![]() ![]() Preferring to issue orders in person during the chaotic struggle on either side of the Plank Road, Berry crossed the road to confer with one of his brigade commanders despite warnings from his staff about sharpshooters in the trees sweeping the road with their deadly fire. Major General Hiram Berry was a promising and courageous Federal officer who led a division of Dan Sickles’ Third Corps during the sanguinary morning fighting on May 3. With a position and opportunity like that, a sharpshooter could wreak havoc. With the abundance of trees in the area, it would not be terribly difficult to find a tree that afforded a full view of the Union position and looked over the infantry lines and their attendant smoke. All of these potential targets are usually, with notable exception, concealed by infantry in line of battle thus complicating the job of a sharpshooter. Usually, a sharpshooter firing a shot from the ground would not have the clear sight of officers, artillerymen, and others that the trees at Chancellorsville afforded them. The Plank Road corridor (modern Route 3) and the clearings at the Chancellor House, Fairview and Hazel Grove provide a would-be sharpshooter with the ability to achieve concealment and elevation (with the clear line of sight that comes with elevation). The wooded terrain in and around Chancellorsville is uniquely suited to a 19th Century sharpshooter. Part of understanding this unheralded dimension to the battle lies in exploring the terrain on which it occurred. Two division commanders, a Medal of Honor recipient, countless soldiers and artillery horses, and nearly a corps commander, all fell victim to the sting of rebel sharpshooters. The story of the Confederate sharpshooter at Chancellorsville remains an untold story in a battle with many untold stories. Yet, the performance that should be asserted in the same sentence, if not above those already mentioned, was in May of 1863 at a crossroads in Spotsylvania County called Chancellorsville. Their ability and effectiveness at Gettysburg has been thoroughly demonstrated. Their mark for most casualties inflicted in a single engagement is probably at Cold Harbor (however you define the start and end of that multi-day struggle). ![]() If we take the performance of the sharpshooters of the Army of Northern Virginia as a whole, nearly everyone would agree that their most high-profile kill was surely Major General John Sedgwick at Spotsylvania in 1864. Perhaps we even think of the movie Gettysburg and a Confederate soldier with a telescopic rifle resting his weapon against a tree and squeezing off his shot at General John F. Thoughts are conjured of green coats and leather gaiters, Whitworth rifles, and the ability to hit elephants at a given distance. “Sharpshooter” tends to be a word that grabs a Civil War enthusiast’s attention. “Confederate sharpshooter taking aim from a tree.” Century Magazine, 1885. Without Concealment, Without Compromise.Matchless Organization: Nonsurgeon Employees of the Surgeon General’s Office.Matchless Organization: Medical Officers in the Regular Confederate Army.The Bonds of War: Imprisoned Members of the 96th Illinois.The Bonds of War: Mother of the Regiment.The Bonds of War: New Flag for 96th Illinois.The Bonds of War: Edward and Nancy Murray home.The Bonds of War: Edward Murray’s Pension Application.The Delicious If: MacKinlay Kantor’s If the South Had Won the Civil War and Alternative History.God and Generals: A Conversation with Jeff Shaara.Turning Points of the American Civil War.The Summer of ’63: Vicksburg and Tullahoma. ![]()
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