Arizona republican., 1892-07-10

 velsed. A strip of battlefield ten paces wide was in one mans keeping, to hold against all corners if he could, to shoot and to slay in and get all the glory of it; every stump and tree and powder his to dodge behind and every foot of it his line of re- treat to skedaddle back upon if he saw or fancied he saw overwhelming numbers of the unwontedly desperate enemy making a break for his especial ten yard strip, If he collided with bullet he had the sats- faction of knowing the other fellow meant to hit him, John Smith, and nobody else, and that he was of sufficient importance to be shot at individually. In battle the bullets and shells sent after the brigade or division, or the battery in front of or behind yOu or even stray shots roaming around for good place to burrow in, may light on you because you present certain square inches of surface to the windward and look soft enough for cutting.
 Really man is nobody in battlefield crowd; on the skirmish line he is host, and if the eyes of the enemy are on him and the muzzles of their ordnance as well, so are the eyes of his own people, aye of the nation and of all the world Yes, the skir- mish line is the place to get in work that will make you feel when all is over that you really fit in the war" The majority of us found this out when it was too late and it is well that we did or there would have been no common soldiers to man the machine. As it was the cavalry corps were limited only by the supply of horses, and select corps like Berdan's sharpshoOters, Kane's Bucktails and the independent rife companies skinned the cream of volunteers who offered themselves by thousands for this branch of service. Berdan's recruit ing ground was the whole north. His re- cruits to a man, could put ten consecutive shots within an average of five inches from the center of a target, shooting of hand at 100 paces and 200 paces at rest Many got into the bullseye every time at that distance. Other qualifications were neces- sary as, for instance, good habits and sound physique, as well as intelligence. Of such material there was no lack
 Within a few months after recruiting began in 1861 the First United States sharpshooters took the field with four com panies from New York, three from Michi- gan and one each from New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Vermont. This regiment went to the peninsula under Berdan in person in April, lSG2 and about that time Berdan's Second United States sharpshoot- CTS took the field in McDowell's corps on the Rappahannock. The First regiment was in front of Yorktown, and their busy rifles kept the Confederate artillersts well under subjection. This was the beginning of sharpshooting between the Armies of the Potomac and Northern Virginia. At the battle of Gaines Mill, June 27, 1882, the regiment was in the regular line of battle, where it did good execution while the enemy's columns were advancing. But in subsequent phases of the fight the men were out of place. The skilled marksman is trained to use his nerve, his wits and all his personal resources, and machine fight ing is out of his line.
 In the Seven Days" the regiment was split into detachments and one detachment marched and fought each day with each of the divisions that had the rear of the line. At Glendale, June 80, the Wisconsin com pany was with Gen. McCall's Pennsylvania reserves in their disastrous collision with Longstrcet's corps, when the Union ranks were literally run over and Mccall was wounded and captured far within the enc. my's lines. The leader of the sharpshoot-