COMPANY F. FIRST UNITED STATES SHARPSHOOTERS. (THREE YEARS.) BY WILLIAM Y. W. RIPLEY, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL. COMPANY F First U. S. Sharpshooters was ford's Ford, on the Potomac, the rebel rear was over- organized in September, 1861, with Edmund taken and Company F rendered brilliant service, Weston, Jr., of Randolph as captain and C. W. Seaton capturing two guns and several prisoners. and M. V. Bronson as lieutenants. It joined the At Fredericksburg the sharpshooters were not regiment at New York and went with it to Washing- ordered into action, but crossed the river on the 14th ton, where the men were mustered into the service of December, and on the night of the 15th picketed of the United States. The company left Vermont the extreme front, close under Marye's Heights. with one hundred and thirteen enlisted men, but After Fredericksburg, the regiment remained in upon muster in thirteen were rejected, to reduce the camp, doing the usual picket duty, until the Army number to the regulation limit of one hundred men. moved out in the Chancellorsville campaign. In In November of the same year William Y. W. this disastrous battle the company was engaged Ripley was commissioned as lieutenant-colonel of the every clay at different points on the line, and lost six regiment, and commanded it in all the battles in men, killed and wounded. which Company F took part, until he was disabled At Gettysburg the sharpshooters served with the by wounds. Third Corps, to which they had been transferred The sharpshooters remained in a camp of instruc- prior to the battle of Chancellorsville, and Company Washington, until the 22d of March, 1862, tion near F, with three other companies of the regiment, per- they were assigned to the division of Maj.-Gen. then formed a very valuable service in checking Long- Porter, and embarked for the Peninsula, Fitz John street's march towards the Union left, on the morn- where a portion of the regiment served in every ing of the second day of the battle. They were all the campaign, except Fair Oaks. battle of engaged at other points on the line on that and took part in the battles in front Company F of succeeding days, losing several men. On the 7th of Yorktown, at Hanover Court House, Mechanicsville, November, Company F led the advance of the Third Mill and Malvern Hill, losing eleven Gaines's men in Corps at the passage of the Rappahannock at Kel- wounded. Harrison's killed and At Landing at the ly's Ford, under Capt. C. D. Merriman, with such close of the seven days' battles, Captain Weston re- vigor as to completely surprise and compel the sur- signed and C. W. Seaton was promoted to be captain. render of four hundred and six Confederates, well marched with Morell's division The company of the covered by rifle pits, the company losing only four Fifth Corps to the second battle of Bull Run, where men. At Locust Grove, in the Mine Run campaign, it sharply engaged, losing several men. was At An- the company was heavily engaged and again lost tietam the sharpshooters had the unusual experience, heavily in good men. for them, of being merely on-lookers, as the Fifth March 28, 1864, the gallant Third Corps, reduced Corps was not engaged as a whole ; but at Black- to almost a skeleton by its terrible losses at Chan- 59S COMPANY P. — FIRST U. S. SHARPSHOOTERS. 599 cellorsville, Gettysburg and Locust Grove, passed they were transferred to Company E, Second U. S. into history, being consolidated with the Second Sharpshooters. During this period they were fre- Corps. The sharpshooters became part of the quently engaged, and lost five men, killed and Second Brigade, Third Division, Second Corps, and wounded. The company was present at no less than as such took part in the battles of the Wilderness, thirty-seven battles and skirmishes of importance, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor and the various battles beside numberless minor affairs. around Petersburg. It numbered, from first to last, including all The company crossed the Rapidan on the 4th of recruits, one hundred seventy-seven men ; of these May, 1864, with forty-three enlisted men, and was no less than thirty-two were killed on the field, or engaged in the hardest fighting of that bloody cam- died of wounds received in action. The wounded paign ; at the close of the battle of Cold Harbor who recovered and again reported for duty numbered only fifteen of the forty-three were left ; twenty-eight forty-five thus eighteen per cent of the whole died ; men had fallen. In the operations about Petersburg of wounds, while the total number of casualties is Company F was frequently engaged and lost fourteen seventy-seven, or forty-three and a half per cent of men, up to the time when the term of original en- the whole. listment expired, on the 12th of September, 1864. The record shows the severe and dangerous nature Of the original one hundred and thirteen men mus- of the service performed by these men, and on it tered into the service, there were only twenty-five they may safely rest, certain that a grateful country left, present and absent ; of these, nineteen elected will honor their memories, even as it does those of to take their honorable discharge, and six re-enlisted. their comrades, who fought in the ranks of other and The small remnant of the company kept up an larger organizations. organization until the 23d of December, 1864, when ENGAGEMENTS. Big Bethel, Va., March 28, 1862. Cedar Run, Va., Oct. 13, 1863. Siege of Yorktown, Va., April 5 to May 4, 1862. Kelly's Ford, Va., Nov. 7, 1863. Hanover Court House, Va., May 27, 1862. Locust Grove, Va., Xov. 27, 1863. Chickahominy, Va., May 22 and 29, 1862. Mine Run, Va., Nov. 30, 1863. Mechanicsoille, Va., June 26, 1862. Wilderness, Va., May 5 to 7, 1864. Gaines's Mill, Va., June 27, 1862. Todd's Tavern, Va., May 8, 1864. Charles City Cross-Roads, Va., June 29, 1862. Po River, Va., May 10 and 11, 1864. Malvern Hill, Va., July 1, 1862. Spottsylvania, Va., May 12 to 16, 1864. Gainesville, Va., August 29, 1862. North Anna, Va., May 23 and 24, 1864. Second Bull Run, Va., August 30, 1862. Totopotomoy, Va., May 30 and 31, 1S64. Antietam, Md., Sept. 17, 1862. Cold Harbor, Va., June 3 too, 1864. Va., Sept. 19 Blackford's Ford, W. and 20, 1862. Petersburg, Va., June 16 to 20, 1S64. Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13, 1862. Weldon Railroad, Va., June 22, 1864. Dec. Richards' Ford, Va., 31, 1S62. Deep Bottom, Va., July 27 and 28, 1864. Chancellorsville, Va., May 2 to 5, 1863. Petersburg Mine, Va., July 30, 1864. 1863. Gettysburg, Pa., July 1 to 3, Four Mile Run, Va., August 15 and 16, 1864. Wapping Heights, Md., July 23, 1863. Hatcher's Run, Va., Oct. 27, 1864. COMPANY F. FIRST UNITED STATES SHARPSHOOTERS. (THREE YEARS.) Company F, (First Vermont Company), mustered into the service ot the United States September 13, 1861. Original members, not veterans, mustered out of service September 13, 1864. Regiment dis- banded and veterans and recruits transferred to Second Regiment U. S. Sharpshooters, December 23, 1864, but their record is completed in this organization. Field and Staff. Date of Date of Name and Rank. Residence. Remarks. Commis'n. Issue. Lieut-Colonel. William Y. \V. Ripley Rutland, Jan. i,'62 Jan. i,'62 Wd. July 1, '62; Disch. Aug. 6, '62, for prom, as Col. of the 10th Vt, but was compelled to decline on account of wds. COMPANY F. Name and Rank. 11 : COMPANY I-. — FIRST U. S. SHARPSHOOTERS. 601 Date of Date of Name and Rank. Residence. Remakks. Enlistment Muster. Sergeants Henry E. Kinsman, Royalton, Aug. 20/6 Sept. 13/61 See 1st Lieutenant. E. Wiltsey Hindes, Rutland, Sept. 3,'6i Sept. 13/61 See Captain. Amos H. Bunker, Colchester, Sept. 4/61 Sept. 13/61 Disch. July 19, '62, for disab. Milo C. Priest, Brattleboro, Sept. ii,'6i Sept. r3,'6i Disch. Oct. 31, '62, for disab. Lewis J. Allen, Ferrisburgh, Sept. 2,'6i Sept. 13/61 See 2d Lieutenant. Corporals. Daniel Perry, Wardsboro, Sept. 1 1, '6 Sept. 13/61 Disch. Dec. 22, '62, for disab. Fred'k F. Streeter, Brattleboro, Aug. 24, '6 Sept. 13/61 Des. Feb. 1, '62; (hung in Ohio for the murder of the McCov family.) Al Brown, Williamstown. Sept. 11/61 Sept. 13/61 Des. Apr. 25, '63. ['64; Must, out Se'pt. 13, "64 William C. Kent, Castleton, 1, Sept. 1 '61 Sept. 13/6 Tr. to V. R. C. Sept. 1, '63; Tr. back to Co. Mch. II, '64; Wd. May 25, Harrison Peck, J. Ira, Sept. 1 1, '61 Sept. 13/61 Disch. Oct. 26, '62, for wds. reed. Aug. 31, '62. William H. Taft, Starksboro, Sept. 1 i,'6i Sept. 13/61 Disch. Mch. 12, '62, for disab. Charles D. Merriman, Brattleboro, Sept. 1 1, '61 Sept. 13/61 See Captain. Charles W. Peck, Ira, Sept. 1 1, '61 Sept. 13/61 Disch. Nov. 26, '62, for wds. reed. Apr. 5, '62. Musicians. Calvin Morse, W. Fairlee, Jr., Sept. ii,'6i Sept. 13/61 Prom. Prin. Muscn. Nov. 13, '61 ; Disch Oct. 15, '62, for disab. Charles Sherwin, Grafton, Sept. t i,'6i Sept. 13/61 Disch. Nov. 5, '61, for disab. r'64; Disch. Oct. 26, '64, for disab. Griffin, Almon D. Waterbury, Sept. ii,'6i Sept. 13/61 Des. Feb. 22, '62; Retd. Mch. 31, '63; Wd.