Sharpshooter Weapons - Vol. IV, Episode 6

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  • Опубліковано 13 бер 2018
  • What was a sharpshooter during the Civil War? What weapons did they use? Join us as we explore sharpshooter weapons used during the war with Dan Wambaugh who has researched this topic for over 20 years. In this episode, he shares a great first-hand account from both sides of the war that illustrates the effectiveness of a sharpshooter and his weapon.
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    #CWDD #history #dighist #digitalhistory #digitalhistorian #education #research #connection #musket #berdan #sharpshooter #livinghistory #reenacting #civilwar #civilwarinfantry

КОМЕНТАРІ • 70

  • @myaccountjhr
    @myaccountjhr 4 роки тому +33

    My g-g-grandfather was a sharpshooter in the 17th Alabama. He carried a Whitworth, one of the six imported into Mobile, AL in 1862. At war's end he did not surrender. He took the scope off the rifle, placed it in its leather carrying case, leaned the rifle against a tree, and walked off. I have his scope and case in my safe.

    • @CivilWarDigitalDigest
      @CivilWarDigitalDigest  4 роки тому +6

      Thanks for sharing your family story!

    • @rc59191
      @rc59191 Рік тому +5

      Woah dude that's a really cool story. 3 of my 3rd great grandpa's fought for the Union one was a Zouave in the 2nd Delaware trying to get a copy of his uniform made since we can't find the original.

    • @Fluffinator129
      @Fluffinator129 Рік тому +1

      My reenacting group is talking about doing that unit, do you have any more information or sources on them?

    • @Joebonjoe
      @Joebonjoe Рік тому

      Blablabla, my g-dad was fighting in Stalingrad, so what? Although my g-dad was actually a simple "Sturmpionier", but they loose Lots of soldiers , so he was unfortunately sent to a kind of a "anti-tank-detachment". Man, this little men dug into a camouflaged 4 foot foxhole, let a T-34 tank run over him, then jumped up from behind and threw a grenade through the hatch. THIS IS a story! Your gggg-father, on the other hand, was on vacation.

    • @bigpoppapump8014
      @bigpoppapump8014 Рік тому +1

      @@Joebonjoe your grandfather did one thing wrong, creating your father who created you.

  • @michaelelliott172
    @michaelelliott172 6 років тому +18

    Awesome!
    My ancestor, CPL Taylor McCoy, was a member of the 1st KY BDE Sharpshooters and participated in the Atlanta campaign. They were issued Kerr rifles, so I love seeing them talked about every chance I can!lol

  • @CaptainChip501
    @CaptainChip501 3 місяці тому

    Ah General Sedgewick, Uncle John. General of the 6th Corps. My regiment I portray, 139th PVI, loved Sedgewick. He was a great general.

  • @jimhovater8755
    @jimhovater8755 8 місяців тому +1

    I have a rifle from my late dad's collection marked '17th Alabama Sharpshooters'. It was made in Limestone County, AL.

  • @BocageTiger
    @BocageTiger 6 років тому +6

    Great work, Dan! Thank you for sharing your collection.

  • @Hi-lb8cq
    @Hi-lb8cq 6 років тому +3

    Awsome video!!!..everytime I watch civil war digital digest I feel more authentic for my cw impression...keep up the good work

  • @notsosilentmajority1
    @notsosilentmajority1 3 роки тому +2

    I wasn't very interested in American history until I got a bit older. I'm playing catch up now, lol. There is so much history within the history. I love the history of all the firearms but everyday soldier life is quite interesting as well.

  • @brianfuller5868
    @brianfuller5868 6 років тому +3

    Always great info!

  • @indymaiden9426
    @indymaiden9426 6 років тому +1

    Thanks Jeremy and Dan, appreciate the info and video... can’t hate your enthusiasm for sharpshooting rifles Dan! Who wouldn’t!

  • @brianfuller7691
    @brianfuller7691 5 років тому +2

    Great video. I love the passion for sharpshooting and the equipment. The term sniper was never used during the War. Sharpshooter and marksman were the terms used; A marksman was simply one skilled with a firearm ( rifle or pistol) while a sharpshooter could be a sniper, skirmishes or light infantry.

  • @SteveAubrey1762
    @SteveAubrey1762 5 років тому +2

    Excellent video!

  • @Beaguins
    @Beaguins 6 років тому +5

    I think that was your most interesting video yet.

  • @richardbuxton2435
    @richardbuxton2435 4 роки тому +2

    Great talk. Learned a great deal. I read in Yankee Tigers by Ralsa C Rice of the 125th Ohio that he met a sharpshooter collecting cobwebs somewhere around Columbia to use the threads as cross-hairs for his rifle. It's hard to imagine how in the field they would fix them in the scope. I certainly know they were used later, but was that common in the civil war?

  • @SteveAubrey1762
    @SteveAubrey1762 9 місяців тому +1

    I enjoyed this video! Great job!

  • @leoscheibelhut940
    @leoscheibelhut940 Рік тому +1

    Great presentation!

  • @bradcrampton8920
    @bradcrampton8920 Рік тому +1

    super cool

  • @1stminnsharpshooters341
    @1stminnsharpshooters341 6 років тому +3

    Enjoyed the video *LIKED* thanks Pards at CW Digest --- *1st Minn Sharpshooters* channel with Civil War reenactor live fire, hard marching, and rustic adventures ... enlist today.

  • @ScoutSniper3124
    @ScoutSniper3124 27 днів тому

    5:34 I find that scope mount interesting. It seems like the range scaled to the front of the scope is backwards. The higher the shooter lifted the front of the scope the lower the barrel would drop in relation to it. Doesn't make sense to me.
    SSG. U.S. Army (Medically Retired) Infantry / Sniper / SOF Intel (SOT-A), multiple tours

  • @arkansasboy2177
    @arkansasboy2177 2 місяці тому

    My 4th great grandfather served with the 12th Arkansas battalion sharpshooters

  • @jasmachugh4222
    @jasmachugh4222 2 роки тому

    One of my ancestors, (Greatx4 or 5) uncle served in Birge's WSS (66th Ill.) prior to his death.

  • @brianmfieldwick3494
    @brianmfieldwick3494 2 роки тому +1

    2nd grade Whitworth rifle cost $96 when purchase by the CSA

  • @fredray7485
    @fredray7485 4 роки тому

    One problem with the Sedgwick story is that McGowan’s brigade was at the other end of the line, and it’s very unlikely that Dunlop’s battalion would have been deployed seven miles away. That said, I envy your collection.

  • @whodatsaddle
    @whodatsaddle 11 місяців тому +1

    Such great content, I am so sad to have only discovered this channel recently.

    • @CivilWarDigitalDigest
      @CivilWarDigitalDigest  11 місяців тому +1

      Don’t be sad! Look at it this way, you have a lot of binge watching in your future. Reach out if we can help advise you on what to look at based on your interests. Enjoy!

    • @CivilWarDigitalDigest
      @CivilWarDigitalDigest  11 місяців тому +1

      We have also done several short films. They stream, along with a number of these projects that have been remastered and improved, on a streaming platform called www.HistoryFix.com.

    • @whodatsaddle
      @whodatsaddle 11 місяців тому

      Awesome! I have been binging your channel since I ironically discovered it through a meme lol
      You guys rock!

  • @thomasmanson1119
    @thomasmanson1119 9 місяців тому

    Good video. In researching my great grandfather (with the 121st PA Vol Inf’y) his muster records in the US National Archives in DC (for the period immediately after the battle of Fredericksburg), frequently noted with “on special duty with the sharpshooters”. How can I determine what unit of sharpshooters he would have been working with? Thanks, Tom KC3QAC

  • @smsfte4699
    @smsfte4699 Рік тому

    How does the accuracy/long range ballistics compare between the Whitworths and those 38lb target rifles?

  • @motog4221
    @motog4221 11 місяців тому

    Very interesting. Didn't whitworth also manufacture hexagonal bore cannons?

  • @randallhawkinson4727
    @randallhawkinson4727 6 років тому

    Howdy! Well done, Sir! I'm new to your site thanks to a close friend in our Union Brigade with the American Civil War Association in Central California. I command Company B of the Confederate States Marine Corps (ACWA). We were assigned to Drewry's Bluff, Va and manned the rifle pits (sharpshooters) along the James River for a mile either way of the Bluff and the heavy guns at the fortress itself. Many thanks for giving me more stuff to chew on for my living history display and talk at our events.

  • @fuzztsimmers3415
    @fuzztsimmers3415 Рік тому

    Its pretty amazing that my budget hunting rifle has better performance than the sniper rifles from back then. Its neat to see the advances. And smaller bullets aren't more accurate longer bullets are.

  • @Bayan1905
    @Bayan1905 Рік тому

    The 4th rifle down from the top, the civilian type rifle, just above the Whitworth, is that a Horace Dimick rifle?

    • @Shpadoinkle0007
      @Shpadoinkle0007 Рік тому +2

      It's meant to be a representative example but is not a true Dimmick-marked rifle. It's a standard .36 caliber heavy barrel hunting rifle with a J. Golcher lock that I've owned for a number of years. A nearly identical rifle is pictured being held by one of the Hollis brothers of Company E, 66th Illinois.

  • @thefishmerchant
    @thefishmerchant 6 років тому

    The Enfield short rifle looks like an 1860/1861 Enfield short rifle. The 1856 was a naval rifle that has brass furniture, and had a faster twist rate which did make it more accurate than the 3 band.

    • @wwandcompany4892
      @wwandcompany4892 6 років тому +2

      The pattern of 1856 short rifle was an iron mounted two band rifle with a barrel of the same weight and twist rate of the pattern of 1853 rifle-musket. Later the naval pattern of 1858 was introduced which featured a heavier barrel and higher rate of twist, improving accuracy. Finally, the pattern of 1860 rifle (iron mounted) adopted the heavier barrel of the naval rifle.
      By far the most common British rifle imported by the south was the P56. The British were keen to sell these as surplus and replace them with the superior P60. Interestingly enough Caleb Huse, the CS agent in the UK only ultimately purchased 700 P58 rifles as part of his contracts for Enfield "short" rifles (making them account for only .07% of the short rifles ordered for CS use!) Incidentally, this is the only model widely reproduced today, making it grossly over-represented!
      For further reading check out "The English Connection" by Pritchard & Huey. It is a superlative volume and I cannot recommend it enough.

    • @thefishmerchant
      @thefishmerchant 6 років тому

      WWandCompany I stand corrected sir. I was unaware that the army had made theirs first. I did look in to that book and the only copy that I could find was well over 100$

    • @wwandcompany4892
      @wwandcompany4892 6 років тому

      That's what they go for, though they are worth a lot more. They are hard bound and full of thousands of high resolution color pictures. I like to say it's the sort of reference book I wish I'd had when I was young!
      FYI you can find them for $100 on the College Hill Arsenal website. Tim Prince (the owner) is one of the authors. They are worth every penny!

    • @CivilWarDigitalDigest
      @CivilWarDigitalDigest  6 років тому +1

      It’s great to see a good conversation and people sharing information on our page! Thanks for being an example, both of you!!

  • @cphillips237
    @cphillips237 6 років тому

    Very good video! two other rifles that should be included are the model 1854 Lorenz type 2 and the 1841 Mississippi .54

  • @clockmonkey
    @clockmonkey 6 років тому

    How did Dan get that black eye?

  • @michaelkilgore8358
    @michaelkilgore8358 4 роки тому +1

    The illustration of the sharpshooter in a tree was used in a civil war book I had years ago. Someone borrowed it and never gave it back. I would very much like to find another copy but I can't remember the book title. Can someone please help me if you can, it would be greatly appreciated.

    • @1942Dreamer
      @1942Dreamer 3 роки тому +1

      Drawing done by Winslow Homer.

  • @markshaw3185
    @markshaw3185 6 років тому

    4th on the rack looks like saint Louis Hawkins rifle

  • @skeb2144
    @skeb2144 3 роки тому +2

    Someone help me out because google won't
    *DO SHARPSHOOTERS USE SIDEARMS?*

    • @CivilWarDigitalDigest
      @CivilWarDigitalDigest  3 роки тому

      If you mean a handgun, generally we find it very rare that any infantry in the Civil War regularly carried them. When interpreting the troops, many of us look to be plain, every day, and common - and a pistol does not fit with that goal.

    • @skeb2144
      @skeb2144 3 роки тому

      @@CivilWarDigitalDigest I meant did Civil War sharpshooters carry any other guns besides their rifle?

    • @CivilWarDigitalDigest
      @CivilWarDigitalDigest  3 роки тому

      Sorry. I missed your question! Depending on the weapon, some of them were fitted with bayonets. In other cases many of the weapons are good at range. In some cases, it seems the man swapped out in the federal army although I have not seen in the confederate army. Sorry to not be more help!

    • @skeb2144
      @skeb2144 3 роки тому

      @@CivilWarDigitalDigest Thanks :D

    • @j.shorter4716
      @j.shorter4716 Рік тому

      I think some of them had spotters that would keep a look out on their surroundings

  • @annamalin123
    @annamalin123 6 років тому +1

    Would sharpshooters go hunting since they had more accurate guns

    • @b1laxson
      @b1laxson 4 роки тому

      Id suggest hunters made better sharpshooters, given their years of civilian accuracy practice. With that background they might go hunting out of habit. The need for food in a provisioned army would fave a lot to say of how often they needed to go hunting

  • @robertsroberts1688
    @robertsroberts1688 6 років тому

    14th missouri entirely made up of men who werent missourians amazing