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Ronald Sandridge – 1/18/2016 Photo Comment
Alfred Bellard, a white soldier of the 5th NJ Infantry, reported in his memoirs the shooting of two black Confederate snipers by member’s
of the Berdan’s Sharpshooters in April of 1862. “One of the Negro Confederates was only wounded, but the other was killed one afternoon after
leaving the security of a hollow tree (probably to relieve himself). Two Confederates tried to get to his body but were driven away by the Union gunfire”
Alfred Bellard, Gone for a Soldier, p. 56 This wasn’t an isolated case. One of the best marksmen in the Confederacy was an African-American who
outfitted himself in a sniper’s roost in an almost perfect hiding spot inside a brick chimney from which he proceeded to shoot Yankees at their
nearby camp. Any Union soldier who dared to come into his range was fired at. Several times the Federalize called up to the sniper to desert, but the black
Confederate ignored their appeals. This ordeal ended when a regiment was marched off to fire a volley at the chimney, eventually putting a bullet through the sniper’s head.