Fellow Sharpshooters

The Bull Run Civil War Roundtable’s May 1995 newsletter, The Stone Wall, features a reprint of William Kent’s (Vermont Co. F 1st USSS ) letter to his brother, Evarts; on the thirtieth anniversary of the Battle of the Wilderness. Despite the passage of time, Kent’s recall for minute details of the events of May 4th is rare for a memoir. Like his earlier letter (also published in Civil War Times Illustrated about the Seven Days Campaign), it is rich with details and Kent doesn’t hesitate to praise the regiment’s heroes (Lt. Col. William Y.W. Ripley at Malvern Hill) and distain for others (Col. Hiram Berdan).

Here is the introduction:

FROM THE RANKS: A Sharpshooter's Day
William Kent was a member of Company F of Hiram Berdan's Sharpshooters. Thirty years later, he wrote to his brother how the sharpshooters marched and skirmished on May 4, 1864, the day before the great clash in the Wilderness. The following are excerpts of this letter. which was published in Civil War Times Illustrated, March 1989.

William Kent’s Wilderness memoir begins on page 7 of the newsletter.

https://www.bullruncwrt.org/BRCWRT/Newsletters95/1995-05.pdf

Bill Skillman
Berdan Sharpshooters Survivors Association