2nd U.S. Sharpshooters

2nd U.S. Sharpshooters was a regiment raised for the American Civil War that served in multiple campaigns in the Eastern Theater and at key battles of the Army of the Potomac. The regiment formed under authority granted by President Abraham Lincoln and by direction of Brigadier General Nathaniel P. Banks and served alongside units from the Army of the Potomac, the VI Corps, and the II Corps. Its history intersects with leaders such as Major General George B. McClellan, Major General Ambrose Burnside, Major General Joseph Hooker, and Major General George G. Meade.

Formation and Organization

The 2nd regiment was authorized following advocacy by Colonel Hiram Berdan, whose work with the 1st United States Sharpshooters and the creation of specialized marksmen influenced Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and members of Congress including Senator Charles Sumner and Representative Thaddeus Stevens. Organized in 1861 under federal mustering orders from War Department (United States) offices in Washington, D.C. and raised in states including New York (state), Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Ohio. Companies were initially formed under captains commissioned by President Abraham Lincoln and attached to regimental command posts that corresponded with staff officers drawn from United States Volunteers and the United States Regular Army. The regiment’s chain of command placed it in brigade alignments during campaigns directed by corps commanders such as Major General Winfield Scott Hancock and divisional leaders like Brigadier General John Gibbon.

Recruitment and Training

Recruitment criteria followed Berdan’s insistence on marksmanship, thus volunteers were often veterans of militia units including the New York National Guard (19th century), the Pennsylvania Volunteers, and the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. Enlistment posters referenced leaders such as Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and recruiting officers coordinated with state governors including Governor Andrew Curtin of Pennsylvania and Governor Oliver P. Morton of Indiana. Training took place at camps like Camp Parole, Camp Curtin, and near Alexandria, Virginia, with instruction in skirmish drill influenced by manuals such as Hardee's Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics and marksmanship practices popularized by Hiram Berdan. Noncommissioned officers were often veterans of earlier conflicts who had served under commanders like Brigadier General Winfield Scott and trained men in skirmish line evolutions used later at actions commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside and Major General Joseph Hooker.

Combat Service and Major Engagements

The regiment saw action in operations associated with the Peninsula Campaign, the Seven Days Battles, and later engagements including the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Chancellorsville Campaign, and the Gettysburg Campaign. Elements were detached as skirmishers during the Battle of Antietam and undertook sharpshooter roles at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House and the Overland Campaign under Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. The 2nd fought in coordinated operations with units from the VI Corps, II Corps, XIX Corps, and alongside cavalry formations such as the Army of the Potomac Cavalry Division under leaders including Major General Philip Sheridan. At engagements around Cold Harbor and the siege operations at Petersburg, the regiment performed reconnaissance, counter-sniper missions, and supported trench assaults directed by commanders like Major General George Meade and Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. Detached companies also joined expeditions ordered by Major General William T. Sherman and participated in raids in the Shenandoah Valley during campaigns led by Major General Philip H. Sheridan.

Equipment and Uniforms

Arms issued included breech-loading sharpened rifles associated with Sharps rifle types and earlier issued Springfield Model 1855 muskets when supply constraints required use of Model 1861 Springfield. The regiment procured specialized optics, leather gear, and scope fittings similar to those advocated by Hiram Berdan and used in conjunction with ammunition supplied from arsenals including Frankford Arsenal and Arsenal (Watertown, Massachusetts). Uniforms combined elements of standard United States Army (Union) uniforms and distinctive hunting-shirt or green tunics adopted by sharpshooter units; clothing items were procured through quartermasters linked to U.S. Army Quartermaster Department depots in Philadelphia, New York City, and Baltimore. Headgear sometimes included forage caps patterned after those worn by units from the 1st United States Sharpshooters, and equipment belts and bayonet scabbards were sourced via contracts overseen by Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs.

Casualties and Losses

The regiment sustained casualties in frontal assaults, skirmishes, and during siege operations at Petersburg and numerous engagements such as Antietam, Gettysburg, and Cold Harbor, with losses attributed to small-arms fire, artillery, disease, and attrition. Officers killed or wounded served under commanders including Brigadier General John Gibbon and Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, and enlisted men lost their lives in actions associated with corps movements ordered by Major General Ambrose Burnside and Major General Joseph Hooker. Hospitalized soldiers were treated at medical facilities connected to United States Army Medical Department hospitals in Washington, D.C., Fredericksburg, Virginia, and field hospitals referenced in after-action reports by surgeons attached to the Army of the Potomac.

Legacy and Commemoration

Postwar remembrance included veteran reunions held in cities such as New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., and participation in Memorial Day observances with organizations like the Grand Army of the Republic and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. Monuments and plaques erected at battlefields including Gettysburg National Military Park, Antietam National Battlefield, and near Petersburg National Battlefield commemorate sharpshooter detachments and reference leaders such as Hiram Berdan and Major General George G. Meade. Historians and archivists from institutions including the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration, the New-York Historical Society, and the Smithsonian Institution preserve records, regimental flags, and personal papers belonging to veterans who served with the regiment, while scholarly treatments appear in works by authors associated with Civil War Trust, American Battlefield Trust, and university presses at Harvard University Press and Johns Hopkins University Press. Surviving descendants and reenactor groups affiliated with the Civil War reenactment community continue to interpret the regiment’s service during ceremonies at federal and state historic sites. Category:Units and formations of the American Civil War