The Gettysburg Campaign
A Study in Command
by
Edwin B. Coddington
Pages 257-258
Very few Union infantrymen at
Gettysburg could boast of having the more modern breech-loading rifle. The possessors of
these arms usually belonged to special or elite units such as the 1st United States
Sharpshooters commanded by Colonel Hiram Berdan of the Third Corps, who had equipped his
men with the single-shot Sharps. A similar group, the 1st Company of Massachusetts
Sharpshooters, had both Sharps and Merrill breech-loading target rifles. One company in
the 1st Minnesota regiment carried Sharps rifles. Another famous outfit, the 13th
Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment, known as the Bucktailed Wildcats, apparently had them too.
As far as can be determined, no infantryman, unless he had bought one for himself, used at
Gettysburg a Spencer or a Henry repeater, about which so much has been written in recent
years. Possession of the less esteemed Sharps would have made most Union soldiers happy,
for they readily appreciated the advantages of this single-action breech-loader over the
best muzzle-loader. In using the Sharps the men could fire more often, while keeping well
under cover as they reloaded. In contrast many of those who used muzzle-loaders were hit
in the process of getting them ready to fire.[1]
[1] Two companies in the 7th U.S. regiment
and one in the 8th U.S. regiment had Colt rifles. Whether they were repeaters is not
indicated. Summary Statement of Ordnance, 2d Quarter, June 30, 1863, Record Group 156, NA,
Edwin A. Glover, Bucktailed Wildcats, A Regiment
of Civil War Volunteers. (New York, 1960) , 209-210. There is evidence that in some
regiments the companies entrusted with guarding their flanks were armed with Sharps
rifles. See John F. Dearborn [of 2nd N. H.] to Bachelder, Apr. 22, 1889, Bachelder Papers.
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