1st Company Massachusetts Sharpshooters

The 1st Company Massachusetts Sharpshooters was a sharpshooter unit in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

1st Company Massachusetts Sharpshooters
ActiveSeptember 2, 1861, to September 6, 1864
CountryUnited States
AllegianceUnion
BranchUnited States Army
TypeSharpshooters
EngagementsBattle of Ball's Bluff
Siege of Yorktown
Battle of Fair Oaks
Seven Days Battles
Battle of Antietam
Battle of Fredericksburg
Battle of Chancellorsville
Battle of Gettysburg
Mud March
Mine Run Campaign
Battle of the Wilderness
Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
Battle of Cold Harbor
Siege of Petersburg
First Battle of Deep Bottom
Second Battle of Deep Bottom
Second Battle of Ream's Station
Commanders
CaptainJohn Saunders
CaptainWilliam Plumer
Monument to the 1st Massachusetts Sharpshooters at Gettysburg

Service

The 1st Company Massachusetts Sharpshooters was organized in Lynn, Massachusetts and mustered in for three years service on September 2, 1861[1]. The company was originally recruited for Colonel Hiram Berdan's sharpshooter regiments. When the men were informed that they would lose their enlistment bounty, they declined to join Berdan's regiments and instead remained independent[2]. Most of the recruits tended to be skilled workmen who were competitive shooters tending to be older than the average Union soldier, and these men also tended to be of the larger physical size[3]. They were armed with heavy, custom target rifles and Sharps rifles during their service.[3][4]

The company was attached to 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, II Corps, Army of the Potomac, but nominally operated with the 15th Massachusetts Infantry to July 1864, and with the 19th Massachusetts Infantry to September 1864[2].

The 1st Company Massachusetts Sharpshooters mustered out September 6, 1864.

Detailed service

1861
  • Left Massachusetts for Washington, D.C., September 2.
  • Picket and outpost duty on the Upper Potomac River from Conrad's Ferry to Harrison's Island until October 20.
  • Operations on the Potomac River October 21–24.
  • Battle of Ball's Bluff October 21.
  • At Harpers Ferry and Bolivar Heights until March 7, 1862.

1862
  • At Charlestown until March 10. Capt. John Saunders of Salem, MA commanding
  • At Berryville until March 13.
  • Movement toward Winchester and return to Bolivar Heights March 13–15.
  • The Peninsula campaign (March 17-August 4)
  • Movement to Alexandria August 15–28
  • To Centreville, Second Battle of Bull Run August 29–30.
  • Cover Pope's retreat August 31-September 1.
  • Battle of Antietam, September 16–17. — Attached to Gorman's 1st Brigade, Sedgwick's 2nd Division, Sumner's II Corps[5] — Supported II Corps attack, sniping at opposing officers and snipers. Captain Sanders killed with nine others.
  • Moved to Harpers Ferry September 22 and duty there until October 30.
  • Movement to Falmouth, Va., October 30-November 20.
  • On Picket, Falmouth to 12 December — 9 December, eighteen men on muster roll. Captain William Plummer of Cambridge, MA, arrived with forty recruits and took command of the company.[2]
  • Battle of Fredericksburg December 12–15. — Attached to Sully's 1st Brigade, Howard's 2nd Division, Couch's II Corps[5] — Provided counter-sniper fire during construction of pontoon bridges and crossing 11 and 12 December. Set up positions on outskirts of city below Marye's Heights targeting artillerymen on the heights.

1863

Arrived morning 2 July, positioned at rock wall on the north end of Cemetery Ridge, several squads were detached and sent to different parts of the line. Cleared out Confederate snipers occupying Bliss farm. In late afternoon, when II Corps retook Bliss farm, a squad went with them to snipe from the farm. No losses 2 July.
On 3 July, unit dueled with Confederate snipers in buildings in Gettysburg facing Cemetery Hill and Ridge. During Pickett's Charge, unit concentrated targeting on officers. Suffered four dead, three wounded.[7]

  • Advance from the Rappahannock to the Rapidan September 13–17.
  • Bristoe Campaign October 9–22. — Attached to Webb's 2nd Division, Warren's II Corps, Meade's Army of the Potomac[5]
  • Advance to line of the Rappahannock, Second Battle of Rappahannock Station November 7–8.
  • Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2. — Attached to Morehead 3rd Brigade, Webb's 2nd Division, Warren's II Corps, Meade's Army of the Potomac[5]
  • Robertson's Tavern or Locust Grove November 27.

1864

Casualties

The company lost a total of 39 men during service; 3 officers and 21 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 15 enlisted men due to disease.

Commanders
  • Captain John Saunders - killed in action at the Battle of Antietam
  • Captain William Plumer

Armament
Sharps Model 1852 "Slanting Breech" Carbine, open for loading, two primer-tapes
Sharps rifle in .50-70 Government.

Throughout their service, the company was armed with custom, muzzle-loading target rifles equipped with telescopic sights running the length of the barrel. The larger than average physical size of the unit members proved an asset in carrying these weapons[3]. These target rifles were a mix of heavy bench rifles and lighter out of hand rifles. Hawkins and Morgan James were among the manufacturers of these rifles.

Starting at Antietam, they also carried Sharps rifles in the field firing over the iron sights. The Sharps Rifle was produced by the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company in Hartford, Connecticut.[9] The Sharps made a superior sniper weapon of greater accuracy than the more commonly issued muzzle-loading rifled muskets. This was due mainly to the higher rate of fire of the breech loading mechanism and superior quality of manufacture, as well as the ease of which it could be reloaded from a kneeling or prone position.[4]

Notes
  1. Dyer
  2. Ellis
  3. Senechal de la Roche
  4. Wieland, Terry (2011). Gun Digest Book of Classic American Combat Rifles. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications. p. 188. ISBN 1-4402-3017-X.
  5. Official Records, Series I, Volume XXVII, Part 1, pages 155-168; Gettysburg National Military Park-Army of the Potomac
  6. After the death of General Reynolds, General Hancock was assigned to the command of all troops on the field of battle , relieving General Howard, who had succeeded General Reynolds. General Gibbon, of the Second Division, assumed command of the corps. These assignments terminated on the evening of July 1. Similar changes in commanders occurred during the battle of the 2nd, when General Hancock was put in command of the Third Corps in addition to that of his own. He was wounded on the 3rd, and Brigadier General William Hays was assigned to the command of the corps.
  7. "First Company Massachusetts "Andrew Sharpshooters" at Gettysburg". civilwartalk.com. Retrieved 2018-09-28.
  8. Assigned June 4, 1864
  9. Flatnes, Oyvind (2014). From Musket to Metallic Cartridge: A Practical History of Black Powder Firearms. Crowood Press, Limited. pp. 123–125. ISBN 978-1-84797-593-5.
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References
Attribution
  • This article contains text from a text now in the public domain: Dyer, Frederick H. (1908). A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Des Moines, IA: Dyer Publishing Co.

See also
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