Sharpshooting in the Civil War
This book starts out auspiciously enough with its excellent discussion of the techniques of sharpshooting, types of weapons and equipment utilized, and a description of the different sharpshooting units of both sides. It is profusely illustrated with line drawings and photographs. Author Plaster’s military background with a particular emphasis on percussion rifle instruction lends an aura of authority to its contents. Essentially excerpted from the author’s more comprehensive History of Sniping and Sharpshooting, this volume provides much to savor with little vignettes interspersed throughout detailing such items as globe target sights, specialized eyeglasses, scopes, persons who were victims of sharpshooters, and other interesting topics such as Native American and African American sharpshooters. As to the latter, Plaster is on the side of those who agree that African Americans did serve in a Confederate army as sharpshooters. He cites Holt Collier as an example. He also does not shy away from other controversial issues such as who shot Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds at Gettysburg. Here, he casts his lot with the traditionalists who believe that Reynolds met his fate at the hands of a sharpshooter rather than from a random volley. Indeed, so enamored with sharpshooting prowess, Plaster attributes the deaths of Cols. Paddy O’Rorke and Strong Vincent on Little Round Top at Gettysburg to sharpshooters, even though it is equally plausible that Vincent sustained his wound from general fire during the Confederate assault. I am aware of one account stating that O’Rorke was shot by a Confederate from only 40 yards away. Whether this is considered sharpshooting might be a matter of personal interpretation. Perhaps it all depends on one’s definition of a sharpshooter. Is he a specially trained and designated soldier used for the exclusive purpose of targeting certain individuals? Or is he simply one who happens to take special aim at a particular person in the heat of combat rather than indiscriminately firing at an amorphous group? Using the latter definition, it is understandable why Plaster characterized old John Burns, Gettysburg town constable, as a civilian sharpshooter for his contribution during that battle. Plaster also suggests that Gen. William Barksdale, whose own sharpshooters created havoc for Federals crossing the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg in December 1862, might have been the victim of a Federal sharpshooter at Gettysburg. But an eyewitness account of the 148th Pennsylvania’s assistant surgeon described separate wound sites on Barksdale’s body, one in the left chest and two others in the left leg. Which, if any, of Barksdale’s wounds was the result of a sharpshooter? While Plaster recognizes that in some instances, including Barksdale’s, there is no way to verify that the officer was wounded by a sharpshooter, he seems inclined to believe that they were. He attributes the wounding of Lt. Col. William Ripley of the Berdan Sharpshooters at Malvern Hill to a Confederate sharpshooter; but unlike Gen. John Sedgwick’s death at Spotsylvania in 1864, where there was ample evidence of sharpshooting activity, I could not find such circumstantial evidence in Ripley’s case. Ripley sustained his wound in the leg while he was mounted, which is hardly indicative of sharpshooting talent, but maybe so. The lack of citations made it difficult for me to reconcile other factual statements. For example, Plaster states that the Sharps rifles provided to Berdan’s men were modified to eliminate a bayonet lug. According to Plaster, without bayonets, Berdan’s men would, therefore, have been precluded from acting as line infantry to assault enemy positions. However, an inventory for Co. G of the 1st Regiment of Berdan’s Sharpshooters for March 31, 1862, shows the inclusion of bayonets and scabbards with Sharps rifles. In fact, there is evidence that the debate regarding bayonets was whether the rifles should be fitted with the saber type as opposed to the angular style. While support exists for the proposition that many of those men did not want to carry bayonets because they were not used in sharpshooting anyway, that does not mean that the rifles were specifically designed to not accommodate them. I might add that the 2nd Regiment of Berdan’s men did operate as line infantry at Antietam, a fact that Plaster also recognizes in a later discussion of the role of sharpshooters in that battle. Plaster states that Berdan’s 1st Regiment at Gettysburg effectively held up Gen. James Longstreet’s First Corps as the Confederates moved into position on July 2 by engaging them in a firefight. Actually, Berdan’s men, together with the 3rd Maine Infantry, engaged Gen. Cadmus Wilcox’s troops who were part of Gen. Richard Anderson’s division of A.P. Hill’s Corps and not Longstreet’s Corps. Longstreet’s men were not even in the area at the time and were delayed, not by sharpshooters, but by deliberately marching in a circuitous fashion to avoid detection by signalmen on Little Round Top. Obviously, postwar statements of Berdan and Longstreet, which were included in C.A. Stevens’ history of the Berdan Sharpshooters, influence Plaster’s conclusion. But those statements on that issue have been scrutinized and largely discounted by scholars today. Plaster states that both Gens. Daniel E. Sickles and Joseph Hooker were nearly the victims of Confederate sharpshooter fire at Resaca, Ga., on May 12, 1864. Sickles was merely visiting Hooker and Dan Butterfield at the time while on an excursion for the Lincoln administration. Being disabled from his Gettysburg wound and effectively out of field command at the time, Sickles only witnessed things from a distance. I could not find any independent reference that Sickles had been in danger on his visit. Actually on May 15, 1864 Hooker, Gen. William T. Sherman, and other high-ranking officers and their staffs were the intended targets of Confederate artillery as they stood together surveying the enemy’s works at Resaca. These incongruities aside, this easily-read book provides much detailed information for anyone interested in the topic. A future edition could benefit from citations so that the author’s contentions can be better analyzed. Reviewer: Frank Piatek Frank Piatek graduated from Geneva College with a B.A. in history. He received his J.D. from Duquesne University in 1972. He is a member of several reenactment groups and past president of the Mahoning Valley Civil War Round Table.
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Illustrated, bibliography, index, softcover, 157 pp., 2009. Paladin Press, Paladin Enterprises Inc., Gunbarrel Tech Center, 7077 Winchester Circle, Boulder, CO 80301, $19 plus shipping.