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Shock Troops of the Confederacy

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I recently had the pleasure of reading Fred L. Ray's new book, "Shock Troops of the Confederacy - The Sharpshooter Battalions of the Army of Northern Virginia". It offered a great deal of new information whereby the author outlines the changes that took place within the Confederate army that led to a new style of warfare, a warfare in which the intelligence, skill, and courage of the individual soldier became paramount. In a book that takes the reader on a journey of discovery, out between the battle lines, Fred successfully illustrates the factors that brought about these developments.

Largely forgotten in the annals of time, the story of the Sharpshooters of the Confederacy begins with two Virginians, Robert Rodes and Eugene Blackford. Both men were from Lynchburg, Virginia, but through a quirk of fate, both entered Confederate service as members of the 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment. During the winter of 1862, Rodes and Blackford formulated a new military unit to serve the Confederacy that would change the course of the war and in doing so, change warfare itself. Invaluable lessons were learned by both men at the Battle of Boonsboro, also known as the Battle of South Mountain, where Rodes' Brigade successfully fought a delaying action against an entire Division of the Union army, thereby allowing General Lee to consolidate his army and fight the Battle Of Sharpsburg, or Antietam, three days later. These Confederate troops on South Mountain, primarily dispersed as a line of skirmishers, held off the advance of the Army of the Potomac by fighting from behind the rocky outcrops and the heavily wooded slopes as they slowly fell back. This single Brigade accomplished their objective and arguably saved the Army of Northern Virginia, however, they were mauled badly by the superior skirmish tactics of the Union forces. This became the impetus for change. Over the next few months, with the support of Robert E. Lee, General Rodes successfully organized and trained a Sharpshooter Battalion within his Brigade that would serve as a model for other units in the Confederacy.

Fred Ray documents the accomplishments of the sharpshooting units of the Confederacy from their baptism under fire at the Battle of Chancellorsville, to the final days in the trenches of Petersburg and eventual surrender. The successes of the Sharpshooter Battalion during the "Overland Campaign "in early 1864, convinced General Lee to mandate that all Infantry Brigades would be required to form Sharpshooter units of their own. These men received special training that included long ranged target practice and soon were recognized as the elite troops of each Brigade. As the war dragged on, it was the Sharpshooter Battalions that became the primary fighting force of the Confederacy, especially in the Shenandoah Valley and around Petersburg. In fact, they were the ones that led the last attack of the war for the Army of Northern Virginia at Fort Steadman, on March 25, 1865.

This is not just a cursory description of the various field actions, but rather an in depth study that takes the reader onto the battlefield where we hear the banter between the lines, rush forward in a hotly contested skirmish, and learn what it meant to serve on the front lines during the last years of the war. This understudied aspect of the war is deftly handled by the author and the reader comes away with a comprehension of how an undermanned, half starved, ragged band of men adapted to their new reality, modifying tactics, innovating and ultimately developing methods that would serve as a model for warfare into the following century.

Insightful, detailed, and exciting are words that best describe "Shock Troops of the Confederacy". For those that are looking for a better understanding of the transition from Napoleonic tactics to the smaller, task orientated, combat units of the 20th century, this is a "must read". Well researched and referenced, this scholarly work is quite readable and should be added to the library of all Civil War enthusiasts.

For years, the work of the sharpshooters of the Army of the Confederacy has been largely ignored in favour of the more glamorous Berdan's Sharpshooters of the Federal army. They have been the subject of several books and countless articles but finally Fred Ray's book has redressed the balance. Because of their infantry organisation and lack of post-war records, the southern regiments of sharpshooters have been difficult and in some cases near impossible to document. Shock Troops has managed to provide a balanced and very well researched account of their use, organisation and training from 1861-1865. Much of the text uses first-hand accounts from hitherto little known accounts and it is a credit to Fred Ray that he has managed to gather so much material from such a paucity of sources. For anyone who wants to know more about the Confederate use of sharpshooters and the tools of their trade, this book could not come more highly reccommended.
Martin Pegler
Author of Out Of Nowhere, A History of Military Sniping.

"Shock Troops of the Confederacy" is a somewhat misleading title as what is on offer is actually two books in one!

The treatment of the Sharpshooter record and legacy (both sides) is certainly well covered, it is in fact a broad ranging and compelling testimony of the efficacy of shock and open order tactics in the midst of a war in which often the blind led the blind; especially when they had the means to do otherwise. The battle narratives are tightly-written and coincides nicely with the maps provided.

However, the unaware reader who merely thinks of this book as a focused "Confederate Army" unit or battle study is in for so much more; one is unexpectedly offered an historical and international study of the rifle...Open order..evolution and impact on modern warfare. Therefore, I would have titled it something like - "The Rise of Modern Infantry - the Evolution of Rifle, Sharpshooter, and Shock Troops from the Civil War to the First World War."

Fred Ray's "Shock Troops of the Confederacy, as the subtitle indicates, is primarily focused upon the "sharpshooter battalions" of the Army of Northern Virginia (in a Civil War context, "sharpshooter" was usually more akin to "skirmisher" than "sniper", although these specialized battalions also used innovative open order assault techniques, especially late in the war), but does not neglect their closest Union counterparts nor the sharpshooter battalions in Confederate armies in the West. Remarkably little has been published about such organizations in the past, so Fred Ray's book offers a unique study of the evolution of Civil War infantry tactics, revealing a more complex, sophisticated approach to the battlefield than is usually understood.

Fred Ray has seized upon a little known aspect of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and through extensive research has, incredible for 2006, developed his research to add a new wrinkle to its accepted history. My own research centers on only one of these battalions and my scope is therefore somewhat narrower, but I know that these sharpshooter units existed and that they were in reality utilized to their fullest. I would therefore probably be considered a pretty tough critic. Fred has independently discovered many of my own more focused sources and added many more to satisfy his premise.
His in-depth narrative incorporates proof ranging from mere mentions to laudatory thanks for the actions of the sharpshooter battalions in virtually every action from summer of 1862 through the end. Although the narrative is obviously meant to demonstrate the value of the sharpshooter battalions to the army, it presents a well-written, accurate military chronology of the war. His endnotes are rigidly supportive of the narrative and his maps are excellent and precise, again always supported by endnotes.
Fred Ray goes further than just the ANV, exploring weapons, opponents' sharpshooter organizations and similar tactics in the western Confederate Army of Tennessee.
I would highly recommend this book to any serious student of Confederate military actions during the War Between the States, particularly those who want to understand everything about the Army of Northern Virginia.

In this thought provoking book, the author starts out with a brief history of light troops followed by the history of the skirmishers of the Army of North Virginia. Although the Union side began the war with more and better light troops, they allowed them atrophy while the Confederates who faced them, learned from them. Innovation in the ANV tended to originate in Ewell's old division, commanded by Rodes. When the war began, the standard system was for each regiment to have one or two light companies sent forward as skirmishers. This had flaws. It was difficult to coordinate between all the companies, with Rodes' bad experience at South Mountain clearly showing the potential result. Soon, he formed for his brigade a special sharpshooter battalion to cover the front, and by the beginning of 1864 this was standard in every brigade in Lee's army. Because Lee's army was decentralized, innovation of this sort was encouraged and could spread. To enter a sharpshooter battalion, high standards of bravery and marksmanship had to be met so that the units did not become a collection of misfits. The men fought as light infantry, not as snipers in the modern sense, and used the best weapons available, including captured repeating rifles. The psychological effect on enemy infantry could be great, knowing that someone who was aimed at would likely be hit. The author's battle descriptions are quite useful. He shows how at Gettysburg Iverson's sharpshooter battalion got diverted into the low ground to face the Union XI Corps, which was threatening the division's flank, but with Iverson's brigade not protected properly, disaster resulted. At North Anna Confederate sharpshooters successfully screened the entrenchments, hiding them from view and allowing the Union army to unknowingly enter a trap. Most of the book covers the Overland Campaign and the '64 Valley and Petersburg campaigns, by which time new assault tactics were being developed to capture enemy pickets or assault earthworks. This, the author argues, shows a link to later infantry tactics developed by the German stormtroopers in World War I.. Unlike many other Civil War historians, the author is broad minded in looking at the broader tactical context - looking to events abroad both before and after the Civil War. The Franco-Prussian War, however, is given little attention. The author's interpretation of the use of Prussian columns differs with Nosworthy's, who believes that skirmishers were the main effort, with the company columns merely supporting them. So the author may over-emphasize the Boer War as a result. This is a minor flaw only; the book gives a good discussion of weapons and their accuracy and flaws as well as a good treatment of range estimation training. The book fills a void and should be a treasured volume to anyone interested in Civil War tactics.

Not since a century ago when in 1899 Maj. W. S. Dunlop penned Lee's Sharp Shooters or the Forefront of Battle has another book been written on the Confederate sharpshooter battalions. Until now. Author Fred L. Ray, himself a descendent of a sharpshooter, devoted years of research into the Confederate sharpshooter and the sharpshooter battalions in the Army of Northern Virginia. His book, Shock Troops of the South, begins with a brief discussion linear warfare beginning with the hoplite armies of ancient Greece and moves quickly onto early riflemen both in America and abroad and finally, the European influence on antebellum officers who rose to positions of prominence within the Confederacy.

Mr. Ray discusses how the need for a more professional skirmisher capable of screening the line of battle led to raising of the early sharpshooter battalions in the Confederacy. He identifies the early proponents of whom Major Eugene Blackford, Fifth Alabama, figures prominently. In describing their battles, the author shows how they influenced battles and in so doing, influenced Lee to raise similar battalions throughout his army. What follows is a exhaustive but highly readable study of the actions of Lee's sharpshooter battalions in the Overland Campaign, Early's Raid on Washington and the Siege of Petersburg. Shock Troops of the South fills the gaps created Dunlop's work of a century earlier.

Shock Troops of the South does not neglect their Union counterpart nor the Confederate sharpshooters who fought in other theatres. While not as extensively researched, Mr. Ray does leave the reader with an sufficient understanding of what happened elsewhere. He concludes with a discussion of the open order used by the Confederate sharpshooters and how their tactics came to be used by later armies in World War I. A worthy addition to the shelf of any student of the Civil War, Shock Troops of the South was worth the hundred years wait.

Gary Yee, author of Sharpshooters (1750-1900), The Men, Their Guns, Their Story.

In his book, Shock Troops of the Confederacy, Fred Ray covers a little known aspect of the Civil War. Napoleanic warfare was still the primary means of conducting battle during the American Civl War however, the sharpshooter units on both sides did remarkable work. These men received little mention but by all accounts were deadly adversaries and prized by their commanders. They were also the predecessors to the modern day snipers, currently at the forefront of the war on terror. The tactics and method of warfare used in Civil War skirmishes by the sharpshooter units are still applicable in the modern military.

Mr. Ray's work is an excellent reference for modern day students of the art of sniping, whether law enforcement or military.

Brian K. Sain
AmericanSnipers.org

Fred Ray was kind enough to send along a review copy of his excellent book Shock Troops of the Confederacy: The Sharpshooter Battalions of the Army of Northern Virginia. Fred is the descendant of one of those sharpshooters, which is what got him interested in the subject.

To be candid, before Fred's book was published, I was not aware that such special duty battalions even existed in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, other than references to Eugene Blackford's sharpshooters in the first day's fighting at Gettysburg. The book has changed that misperception of mine.

Fred Ray has written an exceptional book. It's a comprehensive tour de force of its subject, and one that should probably stand as the definitive word on its subject for a very long time. It's an extremely valuable and useful addition to the existing body of knowledge about the Civil War that was probably long overdue. The book is thoroughly researched and well-written. From my perspective one of the book's best features is the abundance of detailed, useful, and quality maps. Those maps address actions that have not been previously mapped. Fred drew the maps himself, and he did an excellent job it.

Of most value to the book for is its emphasis on the critical role played by the Confederate sharpshooters on many battlefields of the Eastern Theatre of the Civil War. Of particular value to me was the focus on the role played by the Confederate sharpshooters during the fighting for the Jug Bridge during the July 9, 1864 Battle of Monocacy. Before reading Fred's work on the subject, I had never seen any discussion of the role played by the sharpshooters in the fighting for the stone bridge on the National Road. Fred's analysis is detailed and comprehensive, and helps us to fill a big hole in our study of Jubal Early's raid on Washington.

I can't say enough good things about Fred Ray's book and can highly recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in the subject. I guarantee you that you will learn something new. I certainly did.

I am not an expert on the Civil War, and since I have never studied battles and troop movements, I was unaware of the existence and importance of the Civil War sharpshooter units. It was an eye opener when I read Shock Troops of the Confederacy by Fred L. Ray. This book is a virtual encyclopedia of facts on the formation and activities of the Army of Northern Virginia's sharpshooter battalions.

Public education on the Civil War, at least when I received it, is usually only an overview of the reasons for the war, mentioning the victors of few major battles and something about the commanding officers. So whenever I thought of the war it was in broad terms. Mr. Ray's book brings the war and battles to life and informs us of the highly organized units and tactics that evolved with the formation of the sharpshooter units. I learned how essential these units were in the management of troop movements and protection of those troops.

I have always felt the ideal way to learn about life in another era is to read the words of those who actually lived during that time. Mr. Ray's book delivers on that account with the inclusion of numerous dramatic first-hand accounts and narratives from those on the front lines, the sharpshooter units and the officers. They give the reader a sense of being there. I found the communication and interaction between shooters of opposing armies quite interesting.

The meticulous research and documentation that went into Shock Troops is evident in the detailed notes for each chapter and in the comprehensive bibliography. Mr. Ray must have spent countless hours in libraries and archives digging out unknown and forgotten materials that would make this book such a great read.

In addition, many excellent battle maps are included, making it easy to follow the described troop movements, and as a bonus the book includes a chapter describing the weaponry and types of bullets used in this conflict.

Shock Troops of the Confederacy is a must have for anyone interested in the Civil War, whether a novice or expert historian.

Richard Russell, compiler of Fear in North Carolina: The Civil War Journals and Letters of the Henry Family and My Dear Father and Mother: The Personal Letters of Livingston N. Clinard