History of the Palmetto Sharpshooters

In April 1862 for many of the Confederate Volunteers, their initial period of enlistment of one years service was just about to come to an end. With Union Forces still on southern soil it was now obvious that this conflict was not going to be decided in as short a period of time as was first thought at the outset of the war. The Provisional Confederate Army now needed to be reorganized into a more permanent Regular Army at least for the duration of the war, and amendments had to be made to the Confederate Constitution in order to achieve this. President
Davis, anxious that the already seasoned fighting men of the south would extend their service and not return to their homes and farms to await "conscription", allowed that men re-enlisting would be able to re-enlist into any Regiment of their choice.

With this reorganization of the Confederate Army, at a camp 3 miles north of Richmond,4 Companies of the 4th,5 Companies of the 5th,3 Companies of the 9th South Carolina Regiments and also men from both the 2nd and 6th South Carolina Regiments elected to reorganize into the newly created Regiment of Palmetto Sharpshooters. So although this was a newly formed Regiment the men in it were certainly not green troops, most of them having been actively engaged in Confederate Service since the 1st Battle of Manassas. From the 4th came Company "B", who started their Confederate Service as the Palmetto Riflemen in 1860 and at this time became Company "C" of the Palmetto Sharpshooters. Colonel Micah Jenkins was the founder and Commander of this Regiment, who under a special act of Confederate Congress was authorized to organize 12 Companies into a specialist regiment of sharpshooters, the Companies of which would have been detached to various Brigades wherever they were needed, their duties would have included advanced picket duties, point and flank guards to protect heavy infantry columns from cavalry attack, night assaults against federal outposts and pickets and of course general sharp shooting to create havoc anywhere in the Union lines. Unfortunately it would appear that they generally fought as heavy infantry throughout the war, probably due to the fact that the Union forces usually outnumbered the Confederates 3-1 and Regiments were in greater demand than specialist units. Hindsight tells us that logistically it would have been almost impossible to re-supply specialized munitions and replace casualties to Companies scattered throughout every campaign and theatre in the war-torn south of 1862 onwards. It is just possible this was also realized shortly after their conception.
Throughout the war they were in Longstreets Corps and successively assigned to the following Divisions:- James Longstreet, James L.Kemper's, David R.Jones, George E.Pickett's, John B. Hood's, and Charles W.Field's, under the following Brigade Commanders:- Richard H.Anderson Micah Jenkins and John Bratton. Colonel Jenkins was promoted to Brigadier General on July 22nd 1862 and Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Walker promoted to full Colonel took command of the Regiment until the end of the war.
The Palmetto Sharpshooters fought with the Army of Northern Virginia, taking part in the Battles of Williamsburg, Seven Pines (Regimental casualties 244,including 11 of the 12 men in the Colour Guard), Gaines Mill (Regimental Casualties 96),Fraysers Farm( Regimental casualties 254 out of 375 men who entered the fray),2nd Manassas (Regimental casualties 68,Jenkins Brigade suffered 404 casualties including Jenkins himself, Col Jos Walker took command of Jenkins Brigade and was instrumental in winning the day), Sharpsburg (Regimental casualties 68,Jenkins Brigade still under the command of Colonel Jos Walker sustained 210 casualties) and Fredericksburg of the total of 8 casualties sustained by Jenkins Brigade ,4 of them were Palmetto Sharpshooters).
Entering 1863 the Regiment left their winter quarters on Sunday 15th February and from then until the 31st August took part in the Defence of Richmond which included the siege of Suffolk. On the 14th September they boarded the trains to join General Braxton Bragg and the Army of the Tennessee, arriving too late to take part in the Battle of Chickmauga, the Regiment with the rest of Hoods Division joined in the pursuit of Rosecrans defeated Army. They saw action at Lookout Mountain (Regimental casualties 44,Bratton's Brigade suffered 356 casualties of the 408 total losses to the Confederate Forces), from there the Regiment moved onto the siege of Knoxville, reports of casualties are not available but of the terrible privations of that winter campaign and what the Regiment had to endure, the Company Commander of Company "B" reported "This campaign may be considered one of the hardest of the war, many of the men being barefooted, half clad and scarcely fed".
April 7th 1864 the Regiment received orders to prepare for the trip back to Virginia, where
it is again re-assigned to the Army of Northern Virginia. In a camp just north of Gordonsville
the men of Jenkins Brigade are issued with new uniforms of a dark grey cloth ,so dark a gray as to be almost black. May 4th the Regiment is ordered to the Wilderness where a few minutes after mid-day on the 6th a tragic accident causes the death of General Jenkins and serious wounding of General Longstreet. Later that same afternoon ,still mourning the loss of their beloved founder and Brigade Commander the Regiment acquitted itself well with its by now legendary fierceness and bravery, making repeated charges against the enemies breastworks and succeeding to mount them several times with their Regimental Colours only to be thrown back. The desperate fighting ended as darkness closed in upon the entangled forces. 

The following evening the Regiment received orders to take up a line of march for Spotsylvania
and arrived the following morning ,where they remained until May 17th,again they are ordered to move, this time to Hanover Junction. May 27th the Sharpshooters take up a line of march for Cold Harbor and take up positions on the Richmond outer defence line till the night of June 14th,from there the Sharpshooters are ordered to Bermuda Hundred remaining there until June 28th when orders are received to move again this time to Petersburg where they endure the hardships and terrors of the trench's. From this time until the end of December they were also involved with skirmishes and actions in and around Deep Bottom, Fort Gilmer,
Darby town-New Market roads, Williamsburg-Charles City roads ,New Market Heights, Richmond and Gordonsville (Regimental casualties for this period 159).From the end of December until February 24th the Regiment was in winter quarters in Richmond, leaving Richmond the Regiment marched 5 miles and took up positions in Fort Gilmer until March 31st when General Lee ordered Fields Division to travel south and enter the inner line defenses their timely arrival on 2nd April stopped the Federal assault from penetrating the inner defense line. From April 3rd to 8th the Sharpshooters were involved in several small actions and skirmishes but their fate and that of the Army of Northern Virginia was already sealed ,on April 9th 1865 at a place called Appomattox,Captain Alfred H.Foster surrendered the Regiment of 29 Officers and 355 men to the 16th Michigan (Commanded by Lt.Col. Benjamin F.Partridge), ironically the Palmetto Sharpshooters had captured the Colour and most of the Regiment of the 16th Michigan at the Battle of Gaines Mill. The Sharpshooters Battle Flag was never surrendered but secreted away and returned to South Carolina when the Regiment marched as a unit to Danville and boarded the train homeward.

Many thanks to David Demain-Stone
who compiled this History of the Regiment and has allowed us to use it here.

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