The Battle of Chancellorsville did not happen until May 1st and ended on May 4th. The Sharpshooters remained in camp until April 28th, when they packed up and marched to the left of the army below Fredericksburg; while here they witnessed the storming of rebel earthworks at "Fitz Hugh Crossing" by the Iron Brigade. They remained here under arms until the early afternoon of April 30th, when General Sickles received orders to change his position to the right flank. Once on the field, the 1st U.S. Sharpshooters were deployed in front of the main lines as skirmishers.
On Sunday, May 3rd, the regiment was heavily engaged as skirmishers, used to flush out groups of Confederates concealed in woods, and as support for artillery batteries. When the morning began, they were in a position more or less directly between the Confederate left flank and the right flank of the Federal 3rd Corps; Hancock's 2nd Corps lay behind the 3rd, regrouping. During continual heavy skirmishing Company C made a headlong charge into a group of rebel soldiers when they were surprised in the woods. Lt. Gardner Clark ordered the rush and about 80 men drove the rebels away...realizing that the sharpshooters did not have their bayonets fixed, some of the enemy shot down a handful of the men at point-blank range before being surrounded and compelled to surrender.
Here is a list of killed, wounded, and missing from the regimental history:
"Co. C - Killed: Lt. Byron Brewer, Sergt. John G.S. Evans, Corp. Henry A. Hood, Privates W. S. Parker, John Price, Harmon Wise. Wounded: Capt. James H. Baker, left breast, slight; Sergt. E. A. Wilson, hand, slight; Sergt. Porter W. Barker, hip, leg amputated, mortal; Corp. E. J. Southworth, left side; Corp. Leonard Bissel, abdomen, mortal; Corp. Dexter Field, leg and hip; Privates James I. Vendeberg, side, mortal; Henry A. Gilchrist, foot; R. S. McClain, upper arm; Stiles. H. Wirts, leg; Fred. Jarvis, arm; James Dillabaugh, shoulder; Geo. R. Brown, Charles. H. Johnson. Missing: Martin J. Watson, slightly wounded; Joshua Robinson."
There's a discrepancy between the regimental history's and Frank Edgerton's accounts of Vandeberg's wounding but I would tend to believe the immediacy of the letter written on May 5th.
Pvt. Harmon Wise, shot through the chest and killed instantly by a rebel he ordered to surrender during Company C's charge:
http://seekingmichigan.org/u?/p4006coll3,1200Edwin A. Wilson, wounded in the hand at Chancellorsville when he was a sergeant, shown here after his November 21st 1863 promotion to 1st Lieutenant:
http://seekingmichigan.org/u?/p4006coll3,1071Captain James H. Baker's frock coat, in storage at the Smithsonian. His engraved silver whiskey flask is on display at the Michigan State Library and Museum in Lansing, MI.
http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/3077/html/baker.html
_________________
Brian WhiteWambaugh, White, & Companyhttp://www.wwandcompany.com----------------------------------
Randolph Mess, U.S. Sharpshooters