The Company of Military Historians magazine, Military Collector and Historian (Vol. 61, No. 2), has just published my article Confederate Sharpshooter Selection. �Throw away everything you've read so far about how the Confederate sharpshooter and please don't throw any bricks or bottles at me if your read it. �Everything is endnoted so the reader can check my references for accuracy.

I'm pleased to announce that my book on the blackpowder sharpshooter has finally been released.� Material from over a dozen of my articles have been incorporated in the book.� The book is Sharpshooters (1750-1900): The Men, Their Guns, Their Story and is available from Sharpshooter Press.� Unfortunately, postage to the UK is extremely high.� �I haven't figured out a way to get it there that would be affordable to readers in the UK.

A retired British sniper was given one as a gift by an American friend.� �His copy will eventually wind up at the Royal Armory's library.

There's quite a bit of information on the Confederate sharpshooter in the book.� Chapter 7 discusses the selection process (not what you think), their training, tactics (either side), use of camouflage, etc.�

BTW, when training manuals or printed instructions were available, it was based on those published at the Hythe School of Musketry.� �How the Confederates followed it is discussed in my book.� For instance, unlike the course of instruction proscribed by the English manuals, some Confederate units fired as few as two shots a day at long distance. One may muse that the first shot served to dirty the bore and the second to test their skill at Kentucky windage.

A limited # of my books have arrived in the UK.

Hi Gary

I have been going to post a thank you for some time for the help you gave me with getting copies of your fantastic book here to Australia for myself and a few of the boys what a great and informative read, I still pick it up again and read a few pages at a time twelve months on, Thanks,

Regards, Peter B.

The Kerr rifle is mentioned several times and the Whitworth even more so.� Chapter 11 is almost entirely devoted to sharpshooting at Morris Island during the Siege of Battery Wagner.� After Morris Island was captured, the Confederates at Fort Sumter were using their Whitworths to shoot (and hit) the Yankees on Morris Island - a minimum of 1,400 yards.

There are many other examples of long range shooting in the book.

BTW, the November issue of the California Rifle and Pistol Association magazine, The Firing Line, has my 900 word article on sharpshooting.