The latest episode of Civil War Digital Digest provides an overview of the uniforms and equipment fielded by the 1st and 2nd United States Sharpshooters from 1861-1865.

Unfortunately for us USSS uniform geeks, Brian White hasn’t gotten around to recreating the gray Seamless Clothing Co. overcoat (Brian provided patent/illustrations to “Dirty Billy” Wickham, who created a limited run of the “Whipple Cap”). Watching “Little Sim” lying prone and struggling to load and cap his Sharps could have benefited from a veterans advice; lay out a cartridge packet on the ground, tear it open and start “making music on the skirmish line”. 12 caps were wrapped in a newspaper tube that could be used, or activating the pellet primer system.

Here is the description for this week’s episode: It is time for the next installment of Arms & Uniforms, a series where a specific unit from the Civil War is explored in detail and changed over the course of the war. Join Andrew Roscoe as he takes you through the history of Berdan’s Sharpshooters. Looking at what was promised versus reality at the beginning go the war to how they wrapped up their service toward the end.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOlvIh9BM0c

Bill Skillman
Michigan Companies
Berdan Sharpshooters Survivors Association