The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-07-15
FAMOUS WAR SHOTS.
Some Remarkable Feats on the Fart OF
Marksmen,

B, L.. Ridley, Of Murfreesboro,
Tenn, who has written many interest
ing articles about the Confederate SOL
diers, recently contributed to the
Confederate Veteran" a readable
paper on Craftsmanship in the
Army"
want to ask old veterans aboutthe
best shots they saw or heard in u
great war, wrote Mr.. Ridley. Let
sharpshooters, musketeers, cannoneers
all tell of some Of the shots worth
reading about-shots that now and
then turned the tide Of battle, per-
haps. It is stated that the Texas
Rangers could knock out an eye from
on or under his horse. Quantrell 8
men, they say, could cut a ribbon or
strike a keyhole on a dead run: They
used to entertain themselves shooting
at door-kuobs on entering a hamlet or
town. Champ Ferguson's Company
of Confederate bushwhackers could
place a ball at any given point, and
his antagonists, Tinker Dave Beatty's
were cracksmen of the noun
tains equally as good. How was it
with the old squirrel hunters of the
armies? Bogardus is said to be the
crack shot of to-day at close distance
in civil life, but 1 want the Veteran
to have in its pages, for the future
historian, some examples OF the
Workmanship of soldiers in action;
who had no improved weapons, but
who learned to use an old musket
with the skill of a "Wild Bill and
the unerring aim Of a Boone.
Instances speak more forcibly Of the
perfection attained in this art than
anything else. Here is one related Of
Porter's Battery at Fort Donaldson:
A sharpshooter, about three-fourths
of a mile off, on the Federal side, had
climbed midway a large tree, and was
picking off Porter's gunners. A six
FOUNDER was aimed at him, and hefell
to the ground dead. At Belmont, Ma
jor Stewart afterwards Lieutenant
General A. P. Stewart),;wh command
ed the forts and water batteries, di-
rected the famous gun known on the
Southern side as 1.-THE Lady Polk
at a column headed by a horseman,
who afterwards turned out to be Gen
eral Grant. These shots turned the
tide of that battle, and caused the
Federals to retreat to their gunboats.
At Rocky Face Ridge, near Dalton,
John King, Of the Twentieth Tennes-
see Regiment. raised his telescope to
his Whitworth, and dismounted an
officer commanding a skirmish line a
mile away. Generals johnson and
Stewart estimated the distance for
him, and saw the shot. 1t is said
that Captain Anderson, Of Quantrell,s
men, would, in a charge, take his
bride reins in his mouth, and use his
pistols in both hands to perfection.
They claim for him such GOODNESS I'M
der fire that he could strike any but
ton on a man. coat that he wanted to.
At Adairsyille two Federals behind a
tree got one of our skirmishers in a
similar position. When his body, by
his movements, would appear out
from the centre, they'd fire and shoot
his coat sides, until that garment was
in shreds. Notwithstanding this, that
old soldier watched his chance, and
finally, in an unguarded moment, kill
ed both, and then said: "Now, Ireck-
on you'll quit your foolishness.'
At Resaca Brown Brigade display.
ed fine craftsmanship over a disputed
battery that both sides we're trying to
hold, but neither could get away. The
Federals would raise hat from behind
their breastworks on a stick and the
brigade would shoot it into atoms. On
the march to Tennessee, a herd of
frightened deer rushed through
French's division; several were killed
while at full tilt, on the jump or run,
although the division was in panic
with chuck ague." Some of John
Morgan's boys could get a bird on the
wing with pistols, and this was not
uncommon with the Arkansas, Mis-
souri, and Texas soldiers.
In the First Tennessee Regiment at
Shelbyville, in 1868, a target in the
shape of a man was put up at 800
yards, and q medal was offered for the
best FIVE shots; William Beasly, of
Ledbetter' Company, put three shots
out Of the FIVE in the target, any of
which would have proved fatal. He
not only got the medal, but was de-
tailed as one of the five in his divis-
ion to sharpshoot with a Whitworth.
One of Wards pickets, in John Nor
gan's cavalry near Monticello, KY,
one dark, drizzly night, heard an aw-
full rustling in the leaves near him; he
was in Tinker Dave Beatty's beat, and
this hair raised the hair on his head:
He halloed out: "Who comes there?'
There being no answer, he fired and
fled. The next morning it was found
that at this shot he had fred at the
sound had pierced a hog through the
heart, killing him ''too dead to s%queal.'
At New Hope Church, a Texas bri.
gade Grandbury's) rushed for a hill
on our flank; they poured one volley
into a Federal brigade, which had
just reached the crest, and their un-
erripg aim left ITO bodies on the field.
The secret of craftsmanship is not
in the practice alone, but in the per-
.ception and education as to distance.
At Missionary Ridge and Lookout
Mountain VIC found that We invariably
overshot the enemy from high emil
nences, and that they in the valley
overshot US. 1t takes judgment from
position and experience as to the in
Election and DETECTION of a ball from
the force that propels it to perfect one
in this science. One day, near Ken
nesaw Mountain, the writer witnessed
three Federal batteries playing on one
of ours, %endeavoriDg to silence it.
They shot down the horses, cut down
the wheels of caissons and carriages,
and were SO expert in craftsmanship
that every gun but oae vas dismount-
ed. The killing of General Polk at
Pine Mountain was an exhibition of
craftsmanship on the part Of the Fed
erals.
At Stevenson, Ala, GeneralF Forrest
sighted a man on top of o stockade,