunition.