[telewinz]

Watching Conquest on the History Channel I was interested to learn what the qualifications were to be allowed to join Berdan's unit. At two hundred yards from a rest you had to put ten shots inside a ten inch circle. At one hundred yards you had to put ten shots inside a a ten inch circle STANDING! They said Berdan traveled eight states and thousands of marksmen applied. They don't mention the type or caliber of the rifle that was allowed to be used but IIRC the target "false muzzle" muzzle loaders were used. I guess the Sharps breechloader was issued to members of Berdans unit using linen cartridges. Very impressive on how much more accurate the Sharps was compared to the Springfield. The shooter had no problem hitting a mounted rider from a standing position at 300 yards.

[Dr.Rob]

The fact that the shooter qualified is why he could hit a man off a horse at 300 yards, the rifle was only a tool in doing so.

[4v50 Gary]

WAR DEPT., ADJT. GENERAL's OFFICE
Washington, Oct. 2, 1862

No person shall be mustered into the service of the United States as a member of the corps of sharpshooters unless he shall produce the certificate of some person duly authorized by the Governor of the State in which the company is raised, that he has in five consecutive shots, at 200 yards at rest, made a string not over twenty-five inches, or the same string offhand at 100 yards; the certificate to be written on the target used at the test.

By order of the Secretary of War:

L. Thomas

The captains raised their company and were the ones who signed off on the aspirant. If he couldn't raise his 100 men, he didn't keep his captaincy and so there were a few instances of cheating. However, the standards were lax and in some cases, were raised. For instance, when William Green applied, he was told "at the distance of 200 yards, at a rest, put ten consecutive shots in a target, the average distance not to exceed five inches from the center of the Bull's eye to the center of the ball."

Green qualified: "Alfred stepped up and put every shot inside the ring, and was accepted by Col. Stoughton, but I had told my brother not to sign his name unless I was allowed to enlist with him, so he refused to enlist without me. Then Col. Stoughton called me up to the target, which I gladly did, though I must confess it was with fear and almost trembling that I took the rifle in hand to determine whether on not I was fit for a sharpshooter. There was a large crowd of townspeople present, who seemed to be about evenely divided in favor of my going to war, but after making the first shot at the ten inch ring target, there was a cheer from the spectators, for I had put a bullet nearly in the center of the bulls eye, which was about two inches in diameter. The remaining nine shots were put inside the ring about as per sketch with a cheer from the crowd after each shot."

William and Alfred Green both wore the green of Berdan's 2nd U.S. Sharp Shooters.

Wyman White also qualified and became a Berdan Sharpshooter: "There was being raised at that time a corps of Sharpshooters by Colonel Berdan for the service in the Army of the Potomac, and a recruiting officer came to our town with his target rifle looking for recruits who could make the prescribed 'string' which was not more than forty-five inches in ten shots fired off hand at two hundred yards distance. The way the string was measured was from the center of the bull's eye to the cente rof the bullet's hole. He came to the place where I was working soon after noon one day. He had already enlisted four of my friends in town, so he came to see me with great hopes of getting me enlisted. He said that the Sharpshooters would not do any picket duty to do, would never have to fight in line of battle, and would be armed with the Sharps breech loading rifles of target make and set trigger, with no bayonets.

"He made it appear that all they would have to do would be to pick off Rebel officers and other troublesome Rebels. How these promises were kept, I shall speak of thereafter... [Gary's note: they weren't kept.]

"We set up our target. I commenced firing and when my string was completed, I had just twenty-three inches in the string, just half an inch more than half the limit. That settled it. My mind was made up. The officer filled out the papers and I signed them..."

Note that a man could use any rifle he choose, but must justify it by demonstrating his prowess. With the modern guns we have today, most of us can meet those standards. It's quite a difference between using a round ball gun and the minie gun. The latter having a great advantage over the former. To use a scoped Winchester, Remington, Savage, Enfield, Mauser, Springfield make it even easier for us. Yep, we'd qualify, but most of us are too smart to stand upright in line while some other fellow blasts away at you from about 75 yards.

BTW, if you want more sharpshooting stories, there's some snippets in the Black Powder Forum here. Look under my name and you'll find a number of posts. As a bit of shameless advertising, I've been working on a book on blackpowder sharpshooting for several years and have culled hundreds of snippets in my research.

BTW, the initial rifle issued to most men in Berdan's Sharpshooters was the Colt revolving rifles. The men hated it and some burned Berdan in effigy. Two companies of the 1st U.S.S.S. had telescope equipped rifles - their own they had brought to war. Later during the Peninsular Campaign (Yorktown & Seven Days Battle), the set trigger Sharps was issued. For more info, read Wiley Sword's Hiram Berdan, His Sharpshotoers and their Sharps Rifles. It's quick, easy and well researched.

[Blackcloud6]

Gary:

Great post!

Fred

[Keith]

When watching that program, I wanted to shot at them "Hey, dummy! See how the rifle is regulated before shooting at the target!"

They were victims of their own ignorance. Some of those guys might have shot perfect scores; 2 feet left of the target or something! Fixed sights from the factory...

Keith

[Correia]

Gary. Keep us posted when your book comes out. That would make some interesting reading.