For several days in May 1862, the green-coated marksmen of the 1st United States Sharp Shooters had made things miserable for the Confederates manning the lines around Yorktown, Virginia. Artillerymen were a favorite target, and unfortunate were the gunners who had to stand up to load their cannons. The sharpshooters were quickly proving that they deserved to be included among the Army of the Potomac’s elite. As proof of that, Brigadier General Fitz-JohnPorter sent a complimentary note to the sharpshooters’ commander, Colonel Hiram Berdan, passing along praise from Major General George B. McClellan: “Your men caused a number of rebels to bite the dust. The Commanding General is glad to find your [regiment] are proving themselves so efficient….”

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Berdan had begun organizing his distinctive organization soon after the Federal Army’s defeat at Bull Run in July 1861. A successful inventor and a champion competitive marksman, Berdan offered to organize and train the best shots from the Northern states for service in the Union cause. The U.S. War Department accepted his offer, and when news of the sharpshooter venture and Berdan’s call for marksmen was published in Northern newspapers, recruits from several states traveled to his camp of instruction in Weehawken, N.J.

To prove they were capable, the eager volunteers had to pass a rigorous shooting test—place 10 consecutive shots in a 10-inch bull’s-eye at 200 yards. Newspapermen flocked to Weehawken to see the exhibitions and write accounts about the training. When the sharpshooters moved on to Washington, still greater numbers came to see Berdan, who was commissioned a colonel, and his marksmen. President Abraham Lincoln even visited the camp, accepting an invitation to fire at some targets.

When enough satisfactory recruits were available, the 1st United States Sharp Shooters was mustered in, with four companies from New York, three from Michigan and one each from New Hampshire, Vermont and Wisconsin. Enough men remained to create eight more companies, which were designated the 2nd United States Sharp Shooters. In addition to their designations, their unique uniforms of green trousers, frock coats and forage caps gave the sharpshooters special status, but the men fully recognized the added pressure they would face during battle. “Much is expected of us as Sharp Shooters, and the Commander-in-Chief has more than once stated that he placed great reliance upon Col. Berdan’s corps of riflemen,” noted one sharpshooter. “Depend upon it, more than one rebel General will fall victim to the unerring bullets of our men.”

The 2nd U.S.S.S. was sent to the Fredericksburg area in 1862, but the 1st regiment was given a chance to test its mettle during the Peninsula campaign, General McClellan’s spring 1862 effort to conquer Richmond by marching on the city from the east between the York and James rivers. The men had been promised accurate Sharps breechloading rifles, but they did not receive them in time for the beginning of the campaign. Instead, aside from a few men who carried civilian rifles with telescopic sites, they would carry Colt five-shot revolving rifles into their first real action.

Berdan’s sharpshooters, assigned to General Porter’s 1st Division of the III Corps, were among the first of McClellan’s troops to board transport ships for Fortress Monroe, located at the very tip of the Peninsula. Upon their arrival, Berdan’s men did not have to wait long for action. On March 27, the sharpshooters received word they would lead a reconnaissance toward Big Bethel.

General Porter’s division had been ordered to probe west along two parallel roads toward the Confederate lines, and companies of sharpshooters would lead the way for each of Porter’s wings—with Colonel Berdan and Lt. Col. William Ripley commanding the respective detachments. The soldiers were excited to have an opportunity for action, but as one officer acknowledged, their first brush with the enemy would likely be significant: “Their reputation [could] be made or lost on this reconnaissance.”

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