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Books and Articles about the U.S. Sharpshooters


  • Berdan's United States Sharpshooters in the Army of the Patomac
    Author: Captain Charles A. Stevens
    Publisher:The Price-McGill Company, St. Paul
    Publication Date: 1892
    Reprint Publisher: Morningside House, Inc., Dayton, Ohio
    Reprint Publication Date: 1984
    Review: Probably the most detailed publication about Berdan's Sharpshooters to date, it was written by Charles Stevens, captain of Company G, 1st U.S. Sharpshooters. The accounts are largely first hand.

  • Vermont Riflemen in the War for the Union 1861-1865, A history of Company F, 1st United States Sharpshooters
    Author: Lieutenant Colonel William Y.M. Ripley
    Publisher: Tuttle & CO., Printers, Rutland
    Publication Date: 1883
    Reprint Publisher: Grand Army Press, Rochester, Michigan
    Reprint Date: 1981
    Review: Great first person account of a company, written by a lieutenant colonel who commanding the 1st U.S. Sharpshooters.

  • Civil War Chief of Sharpshooters Hiram Berdan Military Commander and Firearms Inventor
    Author: Roy M. Marcot
    Publisher: Northwood Heritage Press, Irvine, California
    Publication Date: 1989
    Library of Congress #89-092286
    ISBN: 0-9611494-1-8
    Review: An amazing peice of research, detailing the life and inventions of Hiram Berdan and his involvement with the U.S. Sharpshooters. A must read to understand Hiram Berdan.

  • Sharpshooter: Hiram Berdan, his famous Sharpshooters and their Sharps Rifles
    Author: Wiley Sword
    Series: Man at Arms Monograph Series, No. 3
    Publisher: Andrew Mowbray Inc., Lincoln, Road Island
    Publication Date: 1988
    Library of Congress #88-062056
    ISBN: 0-917218-37-X
    Review: Good condensed history of the Sharpshooters and Hiram Berdan, included theories about how the Sharpshooters were formed and discrepancies in Berdan's accounts.

  • Sharpshooters of the American Civil War 1861-65
    Author: Philip Katcher, Illustrated by Stephen Walsh
    Series: Warrior #60
    Publisher: Osprey Publishing
    Publication Date: 2002
    ISBN: 1-84176-463-9
    Review: True to Osprey form, this book is a good concise history of sharpshooting in both the North and South. Excellent pictures, both contemporary and original.

  • Berdan's Sharpshooters in Combat, The Peninsula Campaign and Gettysburg
    Compiled by: R.L. Murray
    Publisher: Morningside Books, Dayton, Ohio
    Publication Date:
    Review: A compilation of never before published letters Berdan's Sharpshooters during the Peninsula Campaign and Gettysburg.

  • Letters from Berdan's Sharpshooters, New York Soldiers' Correspondences from the Battlefield
    Compiled by: R.L. Murray
    Publisher: Morningside Books, Dayton, Ohio
    Publication Date: 2005
    Review: A compilations of forty never before published letters of the New York soldiers of the 1st U.S. Sharpshooters.

  • The Civil War Diary of Wyman S. White, First Sergeant, Company F, 2nd United States Sharpshooters
    Edited by Russell C. White
    Publisher: Butternut and Blue, Baltimore, Maryland
    Publication Date: 1991
    ISBN: 0-935523-26-X
    Review: A great first person account of the Sharpshooters by a Sharpshooter. From the enlistment through disbandment of the Sharpshooters.

  • Letters from a Sharpshooter: The Civil War Letters of William B. Greene, Co. G, 2nd United States Sharpshooters (Berdan's) Army of the Potomac 1861-1865
    Transcribed by William H. Hastings
    ISBN:0-9638744-0-3 Publisher: Historic Publications, The Hastings Group, Belleville, Wisconsin
    Publication Date: 1993
    Review: A good first person account of the Sharpshooters through the letters of a seventeen year old sharpshooter.

  • Berdan's Sharpshooters
    Magazine: The American Gun
    Publisher: Madison Books, Inc.
    Volume 1, Number 1, Spring 1961, page 23-27
    Author: Marshall Andrews
    Review: The story of the sharpshooters in a hard-bound magazine about the guns that shaped America

  • The Most Dangerous Set of Men
    Magazine: Civil War Times Illustrated
    Publisher: Cowles Media Company
    ISSN: 0009-8094
    Volume XXXII, Number 3, July/August 1993, page 42-53
    Author: Richard Pindell
    Review: A great article retelling the facts about Berdan Sharpshooters. A good basic article.

  • Death at a Distance
    Magazine: Civil War Times Illustrated
    Publisher: Cowles Media Company
    ISSN: 0009-8094
    Volume XXIX, Number 1, April 1990, page 48-55
    Author: Roy Banks
    Review: Good article dealing with the "heavy" target rifles and how telescopic sites became a part of the sharpshooter's working tools.

  • Sharpshooting with Berdan
    Magazine: Civil War Times Illustrated
    Publisher: Historical Times, Inc.
    Volume XV, Number 2, May 1976, page 4-9
    Author: William C. Kent
    Review: The personal memoirs of William C. Kent at the Seven Days' Battles. Kent was corporal of Company F of the 1st United States Sharpshooters.

  • Arming Berdan's Sharpshooters
    Magazine: America's Military Heritage
    Publisher: Challenge Publications, Inc.
    Volume 1, Number 1, Summer 1992, page 24-31
    Author: Roy Marcot
    Review: A good look at the sharpshooters and their rifles. Includes information about the breech block and the shape of the cartridge and primer tube. By the author of a book about Hiram Berdan.

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Books and Articles about Confederate Sharpshooters


  • Lee's Sharpshooters, Or the Forefront of Battle: a Story of Southern Valor that Never had been Told
    Author: Major S.W. Dunlop
    Publisher: Tunnah & Pittard, Little Rock, Arkansas
    Publication Date: 1899
    1st Reprint Publisher: Morningside, Dayton, Ohio
    1st Reprint Publiscation Date: 1988
    2nd Reprint Publisher: Digital Scanning
    2nd Reprint Publication Date: 2001
    ISBN: 1-58218-612-X
    Review: A subject of Confederate Sharpshooters, written by William S. Dunlop, who served as Captain of Conpany B, 12th South Carolina and commanded McGowan's Sharpshooters, 1864-5.

  • Sharpshooters of the American Civil War 1861-65
    Author: Philip Katcher, Illustrated by Stephen Walsh
    Series: Warrior #60
    Publisher: Osprey Publishing
    Publication Date: 2002
    ISBN: 1-84176-463-9
    Review: True to Osprey form, this book is a good concise history of sharpshooting in both the North and South. Excellent pictures, both contemporary and original.

  • The Day of the Marksman
    Magazine: The American Gun
    Publisher: Madison Books, Inc.
    Volume 1, Number 1, Spring 1961, page 19-22
    Author: Clifford Dowdey
    Review: The story of the marksmen in the Confederate army, in a hard-bound magazine about the guns that shaped America

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Other Recommended Books about the American Civil War


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Published Journals and Diaries from the Civil war


William Newby: Alias Daniel Benton, Alias Crazy Jack, or The Soldier's Return
Publisher: WM. Kennann Publishing, Long Beach, CA.
Author: Gilbert Jasper George
Review: This book is the story of William Newby who returned home after it was believed he was killed with the 40th Illinois in the battle of Shiloh. The book is written by a close comrad who was with Newby at Shiloh.
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Reenacting Books


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Recommended Magazines


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Recommend Music


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Civil War Flags: Resources


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General Civil War Resources



  • United States Army Headgear 1855-1902: Catalog of United States Army Uniforms in the Collections of the Smithsonian Institute, II
    Series: Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology Number 30, Book 2
    Author: Edgar M. Howell
    Publisher: Smithsonian Institute Press, City of Washington
    Publication Date: 1975
    Review: A useful resource for military headgear of the civil war era (and beyond). Includes photographs and detailed descriptions, including measurements.

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Civil War Medicine: Resources


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Civil War Era Recipies


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Civil War Era Rememdies


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Civil War Era Slang


 

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