As the 19th Century progressed, so did the amount of rifles in service. The 1st United States Rifles was raised just prior to the War of 1812 and several regiments of rifles took part in that conflict. This rifle tradition continued in the United States Military after the successful conclusion of the Revolution. While the rifles were considered much more accurate, the tradeoff was that they were slower to load. These talented shooters were often given use of rifles, as opposed to the more common smoothbore muskets. Though rejected, the lessons that Robert Rogers had begun were expanded on by both Colonial and Crown forces during the war with the adoption of marksmen and jaegers as light infantry. Rogers’ attempted to resurrect his command (and the financial benefits of command) during the American Revolution, offering his services first to England and later to the struggling rebels under Washington. The sharpshooting tradition in what would be the United States dates back to at least the French and Indian War when Rogers’ Rangers operated against the French and their American Indian allies. Another honorific that was often used was “sharpshooter”, but what exactly was a sharpshooter, and what was their role? Units like the “Raccoon Roughs, the Palmetto Guard, the Lincoln Guard or the Invincibles” were raised in their hundreds from communities large and small across the divided nation. Both sides quickly began to build up extensive forces, many of these new companies and regiments had elaborate nicknames and titles showing off the prestige they hoped to have in the field. When the American Civil War broke out in the spring of 1861, neither the North nor South were prepared for it. “It was the province of the sharp shooter to shoot some body” Library of Congress Sharpshooters in the USA & CSA When the illustration appeared in Harper’s Weekly in November 1862, the painting was not yet finished, so the print acted as a form of advance publicity and is as well known today as the oil painting itself.California Joe of the Berdan Sharpshooters - Harper's Weekly, August 2, 1862 This wood engraving was the prototype for an oil canvas that now resides at the Portland Museum of Art in Maine. Though Homer later painted with oil and watercolors, his early prints demonstrate a profound understanding of the war’s impact and meaning. He began his career as a commercial printmaker in Boston and New York, but in October 1861 he began work as a war correspondent on the Virginia front for the new illustrated journal, Harper’s Weekly. Homer was a highly regarded nineteenth-century American painter. The precariousness of his position in the tree, however, suggests that the soldier himself could easily become a casualty of war. The cool professionalism of the sharpshooter in Homer’s drawing indicates both the marksman’s skill and his detachment from the heat of battle. In one of his most remarkable compositions, Winslow Homer (1836–1910) portrayed a Union sharpshooter perched on a tree limb, aiming his rifle at an unseen Confederate soldier.

Union sharpshooting units customarily wore green uniforms to serve as camouflage, and Confederates came to refer to these marksmen as “snakes in the grass.” Because of the sharpshooter’s patient calculation, purposefulness, and relative safety as he felled his opponents, the new technique seemed more like “cold blooded murder,” than meeting face to face on the battlefield. Daily routines like sleeping, cooking, eating, and writing letters home became perilous undertakings. Soldiers became targets even when they were not fighting and could no longer think of themselves as “off duty,” even in camp. These advanced weaponry capabilities inspired new killing techniques and introduced a depersonalized intentionality to the war that proved unsettling to many. Confederate marksmen could hit targets up to six hundred yards away, using open sights.

The Union Army required sharpshooters from Vermont to hit a target 200 yards away, ten consecutive times. Technological innovations such as the telescopic sight and the breech-loading rifle improved marksmen’s accuracy at distances up to a half-mile. During the Civil War, sharpshooters and their weapons made the business of warfare even more deadly.

Marksman vs sharpshooter