Well I promised all of you something. I am proud to present the 1st United States Sharpshooters and 1st South Carolina Rifles.
1st USSS
The 1st USSS were part of Sickles 3rd corps and fought primarily in Pitzers woods. Owned at the time of the battle by Samuel Pitzer, this plot of oaks and maples stands at the southern tip of Seminary Ridge and marks its juncture with Warfield Ridge. The woods had no significance at all to the Gettysburg landscape until certain events took place here on July 2. Just prior to midday, the 1st United States Sharpshooters were ordered by Major General Daniel Sickles, commander of the Union Third Corps, to scout this patch of woods. Accompanied by members of the 3rd Maine Infantry, the sharpshooters encountered Alabama soldiers from Brig. General Cadmus Wilcox's Brigade. A brisk fire fight broke out and though it lasted only about twenty minutes, the Union soldiers withdrew with the knowledge that the woods on Seminary Ridge were teeming with Confederates. Retreating to Cemetery Ridge, they reported their encounter to General Sickles. Sickles realized that the number of Confederates in those woods meant only one thing- an attack on his position on Cemetery Ridge from the west. Sickles sent a courier to General Meade with the information, followed by another courier a half hour later. Another hour passed and having received no response from Meade, Sickles decided to advance his corps to the Emmitsburg Road, the only high ground between the two ridges. This controversial decision separated his corps from the remainder of the Union army, which still lay on Cemetery Ridge.
Samuel Pitzer's farmhouse still stands west of this area and is today part of Eisenhower National Historic Site. The size and shape of this wooded area has changed very little since the battle.
During this fight Captain McLean of Co. D was mortally wounded, he couldn't be carried back when the sharpshooters started to fall back under heavy Confederate pressure. Peter H. Kipp stayed with his Captain to insure good treatment by the Confederates. As his captors marched him to the rear, he saw how devastating their rifles had been. He saw Confederate surgeons trying to aid their wounded and stated the following;
"It is impossible for me to describe the slaughter we had made in their ranks. In all my past service, it beat all I had ever seen for the number engaged and for so short a time. They were piled in heaps and across each other. I got to where the surgeons were dressing the wounded, I saw hundreds of men there. The doctor would hardly believe there were so few of us fighting them, thought we had a corps, as he never saw lead so thick in his life as it was in those woods. But when I told him who we were, said that accounted for it, as he claimed the Sharpshooters were the worst men we have to contend with".
Spoiler
Officer
Ranker/NCO
Musician
1st South Carolina Rifles
On July the 2nd the regiment supported artillery south of Fairfield Road. At 6 P. M. advanced a battalion of Sharpshooters which skirmished with Union outposts until dark. At 10 P. M. took position on Ramseur's right in the Long Lane leading from the town to the Bliss House and Barn.
What this means is that the sharpshooters were in 4 hours of constant fighting at range and would on the 3rd of July be engaged all day shooting at troops on cemetery hill even during the grand assault which would have kept troops pinned on that hill making it so they could not reinforce the ridge. If Picketts charge would have worked then they would have been instrumental in preventing troops going to counter attack.
Things that are still missing
Spoiler
On the 1st South Carolina on the hat there is a palm tree on the front. We had a texture error but we wanted to give this to you today as we promised. Also the ranks for certain units were not ready for today but the trim on the coats is the same. Berdan stripes are a lighter green than the coat
