Sharp Shooter - History - U.S. Civil War (1861-1865)

U.S. Civil War (1861-1865)

During the American Civil War, sharpshooters saw limited action, as tacticians sought to avoid the heavy casualties inflicted through normal tactics, which involved close ranks of men at close ranges. The sharpshooters used by both sides in the Civil War were less used as snipers, and more as skirmishers and scouts. These elite troops were well equipped and trained, and placed at the front of any column to first engage the enemy.

Read more about this topic:  Sharp Shooter, History

Famous quotes containing the words civil and/or war:

    To the cry of “follow Mormons and prairie dogs and find good land,” Civil War veterans flocked into Nebraska, joining a vast stampede of unemployed workers, tenant farmers, and European immigrants.
    —For the State of Nebraska, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    It is a war against the pines, the only real Aroostook or Penobscot war.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)