"Use of skirmishers in ACW?" Topic

Did a regiment have a screen of skirmishers in front of it during the ACW? When deployed in line did they have groups of sharpshooters ahead of the line harassing the enemy and its sharpshooters?

In many cases, skirmishers did precede lines of battle. Sharpshooters, however, were a different group. In 1864, during the Overland Campaign, Grant had a tendencey not to deploy skirmishers – Laurel Hill and the Mule Shoe on May 12 at Spotsylvania are examples of that.

It all depended upon the combat situation at the time.

There were particular instructions for skirmishing in the battalion level tactics. Usually 1 – 2 companies from a regiment would deploy forward as skirmishers. At other times, an entire regiment might get sent forward.

The Berdans were used as skirmishers, line infantry and sharpshooters. In 1864, the Army of Northern Virginia had a battalion of sharpshooters who caused a great deal of trouble – picking off Federal officers – during the Spotsylvania Campaign.

Sometimes a regiment had a company or two out front, sometimes a brigade or division would send a complete regiment out skirmishing. In the wooded terrain many battles were fought in, the skirmishers served to find the enemy main line – or screen their own main line.

Companies were often detached for other duties. On the second day at Gettysburg, one company of the First Minnesota was with the division skirmish line. Another was serving as Hancock's HQ guard (in full dress). The rest of the regiment made their famous charge. That night, the two detached companies outnumbered the other eight.

Hood's division had a company of snipers armed with Whitworth rifles with scopes. They shut down a Union supply road across the Tennesee River during the siege of Chattanooga.

Reynolds and later Sedgewick may well have been shot with such a rifle.

The use of skirmishers as noted was in the US Army manual and both sides made extensive use of skirmishers – most of whom were armed with the standard infantry rifle-musket

As noted, sharpshooters were much less common and were deployed later in the war – Berdan's Rifles, for example, were formed in late 1861 and were still recruiting into 1862, and they spent most of the war in small units supporting other units – the Confederates as noted also formed sharpshooter units, but again they were few in number

Yes, I think they did. In my reading, I've also detected that by the 2nd half of the war they were making a distinction between pickets and skirmishers. Early war they would deploy skirmishers like a company or two from a regiment, and it basically acted like a picket line to keep the regiment from getting surprised whether defending or attacking--early warning set up. Later they deployed SKIRMISHERS which was more of a combat formation, and you can note in the OR that they start making the distinction between pickets/outposts and skirmishers. Anyway, that's how I read it.

1st half of war it seems they deployed 2 companies as combat skirmishers more than they deployed whole battalions. 2nd half whole battalions as skirmishers more than they deployed 2 companies, though they still used two companies as well. Late war skirmishers as a combat 'non'-formation--heavy skirmish lines--seemed to be widespread in both the attack and defense. But they always seemed to back them up with close order lines and regular formations.

The problem with skirmishing is that they often came under friendly and hostile fire.

Pickets are very different from skirmishers and each had their own set of procedures and regulations. Pickets, as noted were an 'early warning' line of outposts, often placed well in advance of the army's main position. They weren't expected to hold against an enemy advance, just sound a warning and fall back.

Skirmishers were a combat formation most typically used in direct support of their parent battalion or brigade. Usually they stayed within a few hundred yards of the main body (even closer in dense terrain). They would scout ahead to discover the enemy position and prevent ambushes. They would try to push enemy skirmishers back and then harrass the enemy main line if they could (More often the opposing skirmishers tended to cancel each other out and both would then fall back as the main lines closed).

So yes, skirmishers were used frequently, but in open terrain their effect was minimal. In heavily wooded areas they were far more useful.

I always thought that the difference between pickets and skirmishers was that pickets were for stationary situations, especially when a unit was in camp at night. They were strickly defensive. Skirmishers were used when the unit was expecting combat: in close proximity to the enemy, advancing on the enemy, or expecting a possible enemy advance, and were used in both defensive and offensive situations.

For example: At Gettysburg, 2 and 3 July, both sides, being in close proximity to the enemy, deployed skirmishers to their respective fronts, sometimes so close together that the two sides' skirmishers fought to control the "no-man's-land", such as the Bliss farm buildings near the Emmitsburg Road.