Incredible Shots of the Civil War
originally published in Civil War Historian magazine
There is an old adage that for every soldier killed in the Civil War his weight
in lead was fired on the battlefield. While it is impossible to prove that
statement, it is a certainty that an enormous amount of ordnance was expended
during those four bloody years. More than 3,250,000 soldiers were engaged in
2,261 engagements which produced some 673,301 battlefield casualties. With the
amount of iron and lead fired in anger it is inevitable that certain shots stand
apart from the rest. On one hand there are those shots, like the one which
killed Gen. John Sedgwick, which stand out as incredible feats of accuracy. Far
more common, however, were random shots which produced incredible results. This
article provides examples of both the incredibly accurate and the incredibly
strange.
Following
the Battle of Gettysburg, it was noted that:
“Some
idea of the tremendous work at Gettysburgh may be inferred from the fact stated
that more shells were discharged in the single battle of Gettysburgh than were
employed in all the battles that Napolean ever fought.” 1
Occasionally
the lead was flying so fast and furious that bullets collided in mid-air. A
correspondent writing from Vicksburg mentions just such a curious relic:
"I
lately saw at the headquarters of Col. Slack's brigade, two Minie bullets which
had once told a history. One was a rebel bullet of English Manufacture, smuggled
over by our dear brethren in Britain to shoot their dear brethren in America.
The other was a national ball of the Springfield rifle type. The former was
fired from a rifle pit at Jackson at our skirmishers. The latter was fired from
our line of skirmishers at the rifle pit. They met midway in the air, were
welded by the compact and fell harmlessly to the ground. They are now firm
friends, sticking each to the other closer than brother or lover." 2
While much
can be said for the volume of ammunition expended on Civil War battles, less can
be documented as to the overall accuracy of fire. Civil War firearms expert Joe
Bilby notes that:
"Most
soldiers knew little of ballistics or even basic marksmanship techniques - and
never learned otherwise. Although they drilled relentlessly, Civil War soldiers
rarely practiced shooting, and junior and senior officers generally knew little
about firearms." 3
This goes
a long way towards explaining the large amount of ordinance which has been dug
up on Civil War battlefields over the years. It should also lend an aura of
authenticity to those reenactors embroiled in the debates of one side or the
other failing to “take hits”.
The
failure to properly train Civil War recruits in the use of firearms often led to
on-the-job training in the heat of battle. This of course resulted in shots
being wasted and many weapons becoming disabled due to improper handling. A
period account bears this out:
“On
the field of Gettysburg there were 27,574 guns picked up and of those 24,000
were found to be loaded, and half of them were double loaded. One fourth had
from three to ten loads in, and many had five or six balls to one charge of
powder. In some cases the powder was above the ball, in others the cartridges
were not broken at the end, while in one musket twenty three balls, sixty two
buckshot and a quantity of powder were all mixed up together.” 4
While most
sensible soldiers wouldn’t think of firing a weapon which had multiple loads
in the barrel, Confederate Private William W. Patteson made a point of firing
everything but the kitchen sink during an 1862 battle in the Shenandoah:
“I had shot
my gun so often (and wiped it but once) that when I had rammed down one Minie
ball and nine buckshot I thought I would put in some more. I put in nine more
buckshot and some paper. In ramming down the extra charge the ramrod stuck fast.
I could not move it up or down. Augustine said: ‘If you fire your gun in that
condition, it will burst. Turn it up and drive the ramrod down on that rock.’
I did so, but as the enemy were about to charge I had to leave the ramrod in.
Thinking the gun might kick me over, I knelt down so I wouldn't have far to
fall. It was well I did.
When the enemy
came out of the woods, moving straight toward us, I said to my cousin: ‘Watch
that Yankee on the dark sorrel horse.’ Well, when the shot went off, I fell
one way and the gun another, the horse had no rider, and a gap was cut through
their lines. That ramrod, the eighteen buckshot, and the Minie ball did the
work. My captain said: ‘See here, young man, where did you get that piece of
artillery?’ I replied that it was a gift from General Jackson. ‘Well now,’
said he meditatively, ‘General Jackson should have had it mounted on wheels,
so it wouldn't kick you over.’ “ 5
Sometimes
a near miss produced a memorable experience as well. During the Peninsula
Campaign a newspaper reported that:
“At Yorktown a soldier named Corporal Tucker was injured under remarkable circumstance. The shot, in passing, did not strike him, but the velocity of the missile raised a swelling on his breast, and bereft the poor man of his speech. The doctors think that he will regain his utterance.” 6
In another
instance a bow-legged recruit from Madison, Wisconsin wrote home thanking
“his
father for giving him crooked, or bow legs, saying that on the day before he had
narrowly escaped losing both his legs, a cannonball passing harmlessly through
the space occassioned by the natural crook of the legs “. 7
Even Confederate General John B. Gordon
recounted a near-miss incident during the Battle of Spotsylvania:
“When a
daring charge of the North Carolina brigade had temporarily checked that portion
of the Federal forces struck by it, and while my brigades in the rear were being
placed in position, I rode with Thomas G. Jones, the youngest member of my
staff, into the intervening woods, in order, if possible, to locate Hancock's
position. Sitting on my horse near the line of the North Carolina brigade, I was
endeavoring to get a view of the Union lines, through the woods and through
gradually lifting mists. It was impossible, however, to see those lines; but the
direction from which they sent their bullets soon informed us that they were
still moving and had already gone beyond our right. One of those bullets passed
through my coat from side to side, just grazing my back. Jones, who was close to
me, and sitting on his horse in a not very erect posture, anxiously inquired;
‘General, didn't that ball hit you?’
‘No’, I
said; ‘but suppose my back had been in a bow like yours? Don't you see that
the bullet would have gone straight through my spine. Sit up or you'll be
killed.’
The sudden
jerk with which he straightened himself, and the duration of the impression
made, showed that this ocular demonstration of the necessity for a soldier to
sit upright on his horse had been more effective than all the ordinary lessons
that could have been given.” 8
Confederate Gen. John C. Breckinridge
escaped death at the Battle of Cold Harbor when
“a solid
shell struck General Breckinridge's horse in the breast and passed out back of
the stirrup leather and between the General's legs.” 9
Perhaps the most tragic shot fired
during the war was documented by Capt. D.P. Conyngham
of the famous Irish brigade:
“I
had a Sergeant Driscoll, a brave man, and one of the best shots in the brigade.
When charging at Malvern Hill a company was posted in a clump of trees, who kept
up a fierce fire on us, and actually charged out at our advance. Their officer
seemed to be a daring, reckless boy, and I said to Driscoll, ‘If that officer
is not taken down, many of us will fall before we pass that clump.’
’Leave that to me,’ said Driscoll; so he raised his rifle, and the moment
the officer exposed himself again bang went Driscoll, and over went the officer,
his company at once breaking away.
As we passed the place I said, ‘Driscoll, see if that officer is dead, he was
a brave fellow.’
I stood looking on, Driscoll turned him over on his back. He opened his eyes for
a moment, and faintly murmured ‘Father’, and then closed them forever.
I will forever recollect the frantic grief of Driscoll; it was harrowing to
witness. He was his son, who had gone south before the war.
And what became of Driscoll afterwards?
Well, we were ordered to charge, and I left him there; but, as we were closing
with the enemy, he rushed up, with his coat off, and, clutching his musket,
charged right up at the enemy, calling on the men to follow. He soon fell, but
jumped up again. We knew he was wounded. On he dashed, but he soon rolled over
like a top. When we came up he was dead, riddled with bullets.”
10
 |
| Col. Hugh McNeil |
There
are also many stories of incredibly accurate shots. Col. Hugh W. McNeil of the
Pennsylvania Bucktails was one of those who fired such a shot:
“During the
battle of South Mountain, the Rebels held a very strong position. They were
posted in a mountain pass, and had infantry on the heights on every side. Our
men were compelled to carry the place by storm. The position seemed impregnable.
A band of Rebels occupied a ledge on the extreme right, as the Colonel
approached with a few of his men. The unseen force poured upon them a volley.
Col. Hugh McNeil, on the instant, gave the command: ‘Pour your fire upon those
rocks!’
The Bucktails hesitated, it was not an order they were accustomed to receive;
they had always picked their men.
’Fire!’ thundered the Colonel; ‘I tell you to fire on those rocks!’
The men obeyed. For some time an irregular fire was kept up, the Bucktails
sheltering themselves as best they could behind trees and rocks. On a sudden
McNeil caught sight of two rebels peering through an opening in the works to get
aim. The eyes of the men followed their commander, and half a dozen rifles were
leveled in that direction.
’Wait a minute,’ said the Colonel; ‘I will try my hand. There is nothing
like killing two birds with one stone.’
The two rebels were not in line, but one stood a little distance back of the
other, while just in front of the foremost was a slanting rock. Col. McNeil
seized a rifle, raised it, glanced a moment along the polished barrel; a report
followed, and both the rebels disappeared. At that moment a loud cheer a little
distance beyond rent the air.
’All is right now,’ cried the Colonel; ‘charge the rascals.’
The men sprang up among the rocks in an instant. The affrighted rebels turned to
run, but encountered another body of the Bucktails and were obliged to
surrender. Not a man of them escaped. Every one saw the object of the Colonel's
order to fire at random among the rocks. He had sent a party around to the rear,
and meant thus to attract their attention. It was a perfect success.
The two rebels by the opening in the ledge were found lying there stiff and
cold. Col. McNeil's bullet had struck the slanting rock in front of them,
glanced, and passed through both their heads. There it lay beside them,
flattened. The Colonel picked it up, and put it in his pocket.”
11
Col. McNeil was still carrying the
lucky bullet a few days later when he was killed at the Battle of Antietam.
Another
regiment of Pennsylvanians experienced a similar incident during the Battle of
Gettysburg:
“During the
morning's firing, the men of the 111th from northwest Pennsylvania, who prided
themselves on their marksmanship, enjoyed sniping at the enemy. First Sgt.
Castor G. Malin saw puffs of smoke from some rocks down the slope. He aimed and
fired carefully at the source of the smoke several times, but the puffs of smoke
continued to appear. The sergeant, a deer hunter, was annoyed with his shooting
until after the battle when he walked down to the rock pile and found five dead
soldiers there. They had followed each other in turn until the last man shot had
fallen dead upon his gun and closed the gap through which they had fired.”
12
As
the war progressed the need for expert marksman became more apparent. Units such
as Berdan’s Sharpshooters were specifically designed to function as snipers
(sharpshooters in Civil War parlance) and inflict casualties from long
distances. Confederate soldier Sam Watkins in his memoirs tells a humorous
incident which occurred while choosing sharpshooters during the Atlanta
Campaign:
“By some
hook or crook the Confederate States government had come in possession of a
small number of Whitworth guns, the finest long range guns in the world. They
were to be given to the best shots in the army. One day Capt. Joe Lee and Co. H
went out to shoot at a target for the gun. We all wanted the gun, because if we
got it we would be sharpshooters, relieved from camp duty, etc.
All the
generals and officers came out to see us shoot. The mark was put up about 500
yards on a hill, and each of us had three shots. Every shot that was fired hit
the board, but there was one man who came a little closer to the spot than any
other, and the Whitworth was awarded to him; and as we just turned round to go
back to camp, a buck rabbit jumped up, and was streaking it as fast as he could
make tracks, all the boys whooping and yelling as hard as they could, when Jimmy
Webster raised his gun and pulled down on him, and cut the rabbit's head
entirely off with a minie ball right back of his ears.
He was about
250 yards off. Gen. Polk laughed very heartily at the incident, and I heard him
ask one of his staff if the Whitworth gun had been awarded. The staff officer
responded that it had, and that a certain man in Col. Farquhanson's regiment
(4th Tenn.) was the successful contestant, and I heard General Polk remark, ‘I
wish I had another gun to give, I would give it to the young man that shot the
rabbit's head off.’” 13
As trench warfare increased later in
the war, sharpshooting became on everyday occurrence. A period newspaper related
some incidents of long-range dueling on the front lines:
“It not infrequently happens that sharpshooters in each army are engaged in firing at each other and succeed ultimately in killing, by putting a ball through the hole made just large enough for the muzzle of the rifle, while the opposite party is looking through to watch the effect of his own shot. Some little time since we had an account from Tennessee of a case in which an expert rebel and Union sharpshooter watched each other for three days, while the Union man was looking through, a ball passed into the hole and directly through his eye and brain, of course killing him instantly. The correspondent of the New York Commercial before Petersburg relates another case which occurred on Monday. A soldier got sight of a rebel sharpshooter and fired through one of the rifle holes on the breastworks, merely large enough to put the muzzle of his musket through and sight his object. Having fired he withdrew his weapon to observe what effect he had made when, from a distance of about three hundred yards, a ball passed through the rifle hole entering his head and killing him instantly.” 14
Union Surgeon John Gardner Perry wrote
of one of these deadly duels:
“Lieutenant
G- was in command of the sharpshooters attached to the regiment, but who were
not under its absolute control. They form an independent organization, going
where they can most injure the enemy. We had been fighting for several days in
the most advanced trenches amidst persistent firing from both sides, which,
however, did little damage, except to prevent all rest and sleep. Finally both
armies saw the folly of such warfare and desisted. Towards noon yesterday,
weary, I suppose, of the inaction, a Confederate sharpshooter mounted his
earthwork and challenged any one of our sharpshooters to single combat.
Lieutenant G-, a fine fellow, standing at least six feet two in his stockings,
accepted the challenge, and they commenced what to them was sport. Life is cheap
in this campaign! Both fired, and the Confederate dropped. G-'s great size was
so unusual that his opponent had the advantage, and our men tried to make him
give way to a smaller man. But, no! He would not listen, became very excited as
his successes multiplied, and when darkness stopped the dueling he remained
unscathed, while every opponent had fallen victim to his unerring aim.
The Lieutenant
was so exhilarated that he claimed with much bluster a charmed life; said
nothing would kill him; that he could stand any amount of dueling, and this he
would prove in the morning. When he was in his tent for the night, we officers
used every argument and entreaty to convince him of the foolishness and
criminality of such a course, and also assured him of the certainty of his
death. But the man seemed crazed with the faith in his charmed life. He would
not yield his determination, and when we left him he was simply waiting, as best
he could, for daylight, to begin the dueling again.
As we
foretold, he was finally killed, but his death was due to treachery. In the
morning, true to his mistaken conviction, he stood upon the works again and
challenged his opponent. Instantly one appeared, and as both were taking aim, a
man from another part of the Confederate line fired and shot G- through the
mouth, the ball lodging in the spinal vertebrae, completely paralyzing him below
the head. We dragged the poor, deluded fellow to his tent, where, after uttering
inarticulately, ‘I hit him anyway, Doctor,’ he died.
We then heard
a tremendous uproar outside, and found that our men were claiming the murderer
of their lieutenant; but the Confederates shouted that they had already shot him
for a cowardly villain, and then came praises across the line for Lieutenant
G-'s pluck and skill.” 15
Of
course the artillery was not to be outdone by small arms. Numerous incredible
shots are attributed to the cannoneers of the army and navy. Newspapers recorded
a strange incident during the Siege of Vicksburg:
