Sharpshooter Badges?

[justthemiller]

Hello All,

During the Recon event on Friday quite a few Confederate folks stopped by wearing these little badges on their chests. They were a small blue disc with what looked like a red quatrefoil imposed up it. I asked a few of the fellows sporting those badges what they were and they simply stated they were sharpshooter badges. I was curious as to the documentation of these badges. This is not to say that they were incorrect but I was pretty much unaware as to the usage of these badges. Does anyone out there have a good reference to these badges? I would definitely like to learn more about them.

[Dignann]

Re: Sharpshooter Badges?

James,

I too saw the badges this past weekend and I believe they were based on an illustration that accompanied Frederick Ray's article on sharpshooter battalions in the Army of Northern Virginia -- America's Civil War (July 2002).

The illustration was based on a badge worn by Henry Wise of the 2nd Battalion Maryland Infantry and is believed to be a sharpshooter's badge. The original is, I think, at The Maryland Historical Society.

Eric

[justthemiller]

Re: Sharpshooter Badges?

Eric,

Many thanks for the information as this comes under the "you learn something new everyday" category. I was aware that certain Confederate sharpshooter battalions were reputed to have worn a distinctive badge. But just what the badge may have looked like I had no real idea. But once again many thanks.

[RelicRoomGuy]

Re: Sharpshooter Badges?

"The Sharp Shooters were privileged characters. They were distinguished by a badge consisting of a red band running diagonally across the left elbow of the coat sleeve with a red star just above the band. This badge would pass the Sharp Shooter anywhere..."

-Sgt. W.T. McGill, sharpshooter veteran of Dunlap's Battalion, McGowan's Brigade, vol. 3 of the SC UDC's "Recollections and Reminiscences", p.18.

Anybody seen this elsewhere...?

[Skeet]

Re: Sharpshooter Badges?

I was in the sharpshooters under Captain Hendricks. It was my pard Bob who made most, If not all of the badges. We got a color copy of the badges and reproduced them. I would say that Recon was a great event! As for being a sharpshooter/scout, It was a excellent learning experience. We got to know that terrain very well. My hats off to the command! Dan Morgan, 10thVA (IVR)

[Dignann]

Re: Sharpshooter Badges?

The use of red bars and the badges on the sleeve sounds very familiar. Here are a couple more descriptions of badges, these from members of BG George "Maryland" Steuart's brigade in the spring of 1864.


"Steuart had devised some original badges for his men, of colored cloth, so that at a glance it could be told what Brigade, Regt., Co. of men, the number of engagements he had been in, whether he was a Sharpshooter or an Ambulance Man, etc."

-- Donald B. Koonce, ed. Doctor to the Front: Recollections of Confederate Surgeon Thomas Fanning Wood, 1861-1865 (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2000). Wood was a surgeon with the 3rd N.C. Inf.


"Our Brig. Genl. has an idea that his troops should be marked that they may be distinguished from all others, and requires us to wear a badge on our right arm with a red bar for each battle in which each one has participated. Some or nearly all the boys are receiving theirs from sweethearts."

-- George Miley, April 27, 1864 letter to Amelie Baker. Photocopy in possession of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park. Miley served in the 10th Va. Inf.


Eric

[rmassella]

Re: Sharpshooter Badges?

Yep, thats me! For me, having the chance to make and wear the Sharpshooter Badges was the icing on the cake for such a great event. The opportunity to do Sharpshooter at ITW was somthing I will remember forever. Three cheers for Captain Hendrick and my Pards in the Sharpshooter Battalion!

[Dave Pridgeon]

Re: Sharpshooter Badges?

Dear Mr. Miller,

Good to see and converse with you this past weekend. The idea for the sharpshooter battalion for the Into the Wilderness event came from an article I read in the July 2002 issue of America's Civil War entitled "Shock Troops of the South". The article laid the development of the sharpshooter battalion concept to Robert Rodes as it evolved from 62' and 63'. However, Mike Hendricks has also been doing research on this topic lately and has found a similar development of the idea under A.P. Hill's command.

The article explained many of the innovations of the skirmish battalion idea as pioneered by Major Eugene Blackford, once again under Rodes. His command provided the flankers for Jackson's force during the flank march at Chancellorsville. So impressed by Blackford's performance throughout 1863 Robert E. Lee ordered the development of such a battalion in every brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia in early 1864. Rodes, being given command of a division, and Blackford now in command of the "Division Sharpshooters" stated, "These drills attracted much attention, and every morning there was a crowd of officers looking on." First there would be hours of skirmish drill then marksmanship practice would commence. "A thousand or more of them were banging away for hours, until my head would ache from the noise and the smell of the saltpetre. This went on daily until the opening of the campaign."

With over 30 infantry brigades available to him at the Wilderness, and a minimum of 160 men per sharpshooter battalion, a minimum of 40 men drawn from each regiment, that means Lee had at least 5,000 men available to him that were hand picked marksman, and explicitly trained in skirmish tactics for the Overland Campaign.

Thus I felt we needed to make a worthy effort to take a first step and create a "demi" skirmish battalion for the "Into the Wilderness" event. We developed three companies who each had a drill weekend for skirmish drill prior to the event. I served as a private at one of the drills and learned for the first time how to fire while advancing or retreating as flankers, by one of Chris Anders officers.

While we could not find the sharpshooter badge of Walker's Brigade, we decided to use the one of Henry Wise, from the 2nd Maryland, a picture of which was contained in the "Shock Troops of the South" article. While its use was not correct for the Brigade we were portraying, it certainly was a hot topic of conversation and hopefully will spawn more research by our community into the innovative and deadly skirmish tactics developed by the Army of Northern Virginia. Our effort was by no means perfect, but we had to start somewhere.

-Dave Pridgeon
Pridgeon's Shenandoah Legion
(formerly The Fifth Battalion)