They were the only Federal unit completely armed with 'sporting rifles'. 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. Louis custom gunmaker Horace (H.E.) Dimick. They were initially armed with half-stock Plains Rifles built and procured by St. Competitive induction required candidates to place ten shots in a three-inch circle at 200 yards. Members were recruited from most of the Western states, predominantly Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Missouri. Louis' Benton Barracks as the Western Theater counterpart to Berdan's sharpshooters. 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'. These men, primarily Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi from northern Michigan, comprised the members of Company K of the 1st Regiment Michigan Volunteer Sharpshooters. There was also an all-Native American company of sharpshooters in the Army of the Potomac. They were armed with heavy, custom target rifles and Sharps rifles during their service. Both the 1st and 2nd Company Massachusetts Sharpshooters saw extensive combat during the conflict. 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. 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.

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. 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. Their battlefield role could be misunderstood, too. These elite troops were well equipped and trained, and placed at the front of any column to first engage the enemy. The sharpshooters used by both sides in the Civil War were less used as snipers, and more as skirmishers and scouts. 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.ĭuring the American Civil War, sharpshooters saw limited action, as tacticians sought to avoid the heavy casualties inflicted through normal tactics, which involved close ranks of men at close ranges. Another term 'sharp shooter', was in use in British newspapers as early as 1801. 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.

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. 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. History Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) Īnother use of units of marksmen was during the Napoleonic Wars in the British Army.