2nd Company of Minnesota Sharpshooters

The Second Company of Minnesota Sharpshooters or Company L of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry was one of 18 companies of sharpshooters created at the behest of United States President Abraham Lincoln and placed under the command of Colonel Hiram Berdan. The companies would eventually form two regiments that fought in the American Civil War: the First and Second United States Sharpshooters who shared the nickname of “Berdan’s Sharpshooters.”

Origins
Berdan formed these units with the intention of providing the army a superior force of marksman who could serve in a support role as skirmishers or snipers. In order to enlist in one of Berdan’s Regiments a soldier had to demonstrate his proficiency with a rifle by passing a rigorous shooting exam. The test posed to the men of the Second Company of Minnesota Sharpshooters consisted of placing 10 consecutive shots within a target 20 inches in diameter at a range of 200 yards. Once they mustered in, the men received extensive training in skirmish formations and marksmanship which far exceeded that of a standard infantry soldier. The army outfitted these sharpshooters in a distinctive green uniform with gutta-percha buttons which helped to camouflage the marksman. The men carried out their deadly work with the help of the Sharps .52 caliber rifle. This rifle represented the top of the line in weapons development at the start of the American Civil War. As a breechloader, the rifle could be reloaded much faster than the standard muzzle loader, expanding the rate of fire of a single soldier from three rounds per minute to up to 10 rounds in the same time frame. Berdan’s Sharpshooters served with the eastern theatre’s Army of the Potomac throughout the course of the war.

Actions during the Civil War
The Second Company of Minnesota Sharpshooters, raised in January 1862 found most of its recruits in Rice and Steele Counties. The unit’s commanding officer, Captain William Russell, sent out non-commissioned officers from various communities to test recruits, including Corporal C.R. Eldridge of Northfield, Minnesota. Following the marksmanship exam, a total of eight Northfielders made it on to the company’s roster of 100 men and three commissioned officers. That April, after receiving their basic training at Fort Snelling, the men of the Second Company boarded a train for Washington DC. On May 3, 1862 the men departed Washington to join the First Regiment of United States Sharpshooters as “Company I.” The Army of the Potomac had launched the Peninsula Campaign and made its way to Yorktown, Virginia when the Second Company reported to Colonel Berdan at Camp Winfield Scott. While stationed with the rest of the First Regiment of United States Sharpshooters the Second Company received advanced training in skirmish formations before seeing its first action at Hanover Court House on May 27. On May 30, the men of the Second Company received orders to detach from the First Regiment of United States Sharpshooters and meet up with the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. They joined the First Minnesota on June 1, in time to participate with the regiment at the Battle of Fair Oakes (Seven Pines). As the 11th company of the First Minnesota, the sharpshooters received the title of “Company L” and would remain assigned to the First Minnesota until November 23, 1863.

Company L fought through the remainder of the Peninsula campaign alongside the First Minnesota, retreating following the Union defeat in the Seven Days Battles. The next major engagement for the unit came at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. A tactical blunder exposed the regiment’s flanks at a position known as “the West Woods.” As a result, the opposing Confederates under the command of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson released a three sided torrent of fire against the men of Company L. The walls of lead cut down roughly half the men of Company L resulting in a casualty list which included four of the eight Northfielders. Following the Confederate withdrawal from Maryland, the First Minnesota played minor roles in the Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville in the winter of 1862 and the spring of 1863. However, the unit’s greatest test would come in General Robert E. Lee’s second invasion of the North, in the quaint fields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

As General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia invaded Pennsylvania, George G. Meade, newly appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac quickly followed in order to prevent any assault on Philadelphia or Washington. When the two armies collided at Gettysburg, Company L and the rest of the First Minnesota was assigned to Major General Winfield Scott Hancock’s II Corps. The regiment did not engage until the second day of the battle when Company L detached as skirmishers and the balance of the force made the First Minnesota’s famous charge which prevented Confederate forces from splitting the Union center. The entire First Minnesota helped to repulse Pickett’s Charge on the third day of the battle and secure a Union victory.

Company L remained formally attached to the First Minnesota until November 1863 when they were reassigned as an independent unit to the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, the same brigade which they had been serving in while attached to the First Minnesota. The company continued to serve even after the expiration of the First Minnesota’s term in May 1864, fighting in the battles at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. The company’s term expired on March 19, 1865 and the unit disbanded. Veterans whose terms had not expired transferred to the First Battalion of Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, the successor unit to the original First Minnesota Regiment. Following Lee’s surrender on April 9, 1865 the battalion took part in the Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac in Washington DC and mustered out in Louisville, Kentucky on July 15, 1865.