I read about them from time to time in small mentions in books.

What types of distances could a Civil War era Sharp Shooter kill a man? North or South better? Any individual legends of the day?

Berdans SharpShooters?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_United_States_Sharpshooters

There is a memorial to Vermont Sharpshooters at Gettysburg near Seminary Ridge which is off the beaten track (just like the New Jersey Brigade monument is behind Little Round Top and no one knows it's there)

here is a good video:



General Sedgewick of the 6th Corps was supposedly killed by a sniper at 400 yards after the Wilderness

think about firing a rifled musket four football fields and hitting someone's head...

Cen-Tex said:

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A sharpshooter that comes to mind is Jack Hinson. After his 2 sons were executed by a Union patrol while deer hunting, Jack took his .50 cal rifle and began dispensing vengeance by picking off Union troops at distances up to 1/2 mile. He was credited for 100 kills.

Book - Jack Hinson's One Man War

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Book appears to be free on Audible if anyone is interested.

Berdan's men had to get 10 shots in the bullseye at 600 feet using a Sharps Rifle.

The English Whitworth was the most deadly at range and could easily hit a target at 1200 yards. It gets about three inch groups at 200 yards and spreads of 10.75 inches at 500 yards. But due to the tight fit it was slow loading

I've personally shot several types of Civil War guns and find most to be pretty accurate if rifled.

Sharpshooter outfits were rare, Lee didn't allow them in the ANV until 1864 and it was probably that battalion that killed Sedgewick at Spotsylvania.

In the AoT, Pat Cleburne (guy was always on the leading edge but ignored by the higher ups) formed a "Pioneer" Battalion in early 1863 of the best shooters in his division. The Confederate Congress outlawed sharpshooter outfits so Cleburne call them Pioneers (equivalent of Engineer battalion). But they were not bridge builders, they were sharpshooters. Sharpshooters were kind of looked down as dirty by civilians and soldiers alike, thus the law made by congress. My great great grandfather was in Cleburne's pioneers, he fought with them through the Battle of Chickamauga when they were disbanded. The higher up tended to treat them as just another infantry outfit instead of why Cleburne put them together. Plus the stigma of sharpshooters never went away, it was viewed as cold blooded murder. GGGF went back to his old unit and was killed in the rear guard action after Chattanooga at Ringgold Gap.

BQ78 said:

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Berdan's men had to get 10 shots in the bullseye at 600 feet using a Sharps Rifle.

The English Whitworth was the most deadly at range and could easily hit a target at 1200 yards. It gets about three inch groups at 200 yards and spreads of 10.75 inches at 500 yards. But due to the tight fit it was slow loading

I've personally shot several types of Civil War guns and find most to be pretty accurate if rifled.

Sharpshooter outfits were rare, Lee didn't allow them in the ANV until 1864 and it was probably that battalion that killed Sedgewick at Spotsylvania.

In the AoT, Pat Cleburne (guy was always on the leading edge but ignored by the higher ups) formed a "Pioneer" Battalion in early 1863 of the best shooters in his division. The Confederate Congress outlawed sharpshooter outfits so Cleburne call them Pioneers (equivalent of Engineer battalion). But they were not bridge builders, they were sharpshooters. Sharpshooters were kind of looked down as dirty by civilians and soldiers alike, thus the law made by congress. My great great grandfather was in Cleburne's pioneers, he fought with them through the Battle of Chickamauga when they were disbanded. The higher up tended to treat them as just another infantry outfit instead of why Cleburne put them together. Plus the stigma of sharpshooters never went away, it was viewed as cold blooded murder. GGGF went back to his old unit and was killed in the rear guard action after Chattanooga at Ringgold Gap.

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1200 yards is impressive.

I would think most people would be excluded from being able to make that type of shot from not having good enough eyes.

When I go to my range the 1000 yard steel is difficult for me to see clearly.

one safe place said:

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Cen-Tex said:

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A sharpshooter that comes to mind is Jack Hinson. After his 2 sons were executed by a Union patrol while deer hunting, Jack took his .50 cal rifle and began dispensing vengeance by picking off Union troops at distances up to 1/2 mile. He was credited for 100 kills.

Book - Jack Hinson's One Man War

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My kind of guy.

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You may want to learn more about him. These are the kinds of stories that often get passed over by researchers and so legends fill the gap and become calcified as 'fact.'

https://www.theleafchronicle.com/story/news/local/stewart-houston/2016/08/12/hinson-legend-revised-via-old-records/88619060/

LMCane said:

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There is a memorial to Vermont Sharpshooters at Gettysburg near Seminary Ridge which is off the beaten track (just like the New Jersey Brigade monument is behind Little Round Top and no one knows it's there)

here is a good video:



General Sedgewick of the 6th Corps was supposedly killed by a sniper at 400 yards after the Wilderness

think about firing a rifled musket four football fields and hitting someone's head...

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Not supposedly.

With Whitworth Rifle? Piece of cake...





I have consistently hit man size targets at 400 yards with my .577 Enfield and Springfield. Consider this...the maximum effective combat range of a modern .223 M4 carried by the U.S. Marines and U.S Army is 400 meters.

As mentioned previously, it was considered to be bad form to be a sniper on both sides. You were a murderer.

Later in the war, Union officers stopped wearing rank shoulder straps when they were near the front because the Confederate sharpshooters hunted shoulder straps. The started wearing their rank insignia on their collars. I have read of this practice but never had seen an example until recently. This is one of the few photos of a Union officer (seated on the left) wearing his rank (Lt.) on his lapel.


Can be seen better on LOC website.

Library of Congress.

Madman said:

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I read about them from time to time in small mentions in books.

What types of distances could a Civil War era Sharp Shooter kill a man? North or South better? Any individual legends of the day?

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If you think that is something.. How about being sniped at by artillery?

There were artillery crews with rifled cannon such as the 10 Pound Parrot Rifles and 3 Inch Ordnance Rifles that were extremely good at sniping officers in the open field. You read account after account of a group of officers sitting on their horses with flags and messengers milling about not to far behind the lines and all of a sudden one of their heads gets taken off or a horse gets disemboweled. It wasn't by happenstance. They were being targeted. Sometime by entire batteries a miles away.

Very unsettling...

Exactly how Dilger's Ohio Battery killed Leonidas Polk at Pine Mountain. Polk and Johnston with staffs were observing the Feds and Dilger saw them and let loose a round that just flew over their heads. Johnston and all staff members scattered and ran for cover over the mountain top. Polk decided to calmly walk back to the mountain top but before he could get there, the second round blew him apart.

A Confederate sharpshooter from 1976…always one of my favorites

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx7TrCZPl7sO6tN-BUb3xuIb7lLU6b3gXq

This came across my FB feed today:
And bonus because it's Texas related

36 lbs rifle? Holy crap. That's 12 pounds heavier than an M-60.

LMCane said:

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There is a memorial to Vermont Sharpshooters at Gettysburg near Seminary Ridge which is off the beaten track (just like the New Jersey Brigade monument is behind Little Round Top and no one knows it's there)
The shot that killed Sedgwick was fired from at least 800 yards away

here is a good video:



General Sedgewick of the 6th Corps was supposedly killed by a sniper at 400 yards after the Wilderness

think about firing a rifled musket four football fields and hitting someone's head...

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Whitworth Sharpshooters

https://www.historynet.com/sure-shot-confederate-sharpshooters-whitworth/