The Deadly Work of Sharpshooters

At Cold Harbor, Union and Confederate soldiers faced the added misery of enemy sharpshooters, marksmen often armed with special rifles who targeted any soldier who appeared in their sights. A Confederate officer described their method as carefully aiming at any place where an enemy had been glimpsed and waiting to fire if someone appeared. In this vicinity, a soldier from the 15th New Jersey Infantry was killed after reporting to his colonel that he had finished digging a grave for a comrade; a musket ball struck him in the face, and he was buried in the grave he had dug after it was widened for two. The pit before you could not be identified with certainty, but it is typical of the defensive positions sharpshooters used in this deadly work, while others climbed tall trees to watch enemy movements behind the main lines.

Highland Springs, Virginia · United States