[
419]
Second United States Sharpshooters.
Ward's Brigade —
Birney's Division--Third Corps.
| companies. | killed and died of wounds. | died of disease, accidents, in Prison, &c. | Total Enrollment. |
| Officers. | Men. | Total. | Officers. | Men. | Total. |
| Field and Staff | 1 | | 1 | | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| | Co. A Minnesota | 1 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 123 |
| | Co. B Michigan | 1 | 12 | 13 | | 19 | 19 | 121 |
| | Co. C Pennsylvania | | 11 | 11 | | 19 | 19 | 124 |
| | Co. D Maine | | 21 | 21 | | 17 | 17 | 156 |
| | Co. E Vermont | 2 | 22 | 24 | | 16 | 16 | 228 |
| | Co. F N. Hampshire | | 14 | 14 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 114 |
| | Co. G N. Hampshire | 1 | 11 | 12 | | 11 | 11 | 116 |
| | Co. H Vermont | 2 | 16 | 18 | | 20 | 20 | 182 |
| Totals | 8 | 117 | 125 | 2 | 123 | 125 | 1,178 |
125 killed == 10.6 per cent.
Total of killed and wounded, 462; died in Confederate prisons (previously included), 17
| battles. | K. & M. W. | battles. | K. & M. W. |
| Rappahannock, Va. (1862） | 3 | Spotsylvania, Va. | 19 |
| Sulphur Springs, Va. | 1 | North Anna, Va. | 3 |
| Groveton, Va. | 3 | Totopotomoy, Va. | 1 |
| Manassas, Va. | 2 | Cold Harbor, Va. | 5 |
| South Mountain, Md. | 1 | Petersburg Va., assault, 1864 | 11 |
| Antietam, Md. | 21 | Siege of Petersburg, Va. | 5 |
| Chancellorsville, Va. | 3 | Weldon Railroad, Va., June 22, 1864 | 3 |
| Gettysburg, Pa. | 9 | Picket, Va., Oct. 18, 1864 | 1 |
| Brandy Station, Va. | 1 | Boydton Road, Va. | 5 |
| Mine Run, Va. | 1 | Place unknown | 1 |
| Wilderness, Va. | 26 | | |
Present, also, at
Falmouth;
Fredericksburg; Wapping Heights;
Auburn;
Kelly's Ford;
Po River;
Hatcher's Run.
notes.--
Berdan's United States Sharpshooters were the best known of any regiments in the Army.
It would have been difficult to have raised in any one State a regiment equal to
Berdan's requirements.
No recruit was eligible that could not make ten consecutive shots, whose aggregate distance from the center of the target would “string” less than fifty inches, an average of less than five inches for each shot; the distance was 600 feet at a rest; or 300 feet off hand.
Many of the men could, at that distance, put all the ten shots inside the bull's-eye.
The class of men selected were also of a high grade in physical qualifications and intelligence.
The regiment was organized in 1861, and in March, 1862, commenced active service, then in
McDowell's Corps.
At
Antietam.--in
Phelps's Brigade,
Doubleday's Division — it lost 13 killed, 51 wounded, and 2 missing. It fought there in line of battle, infantry formation.
Both of
Berdan's regiments, however, were generally employed as skirmishers, and, consequently, never suffered the heavy losses incidental to heavy columns.
They were continually in demand as skirmishers on account of their wonderful proficiency as such, and they undoubtedly killed more men than any other regiment in the Army.
In skirmishing they had no equal.
The “Second” served successively in the First, Third, and Second Corps; most of the time in
Birney's Division, and in company with the First Regiment United States Sharpshooters.
At the
Wilderness the regiment lost 16 killed, 49 wounded, and 11 missing; at
Spotsylvania, 12 killed, 38 wounded, and 3 missing.
