GBullet
01-27-2005, 02:39 AM
I'd like to briefly touch on this and hopefully everyone will add on to the thread.
Sniping was practiced by pirates and some navies during sea battles of the 1600's. They tried to pick off the enemy's captain and helmsman. It was practiced by both sides during the American Revolution and the War of 1812, but far more by the Americans.
During the Napoleonic Wars, "riflemen" were snipers, although we would call them Designated Marksmen today. Does anyone remember Rifleman Dodd? Anyone, anyone? :)
Of all the world's conflicts, the American Civil War gave greater rise to sniping than the rest. Both the North and the South employed sniping as a battlefield tool, but in very different ways.
Union snipers had to pass a demanding marksmanship standard. The North quickly shifted their sniping focus to that of companies of Designated Marksmen. Recall that Union snipers were issued repeating rifles in the later half of the war. Union snipers were deployed as an elite force to, in the words of a Union officer, heat up stagnant fronts.
The South lacked the large scale organization of snipers that the Union developed. Southern snipers were usually picked by their commanding officer when they displayed superior marksmanship to other soldiers. Southern snipers were often deployed in one's and two's. When Southern snipers operated in pairs, one of the two was frequently an officer who served as the spotter, commanding the sniper to engage a specific target. Trivia tidbit: There was a black Southern sniper assigned to a Georgia regiment.
Southern snipers favored the Whitworth sniper rifle with its 8x Davidson riflescope. Despite their small numbers, Southern snipers were extremely effective. There were only 42 scoped Whitworth rifle equipped Southern snipers until mid-1863, yet their legend lives on today. More Whitworth sniper rifles were lost in a single captured blockade runner than were issued by the South.
Until recent times, the longest known hits were obtained during the Civil War. Northern snipers achieved almost all of their success during battles. Southern snipers made some of their best known successes off the battlefield by shooting Union officers in camps.
An interesting aspect of a few Southern snipers is their unusual equipment When preparing to snipe an unsuspecting officer, they were known to have sawn the legs short on small tables and carried them on their backs. The sniper would choose a suitable location from which to shoot. He would then set up the table and build a rest of sandbags. When finished, the sniper was able to shoot in benchrest fashion.
An interesting bond developed between snipers of both sides. Union snipers were known to have protected captured Southern snipers from being executed by regular Northern troops.
Sniping was practiced by pirates and some navies during sea battles of the 1600's. They tried to pick off the enemy's captain and helmsman. It was practiced by both sides during the American Revolution and the War of 1812, but far more by the Americans.
During the Napoleonic Wars, "riflemen" were snipers, although we would call them Designated Marksmen today. Does anyone remember Rifleman Dodd? Anyone, anyone? :)
Of all the world's conflicts, the American Civil War gave greater rise to sniping than the rest. Both the North and the South employed sniping as a battlefield tool, but in very different ways.
Union snipers had to pass a demanding marksmanship standard. The North quickly shifted their sniping focus to that of companies of Designated Marksmen. Recall that Union snipers were issued repeating rifles in the later half of the war. Union snipers were deployed as an elite force to, in the words of a Union officer, heat up stagnant fronts.
The South lacked the large scale organization of snipers that the Union developed. Southern snipers were usually picked by their commanding officer when they displayed superior marksmanship to other soldiers. Southern snipers were often deployed in one's and two's. When Southern snipers operated in pairs, one of the two was frequently an officer who served as the spotter, commanding the sniper to engage a specific target. Trivia tidbit: There was a black Southern sniper assigned to a Georgia regiment.
Southern snipers favored the Whitworth sniper rifle with its 8x Davidson riflescope. Despite their small numbers, Southern snipers were extremely effective. There were only 42 scoped Whitworth rifle equipped Southern snipers until mid-1863, yet their legend lives on today. More Whitworth sniper rifles were lost in a single captured blockade runner than were issued by the South.
Until recent times, the longest known hits were obtained during the Civil War. Northern snipers achieved almost all of their success during battles. Southern snipers made some of their best known successes off the battlefield by shooting Union officers in camps.
An interesting aspect of a few Southern snipers is their unusual equipment When preparing to snipe an unsuspecting officer, they were known to have sawn the legs short on small tables and carried them on their backs. The sniper would choose a suitable location from which to shoot. He would then set up the table and build a rest of sandbags. When finished, the sniper was able to shoot in benchrest fashion.
An interesting bond developed between snipers of both sides. Union snipers were known to have protected captured Southern snipers from being executed by regular Northern troops.