Scout-Sniper 1862-1865 perspective might find commonality w/the scout-sniper of today
Scout-Sniper 1862-1865 perspective might find commonality with the scout-sniper of today.
The following excerpts were taken from: The Civil War Diary of Wyman S. White
First Sergeant Company F 2nd United States Sharpshooters.
Telescope Rifle
While the contention over the gun was in progress, our boys could see a Rebel over beyond the gun stand¬ing beside a tree. They fired at him for a long time and he in return sent a bullet as often as one might reload. A puff of smoke told our men that he still lived and was doing business at the same stand. Why all the shots our boys sent him did not silence him or even disturb him was to them a mystery. At that time I was using a telescope breech loading rifle that weighed thirty pounds and someone came to us and wanted me to try my rifle on the man they could not hit or si¬lence. I went and as soon as I brought my rifle's tele¬scope to bear on the mystery, I saw that it was the body of a dead rebel lashed up to a tree and a live rebel Sharpshooter was behind the tree doing his best to pick off the Yankees that were sending bullets into his dead comrade hung up beside the tree that covered him.
Four Inches of Powder
Then I fired a shot and the bullet made the dust fly right amongst the workmen. They scouted around but went to work again. I loaded my thirty pounder again and fired, making the dust fly among the chaps, who took themselves out of sight for a short time. I fired the fifth time before they quit their job and they did not put in an appearance at their job again. This per¬formance proved beyond a doubt that the big muzzle loader was a longer range gun than the Sharps rifle, and there was a reason. The charge in loading it was four inches of powder, a good flannel wad, a bullet that weighed more than an ounce that was wedged into the grooves of the rifling inside by use of a false muzzle. So that when the fire from the percussion cap touched the four inches of powder it would send a bullet more than a mile and do good execution. I have no doubt the working party of rebels was more than a mile away and I had no trouble in driving them away. I also have no doubt that if I hit them they received an awful wound.
Clean Rifle
This young officer was a tall slim man about thirty years old, of florid complexion and, as he lay there and I had seen nothing but his face, I should never have thought but it was the face of a living man. How I came to notice the affair was that my rifle was in bad shape and needed cleaning. I saw a rubber coat and thought that I might get a dry piece of cloth from under the rubber coat. The body was clothed in no less than three coats of cloth besides the rubber one, also three or more pairs of pants, and I concluded this officer wore all those clothes to give him a better appearance by looking more stocky. In getting cloth for cleaning my rifle I cut through three pairs of pants before I got a dry piece fit to use on my rifle. This piece was taken from a pair of U.S. Soldier's sky blue pants, and the rubber coat the colonel wore had the name and regiment of an officer of a New Jersey regi¬ment stamped on the inside with stencil. I got my dry cloth out of his pants and left him alone in his glory and went on my way to obey orders in locating the enemy.
The Telescopic Sighted Sharpshooters Rifle
There was in use, a very heavy rifle, with a teles¬copic sight, used for special sharp shooting. There were not many of these rifles but they were assigned to those soldiers considered to be the best shots. The soldier had a special wooden case for the rifle. When the unit moved, he had to take the rifle to the case at the wagon train and put the rifle in it, for transportation. The rifle weighed 34 pounds. When he put away the telescopic sighted rifle, he took up his Sharps rifle again and moved with the troops until a special duty required the use of the large long range rifle again. The charge for loading the telescopic rifle was four inches of black powder, a good flannel wad, a lead bull¬et that weighed more than an ounce that was wedged into the grooves of the rifling inside by use of a false muzzle. When fire from the percussion cap hit the charge, it would send the bullet more than a mile and do good execution. The rifle fired greater distances and more accurately than the Sharps Rifles were capable of doing. In the book "Berdan's U.S. Sharpshooters in the Army of the Potomac, 1861-1865," the author, C. A. Stevens, explains in an incident in the First Regiment, he high regard in which those using such rifles were, held. "Harrison's Creek, June 16th, 1864. One of the first men shot on taking this position was James Heath, ,f Michigan, who carried a 34 pound telescopic rifle, the heaviest in the regiment, and which, as he went down, fell with a heavy blow in the middle of the road. The rifle was immediately turned over to James Ragin, of Wisconsin, who was sent to the rear by Capt¬ain Wilson, to put it through repair before attempting o use it. The giving of these telescopic rifles, but a few of which were now carried at this period of serv¬ice, was in the nature of a mark of honor, as the sharpshooter thus armed was considered an independent character, used only for special services, with the, privilege of going to any part of the line where in his, own judgment he could do the most good. It is there- fore sufficient, in naming the men carrying these pon¬derous rifles, to show that they were among our most trusted and best shots." It is to be noted that at the Battle of Burnside's Mine, 30 July, 1864, Ragin was wounded in the left arm. The rifle was then assigned to Frederick H. Johnson of Company B. He was from New York City.
In the foregoing manuscript, it will be noted that Wyman S. White had been assigned one of these tele¬scopic rifles and had used it for an extended period of time with, according to him, quite excellent results. It will also be noted that he operated at times as an in¬dependent marksman in various parts of the line where he thought he could do the most good.