On the morning of July 2, 1863, Confederate troops from General Cadmus Wilcox’s Brigade approached the woods near Seminary Ridge. Ordered by General Longstreet to deploy up the Emmitsburg Road, the men in gray hoped to reach their destination unseen. They were discovered, however. A small group of riflemen clad in dark green, known as Berdan’s Sharpshooters, entered under the cover of woods, determined to find the rebel presence and halt their advance. Their colonel, the unconquerable Hiram Berdan, led the way.

Hiram Berdan was considered the nation’s best rifleman in the days before the Civil War. Born in Plymouth, Michigan on September 6, 1824, Hiram was the second son of John and Hannah Berdan. The family later moved to Ontario County, in the Finger Lakes region of New York, where their sons and daughter attended school. Hiram was highly intelligent, and regularly tinkered with mechanical items. He graduated as a mechanical engineer from Hobart College. His profession soon expanded to inventions. Berdan's prowess brought him to New York City, where he met his future wife.1

Hiram married Mary Kimball in Flatlands, New York, near Brooklyn, in 1855. Two daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth, were born to the couple before the war.2

Gaining renown as an inventor and expert marksman, Hiram grew displeased with the proliferation of slavery. A lifelong Democrat, Berdan sided with the new Republican party and its elected president, Abraham Lincoln. When the inevitable war erupted after Lincoln’s election, Berdan soon offered his services. “When war came, he threw himself into the struggle,” remembered one contemporary, “[using] all the energy of his nature.” Berdan recognized that war necessitated “progressive science”, to end the old ideas of Napoleonic weaponry and single-shot musketry. He invented a new rifle, and thrust himself toward the governmental powers in Washington City – and Lincoln.3

Simon Cameron, who served as Lincoln’s Secretary of War at the beginning of the conflict, was not quick in securing Berdan the meeting with Lincoln, so Berdan made the journey himself and managed to get an audience with the President. On a June day in 1861, a few weeks after his enlistment, Berdan demonstrated his abilities with his own rifle and a range finder he invented. After managing to hit a target at 600 yards, Lincoln agreed to get him his rifles, and agreed to the recruitment of a regiment of marksmen.4

General Winfield Scott, who at the time still led the Union army, wrote Berdan a laudatory note. “The President was very favorably impressed with you personally, that a regiment of sharpshooters as are proposed by you and instructed accordingly to your system would be of great value.”5

And so began the recruitment of the United States Sharpshooters Regiments, two in all. The companies mustered in September 1861 near New York City, and proceeded to the nation’s capital. The first regiment consisted of men from New York, Michigan, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Wisconsin. The second regiment comprised men from Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. The recruits had to pass a grueling marksmanship test, which consisted of hitting a small plate at two hundred yards with ten successive shots. Many failed the test.6

The U.S. Sharpshooters had their baptism of fire at Yorktown, during the Peninsula Campaign in the spring of 1862. Throughout the war, the regiments, which formed a distinct arm of the U.S. armed services, fought in 65 engagements, which took them to Appomattox.7

Hiram Berdan was a strict commander and the men as a whole did not care for him. Some called their colonel “a humbug”, and one was heard to say, “If my life were in Berdan’s hands…I should not feel safe.” Perhaps the last complaint was due in part that Colonel Berdan always rushed toward the danger, and demanded that his men follow. The sharpshooters were often split up, attached to different corps; as a result, they were often outnumbered and in precarious situations.8

Berdan often threw his men toward the enemy presence. In Yorktown, they rushed the Confederate bulwarks. At Chancellorsville, they took on the 23rd Georgia Infantry – and captured many of them, forcing the rest to retreat.9

At the Battle of Gettysburg, Berdan’s Sharpshooters offered significant service, rendered all the more amazing as they were outnumbered as they fought.

On the morning of July 2, 1863, the riflemen in green were situated on the Emmitsburg Road in an open field near the Rogers House, as part of the Federal Third Corps. Two companies received fire from the woods, which Berdan reported to General David Birney, commander of the Third Corps’ First Division. Generals Sickles and Birney told Berdan that, if he couldn’t ascertain the number of Confederate troops because of the forest, he needed to get a better look. Riding his gray horse, Berdan ordered, “Follow me, advance firing.”10

Reaching what is now called Berdan’s Woods, behind Seminary Ridge, Berdan quickly noted three columns of infantry, belonging to Brigadier General Cadmus Wilcox. The sharpshooters, supported by the 3rd Maine Infantry, unleashed a volley of lead – hitting their targets easily – and sent them back. While the men in green used the cover of woods, the Maine men, in blue and not able to conceal themselves as well as Berdan's men, took significant casualties. The firing continued for about forty minutes, which hindered the Confederate advance for a time. In the fray, Berdan’s horse was shot. Nineteen sharpshooters were wounded, six of them mortally.11

“It was a trying time for our men,” remembered one of the regiment, “but Col. Berdan, riding in front of the line, quickly took in the situation, and knowing that time gained was everything, dispatched Captain Briscoe to our generals, Birney and Sickles, a mile away, to warn them of the danger – the threatened assault on our left.”12

Seeing that his men were outnumbered and no more advantage could be gained, Colonel Berdan ordered a retreat. He reported the strong Confederate presence, who were troops of Longstreet’s Corps. General Lee’s intent on stealth was no longer an option. In later years, General Longstreet spoke with Berdan at a reunion, insisting that the sharpshooters had “delayed them forty minutes – those minutes saved the day for the Union.”13

While much still had to be done to save the day, some of the 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters reconnoitered near Big Round Top, having been ordered to the vicinity by their colonel. In the afternoon, they were driven from the heights by the advance of Colonel Oates’ 15th Alabama Infantry – one of the last to arrive from Longstreet’s troops that day. Finding forty skirmishers from the 20th Maine Infantry, led by Walter Morrill, behind Little Round Top, the Sharpshooters remained concealed as the fight for Little Round Top ensued. When the 20th Maine charged down the slopes of the hill, driving the Alabamians before them, the men in gray reached Captain Morrill and the sharpshooters. These soldiers rose from their hiding place and fired upon the Confederates, who noticed the green uniforms mixed with the men in blue. The sight of soldiers in two different uniforms panicked the retreating Southerners, who believed there were possibly two corps converging on them.14

Wherever the U.S. Sharpshooters were seen before a battle, it was often heard, “There goes Berdan’s men, they will soon stir up a fight.” One of the veterans of the 1st Regiment replied, “and they were right every time.”15

On July 3, members of the First U.S. Sharpshooter Regiment supported the batteries on Cemetery Ridge in anticipation of Pickett’s Charge. On July 4th, the sharpshooters skirmished and picked off men in gray who remained near the Peach Orchard. In all, Berdan lost 37 men at Gettysburg. They inflicted significant damage to Lee’s men, however, with their expert marksmanship.16

In the summer of 1864, Colonel Berdan became seriously ill with chronic dysentery, which caused intestinal sepsis. The ailment required him to recover away from the front for many months. Unable to recover completely, he resigned from duty on January 2, 1864. His sharpshooters, however, stayed at their posts through the surrender of Appomattox.17

After the war, and after finally healing from his chronic health issue, Berdan spent many years in Europe. Looking for a larger market for a new rifle he invented, he was disappointed that the American government was not interested – at least not interested in coming up with the price he wanted. He found the European market eager to make the purchases. He spent a significant amount of time in Russia, marketing his new weapon to Tsar Alexander II. Berdan also helped the Russian army, including demonstrations and drills. He returned to the United States in 1886, a wealthy man.18

Berdan’s wealth and fame secured advantageous marriages for his two daughters. Sarah wed a French diplomat, who served in Stockholm, Sweden for many years; Elizabeth married the famed Victorian (and American) novelist Marion Crawford. The couple had four children and lived in Sorrento, Italy.19

With the Berdan progeny living in Europe, Mrs. Berdan often traveled there. Ready to stay in the United States after his years of living abroad, Hiram Berdan usually remained at his home in Washington, D.C. He attended multiple reunions, where he was popular and prodigiously welcomed. At one GAR encampment, where 200 veteran Sharpshooters attended, “he was the central figure.” He also suffered from heart disease – another reason to remain stateside.20

On March 31, 1893, with his family abroad, Berdan visited the Metropolitan Club in the nation’s capital, a place he frequented when he was alone. Engaged in a game of chess with a fellow veteran, the “famous soldier and inventor” was suddenly stricken with a heart attack, and fell to the floor. He had been unwell for some months. Doctors were summoned, but Berdan died before they arrived.21

A telegraph was sent to Mrs. Berdan, but she was too far away to return, as were the daughters. Hiram Berdan, a brevet major-general, was buried with military honors in Arlington National Cemetery on April 3, 1893. He was 69 years old.22

At his death, no one recalled any of the martinet in his nature, although it had certainly been there. “He was gallant, zealous and enterprising,” wrote one who knew him well. He was certainly all of those things too. An inventor, a commander and a soldier, Hiram Berdan was also a fighter – whether it was for one of his patents, for the welfare of his family, or for the survival of his country. It is for his unrelenting determination that, over a century since he left us, the nation he helped to save remains grateful for his service.23