WELCOME  TO  THE

OHIO VALLEY

CIVIL  WAR  ASSOCIATION

Under the authority of General John C. Fremont, Birge’s Western Sharpshooters were organized in the autumn of 1861 at Benton Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri. Comprised of men who volunteered to serve in the Union Army, they were mainly from the states of Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio, but also from Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. They had to pass a rigid shooting test before they could enlist with the Sharpshooter's unit. After qualifying, they were mustered in as Birge's Western Sharpshooters and attached to the Department of Missouri. The regiment was involved with the capture of Confederate controlled Fort Donelson and then were sent down the Tennessee River where they were engaged at the Battle of Shiloh. On April 14, 1862, they were redesignated as the Western Sharpshooters, 14th Regiment Missouri Infantry. After participating in the Siege of Corinth, the Sharpshooters fought at the Battles of Iuka and Corinth. In late 1862, the designation of the Regiment was changed to the 66th Illinois Infantry. Later, they fought under General William T. Sherman at several battles in the Atlanta Campaign. The regiment was present at Confederate Joe Johnston’s surrender in North Carolina and then marched to Washington D.C. through the former Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. They were mustered out of the service in July of 1865.

(More information about the Western Sharpshooters near the bottom of this page)

-Ink Drawings by Rufus Guy

Click on drawings for

a larger view

-Pvt. Mitchell selecting a target for Pvt. Hawley.

At Stones River. May, 2008.

(Photo by Thomas Dixon)

-Capt. Ketron speaking to the crowd at a demonstration

at Glendower. August, 2007.

(Photo by Kathy Barney)

-Demonstrating the firepower of a Henry Rifle against

a musket  at Glendower. August, 2007.

(L to R) Capt. Ketron, Corpl. Spencer, Pvt. Guy, and Pvt. Barnett. (Photo by Kathy Barney)

Birge's Western Sharpshooters

Company G

(1st Independent Company of Ohio Volunteer Sharpshooters)

History of the OVCWA's Sharpshooters

In 1997, several individuals who had been researching Civil War sharpshooters joined together to reenact a sharpshooter detachment. This group portrayed the 1st Ohio Sharpshooters and became part of the Ohio Valley Civil War Association. As a performing part of the Living History program that the OVCWA conducts, their intentions were to develop a further study and understanding of how sharpshooters participated in the Civil War. Focused on authentically capturing many different aspects of these special Civil War units, the 1st Ohio Sharpshooters present their Living History program with a large display of the different types of weapons used by sharpshooters and demonstrate how these weapons were used and fired. The advancement in the techniques of warfare shown in their demonstrations involve the study of sharpshooters of both the North and the South.

-Sharpshooters blazing away at Fort McAllister near Savannah, Georgia. March 2008.

(Front to Rear) Jim Lady, Rick Spencer, and Jason Hawley.

(Photo courtesy of Jim Lady)

-Sharpshooters on Memorial Day Weekend at the Dayton, Ohio V.A. May 2006.

(Rear L to R) Terry Pastor, Rick Spencer, Kevin Ketron. (Front) Tim Maddock, Ed Corley, Jan Ketron, Jim Lady.

(Photo courtesy of Josh Moffett)

-Sign painted by Doug Roush

-Articles that appeared in newspapers in 1861 regarding the assemblage of the Western Sharpshooters.

Shooting Test Requirements for Recruits

of the Western Sharpshooters

The shooting test to gain enlistment into the Western Sharpshooters was determined by Major General John C. Fremont, in a letter dated August 26, 1861 to Colonel J. W. Birge, the overall commanding officer of the Western Sharpshooters. General Fremont wrote: “The men of your Regiment must have produced satisfactory evidence of their ability to hit a target at two hundred yards, no three shots to measure more than ten inches.” A common way of measuring a target score during this time period was by means of a “string” measure. A string measure is performed by taking a string from the center of the target’s bull’s eye to the center of the bullet hole. This is done for each shot that strikes the target. Adding the measurement totals together for a certain number of predetermined shots indicate the shooter’s score. To meet Fremont’s requirement of “three shots to measure no more than ten inches” means that the shooter would have to put three shots into a target at an average of no more than three and one third inches from the center of the bull's eye. And this was accomplished with an open sighted sporting rifle.

These testing requirements to enlist in the unit were also transmitted to recruitment officers of other sharpshooter companies from other states that were recruiting companies intended for the Western Sharpshooters. Colonel Birge later wrote a letter to Captain Campbell Dougherty in Ohio on October 3, 1861 that authorized him to recruit for the unit that he had been currently assembling. Birge also included in his letter to Captain Dougherty a copy of Fremont’s letter stating the stringent requirements of the shooting test.

Birge's Western Sharpshooters, List of Company Officers

(Original Company Designation)

The following list is the original company designation in the autumn of 1861 until the unit was redesigned as the 14th Regiment Missouri Infantry, also known as the Western Sharpshooters. This information was taken from a document titled “Brige's Western Sharpshooters, List of Company Officers” from which the date was not recorded. The individual company officers are as follows:

Company ACapt. John Welker

*Note: The original Company A was not shown on the document but through secondary information, it is believed that Capt. John Welker's independent company was part of the unit, until the time when the company was taken/transferred by Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck to form the 26th Regiment Missouri Infantry. (Information provided by James B. Sullivan taken from the Missouri State Archives)

Company BCapt. William S. Boyd (Missouri)

Company CCapt. Henry Eads (Missouri)

Company DCapt. Ensign Conklin (Illinois )

Company ECapt. John Piper (Michigan)

Company FCapt. Alexander K. Campbell (Illinois )

Company GCapt. Lyman B. Cutler (Missouri)

Company HCapt. Calvin Reed (Ohio)

*Note: Before joining the Western Sharpshooters, Company H was known as the 1st Independent Company Ohio Volunteer Sharpshooters.

Company ICapt. Campbell Dougherty (Ohio)

*Note: Before joining the Western Sharpshooters, Company I was known as the 2nd  Independent Company Ohio Volunteer Sharpshooters.

Company KCapt. Arthur D. Taylor (Illinois )

The regiment's unit designation changed from Birge’s Western Sharpshooters to the Western Sharpshooters, 14th Regiment Missouri Infantry on April 14, 1862.  The unit was later redesigned as the 66th Illinois Infantry. According to a document dated December 19, 1862, the list of company officers are as follows:

Company ACapt. William S. Boyd

Company BCapt. Henry Eads

Company CCapt. Ensign Conklin

Company DCapt. John Piper

Company ECapt. Alexander K. Campbell

Company FCapt. Lyman B. Cutler (resigned in March, 1862)

Capt. Michael Piggott (Cutler's replacement)

Company GCapt. Calvin Reed (resigned on April 16, 1862)

Capt. Benjamin D. Longstreth (Reed's replacement)

Company HCapt. Campbell Dougherty (discharged on August 14, 1862 because of a disability)

Capt. Thomas D. Mitchell (Dougherty's replacement)

Company I Capt. Arthur D. Taylor (resigned on April 19, 1862)

Capt. Jerry H. Hill (Taylor's replacement)

Company KCapt. George A. Taylor

Images of the weapons of Civil War era Sharpshooters

Dimick Supplied the Rifles of the Western Sharpshooters

The rifles that were used by the Western Sharpshooters were provided by the firearms firm of H.E. Dimick of St. Louis, Missouri. A contract was made on September 18, 1861 between Union General John C. Fremont and Dimick for his firm to supply 1,000 rifles at a cost of $25 a piece for the unit. However, at the time, Dimick could only supply about 150 rifles and had to purchase rifles from other manufacturers as far away as Pennsylvania and New York in order to fulfill the terms of the contract. Because of this the details of the rifles varied.

The rifles that Fremont sought and agreed to purchase were of the style of Plains sporting civilian rifles. They were constructed as a half stock with a single and/ or a double barrel key called “Barrel Wedged”. They were to have either a back action or front action lock. Some of the rifles came complete with patch boxes while some did not. The barrels were octagonal with a length of 30 to 32 inches. The rifles that Dimick provided were either single trigger or double set trigger. The actual caliber of the rifles ranged from .33 to .69 due to the variety of suppliers that his firm had to use. The weight of each different rifle varied as well. The sights on the rifles were also different. Over 360 of the rifles had the Lawrence patented rear adjustable sight, more commonly referred to as the Sharps carbine sight, while many of the others had a buckhorn rear sight. All of the supplied rifles had front blade sights.

Another difference that existed within the rifles supplied under this contract was with the rifling. Two known surviving unaltered originals have maker’s marks of “H.E. Dimick” stamped at the top of each barrel and both have a four landed and groove rifling design. The rate of the twist of the rifling is unknown exactly. Both of these surviving rifles have inlayed German (hunter) silver front sights and Sharps carbine rear sights.

Each of the 1,000 rifles came with its own bullet mold and both were stamped with corresponding numbers so that if misplaced they could later be rejoined. The mold that the Dimick firm manufactured produced a Minie-ball type bullet that was very similar to the popular “Swiss Chasseur” bullet used by Swiss and German target shooters.

The Plains rifle was the primary rifle used by the Western Sharpshooters but by the summer of 1863 (about the time the Western Sharpshooters were on garrison duty at Camp Davies), these civilian rifles started to show wear. At a time when more Confederate infantrymen began to use rifled muskets and when the Western Sharpshooters soldiers were being used more as skirmishers rather than as long range shooters, the men sought more suitable skirmishing weapons such as the Henry repeating rifle. The Plains rifles continued to be among the unit’s arsenal but over time their number rapidly decreased until Plains rifles altogether disappeared from quartermaster reports by the spring of 1865.

Click on any of the images below to see a full screen image

The Fight at Bald Hill

The following is an excerpt from the June 28, 1882 edition of the National Tribune (the largest newspaper catering to Union Civil War veterans) from a letter written by "A Veteran" of the Western Sharpshooters from Dayton, Ohio dealing with a fight that occurred on July 22, 1864 during the Battle of Atlanta:

". . . . .while the regiment was resting here, skirmishing commenced in our front. Said Lieutenant P. P. Ellis to the boys: "They are shooting porkers!" I told him I guessed they were two legged ones. At the same time Major A. K. Campbell gave orders for Companies A, K, and G, 66th Illinois, or Cox's Brigade as the boys called these three companies, to advance at (the) double quick. We went about a half mile through the plain, and on the left of Bald Hill, where the fox grass was about three feet high. The Rebels opened on Companies A and G, when Company K came up and the rattle of the Henry repeating rifle could be heard above the rattle of Minie or Enfield rifle. [Over 250 men of the Western Sharpshooters had purchased the sixteen shot lever action Henry repeating rifles at a staggering cost of $42 which was over three months' pay for a private. This was the second largest private purchase of the war and allowed the Sharpshooters to generate a greater volume of fire than a standard infantry brigade. Their marksmanship skills made the volume of fire lethal.]

"We were commanded by Captain W. S. Boyd, of Company A, [Captain Boyd was in fact de facto acting regimental commander following the May 20, 1864 death of Colonel Patrick E. Burke] who coolly deployed our line of skirmishers [Company A?] on the right, with (Company) K in the center, and (Company) G on the left. We charged the Rebel skirmishers and drove them into the woods, but before Colonel Campbell could deploy the regiment, the Rebel General Walker's division charged us in seven lines deep, and Oh! what a sight that was this beautiful day- the Rebel line in full view and advancing at right shoulder shift arms, their guns glistening in the sun! They came with a yell and a hurrah, such as only a Johnny Reb could give, but they were met by just as stubborn Billy Yanks, and the battle became general in front of General Sweeney's division. Before we had time to erect barricades they charged us again, gaining our lines and forcing us back. The Army of the Tennessee supply train, parked between Decatur and our rear, was the object of the attack and for a while it looked like victory for the Johnny Rebs. The 9th Kentucky (Confederate) planted their colors on Company G's knapsacks and while Captain Boyd (Company A) was turning them up with the sixteen shooters, our men were on their knees firing round after round until our fire began to tell on the Rebel line, and men fell by the hundreds. No command indeed could stand the withering fire of Henry and Spencer rifle. [The Spencer rifles mentioned here were possibly in the hands of cavalry skirmishers mentioned earlier in the article.] Orderly Sergeant Wm. Burrows of Company G shouted; "For God's sake men, do not let the Rebels capture our colors! At them! And give them Hell!" And the men of the 9th, 12th, and 66th Illinois, 2nd and 7th Iowa, 66th Indiana, and 81st Ohio with a shout jumped up and charged the Rebels, retaking their knapsacks, which they had used as breastworks, driving the Rebels down the ravine in a solid mass. We let them have all we had of our (Henry) sixteen shooters.

A Counter Charge

"There (in the woods) the Rebels reformed and in turn charged our lines with a desperate fury. For a while the contending lines of battle swayed to and fro like the waves of the ocean. Battery H, 1st Missouri, fired six hundred (rounds of) shot and shell into the Rebel ranks, and at last the enemy was forced to retire. We charged the Rebels as they fell back, taking a great many prisoners, for they surrendered by the hundreds. H. B. Sortman, Aaron Hallenbeck, C. F. Kimmel, Fred Hoffbaner, Chas. H. Cox, and others captured forty three prisoners of the 5th Kentucky (Confederate) and the colors of the 9th Kentucky (Confederate). Major A. K. Campbell was mortally wounded, Captain M. Piggot lost a leg, and Lieutenant P. P. Ellis was shot in the side. Company G had three men killed and seven wounded. Every man's knapsack had a bullet hole through it. The regiment lost 165 men killed and wounded, the regimental flag received sixty six holes through it. The regiment staff was shot into twice and three color bearers were killed and seven (were) wounded. [A severe toll, even for a Civil War battle. The amazing thing is that they absorbed it, moved out, continued to lead an attack, and eventually succeeded.]

"We also captured the colors of the 6th Florida (Confederate) in this Battle of Bald Hill. The Second Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, indeed saved the Army of the Tennessee from a disastrous defeat, killed and wounded over 2,000 Rebels and captured Brigadier General Lewis and Colonel Hardee of General Bates' staff (as well as) 1,400 prisoners and seven stands of colors. . . . ." [End of excerpt]

Despite the amount of casualties suffered, this memoir continues to describe how, following this hard fought victory, the Western Sharpshooters retired from the line and marched to the right to aid the XV Corps where they helped to check a Confederate breakthrough and were able to recapture Degress' Battery of the 1st Illinois Light Artillery (along with help from the 81st Ohio.) As this memoir describes, the Western Sharpshooters were truly one of the great regiments of the Civil War.

(Information presented here courtesy of James Sullivan)