“The U.S. Sharpshooters were essentially a 20th century battle unit, fighting a 19th century war.”

By Jim Stempel

JULY 2, 1863, 4 p.m.: The great Confederate turning movement at Gettysburg, which was meant to roll-up the Federal line from left-to-right, finally stepped-off, General Evander Law’s Alabama brigade leading the way.

Law’s objective was Little Round Top, a hill, then unoccupied, that dominated the Federal line. If the Confederates could secure that one rocky hill, the remainder of the Federal line could be enfiladed from the heights and rendered indefensible. The Union line at Gettysburg would be smashed and Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia could proceed, possibly as far as Washington, D.C.

As the Confederate skirmishers moved forward in advance of the brigade, there seemed to be nothing between them and the summit. They were wrong. Unseen to the Rebels, a loose line of Federal troops, about 900 yards long, was posted from the base of Big Round Top approximately a quarter mile to the south. These 204 Union troops represented the only Northern opposition between Law’s brigade and Little Round Top. They were the 2nd United States Sharpshooters, one of the most dangerous outfits of the American Civil War.

Wyman White was one of them. Concealed behind a low stone wall, the rifleman took in the spectacle of the advancing enemy.

“They came yelling and firing and struggling over fences and through the timber,” White would later recall. “Just in front of where I was, the land was open and, as they were mostly dressed in butternut colored clothes they had the appearance of a plowed field being closed in mass formation.”

Although outnumbered more than 10 to 1, the sharpshooters calmly took aim, then let loose a murderous volley.

“As we took the matter very coolly,” said White, “many a brave Southron threw up his arms and fell. But on they came, shouting and yelling their peculiar yell.”

The sharpshooters had no hope of stopping Law’s advance; they could only hope to slow it. Yet they set to their task with deadly professionalism. Moving in groups of four, two laying down suppression fire while the other two withdrew to cover, the sharpshooters inflicted a heavy toll on the lead elements of Law’s advance.

The two U.S. Army’s sharpshooter regiments had been raised for just this sort of action. Uniformed in dark green caps, coats, and pants, along with leather gaiters, featuring no shiny brass buttons, buckles or insignia, the sharpshooters were deliberately camouflaged for guerilla-style warfare, a mode of combat with which they had become expertly familiar. The U.S. sharpshooters wielded the Sharps, 1859 breech-loading target rifle. They could load and shoot the weapon from any position (prone, standing, or in a tree) at a rate-of-fire three-times that of any standard rifle. The Sharps was frighteningly accurate up to 600 yards, still deadly beyond.

The U.S. Sharpshooters were elite warriors. To qualify for the regiments, volunteers had to pass a difficult shooting-test by forming a “string” of ten consecutive shots in a ten-inch-wide target from a distance of 200 yards.

Undoubtedly patterned after the British Green Jackets of Napoleonic War fame, the U.S. Sharpshooters were the brainchild of Colonel Hiram Berdan, and they performed superbly throughout the war.

The U.S. Sharpshooters were markedly different from other sharpshooting detachments of the day. Professionally selected, trained and outfitted, fighting in a fire-and-maneuver tactical scheme, the U.S. Sharpshooters were essentially a 20th century battle unit, fighting a 19th century war. On the field of battle, the results were apparent.

The men of the 2nd Regiment managed to significantly slow the momentum of Law’s advance, taking a heavy toll on the Confederates with their rapid-fire, breech-loading weapons. Confusion gripped the ranks of the advancing Rebels as casualties mounted.

“The slaughter commenced in earnest for we were in good range of their sharp-shooters, but we could get no crack at them,” recalled one Southern officer.

The rock-strewn woods west of the Round Tops proved to be the ideal terrain for the sharpshooters, but a nightmare for the Confederate infantry advancing in ranks.

Major Homer R. Stoughton, in command of the 2nd, later wrote: “While they were advancing, the [regiment] did splendid execution, killing and wounding a great many. One [Confederate] regiment broke three times and rallied, before it would advance.”

Firing as they gave ground, the sharpshooters fell-back across a small swamp, then over the western face of Big Round Top before reaching the summit of Little Round Top. There they came upon the 83rd Pennsylvania, falling-in with them among the trees, rocks and heavy boulders. The deadly accuracy and orderly withdrawal of the sharpshooters slowed the Rebel advance; it took an hour for the Alabama brigade to cover just 400 yards, providing critical time for Federal reinforcements to rush forward.

From their strong position the sharpshooters helped repulse desperate charge after desperate charge of Rebel infantry, principally by the 15th and 47th Alabama, cutting Law’s men down as they swarmed toward the hill.

“First the fire was by volleys which soon turned to a continuous fusillade of rifle fire,” White later recalled. “The bullets hummed and spatted the rocks and trees, glancing off with a hideous screech and hum.”

The Confederates came-on time and again, only to be turned away, time and again.

“Again, the ranks withered,” White tells us. “But they showed the same desperate courage as they had before. Our line was invincible so it proved, and again these brave men, broken, torn and exhausted, turned their faces down the mountainside.”

At long last Federal reinforcements arrived, and Little Round Top was soon turned into a Union bastion, not to be tested again.

Of the Union success that day, White wrote: “I think the breech loader of the Sharpshooters was quite an item in the balance.”

White was hardly alone in his analysis. Years after the war, Colonel William C. Oates, who had led the 25th Alabama into action that fateful day, praised the U. S. Sharpshooters, claiming that, had they not been where they were, and fought as they had, he most certainly would have taken Little Round Top.

“They ought to erect the tallest monument on the field to Stoughton and his Sharpshooters,” said Oates.

Not only did the 2nd Regiment play a significant role that day, but the 1st also did their part earlier that afternoon in Pitzer’s Woods, northwest of the Round Tops.

Sent out to scout along Seminary Ridge with the 3rd Maine, the 1st Sharpshooters stumbled upon the 10th and 11th Alabama regiments of Wilcox’s Brigade, which was rushing to refuse the right flank of the Confederate line. Unaware of the Sharpshooters presence, the 11th was greeted by a torrent of well-aimed gunfire from the green-clad Federals. The 11th fled, while the 10th came-up and gave battle.

Outnumbered, the sharpshooters once again gave ground, fighting tree-to-tree, in a stiff action that went on for almost a half-hour. Wilcox then threw-in the 8th Alabama with orders to flank the Yankees. Only when the 8th appeared to overlap his position, did Berdan break-off the engagement; a spirited fight that exposed the true length of the Confederate position to the Federal high command, observing from a distance.

The Confederates also had excellent sharpshooting units, of course, (and the Federals had other sharpshooting units as well) but none rose to the level of expertise demonstrated by the U.S. Sharpshooters. The exceptional service rendered by these elite Union marksmen throughout the course of the war was readily acknowledged by officers. In his Regimental Losses in the Civil War, Lt. Col. William F. Fox wrote of the U.S. sharpshooters: “They undoubtedly killed more men than any other regiment in the army. In skirmishing they were unequaled,” a firm testament to their multidimensionality and sheer lethality. Nevertheless – like most Civil War detachments – they were gradually worn down by losses then simply disbanded.

Unfortunately, no one at the time seemed to grasp what the sharpshooters truly represented – the face of combat’s future. The Industrial Revolution had stimulated a rapid evolution in military hardware, a progression in lethality that had already rendered massed infantry assaults – the very backbone of warfare since its inception – obsolete.

Unfortunately, few seemed to take notice. Even the generals who ordered massive armies into action during the opening months of the First World War did so as if they were still fighting in the 19th century, foolishly marching millions into a maelstrom of certain death. Tragically, the bloody lessons learned at places like Little Round Top had to be relearned in 1914.

Only then did it become clear that Berdan’s small group of elite sharpshooters were, not only the most lethal fighting force in the Civil War, but a proven template for infantry of the future.

Jim Stempel is a speaker and author of nine books and numerous articles on American history, spirituality, and warfare. His newest book regarding the American Revolution – Valley Forge to Monmouth: Six Transformative Months of the American Revolution – is now available on Amazon and at virtually all online booksellers. For a full preview, pricing, and reviews, visit Amazon HERE. Or visit his website www.jimstempel.com for all his books, reviews, articles, biography and interviews.

(Originally published on Jun 8, 2021)