Windham Wyndham-Quin, 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl Boer War and the Sharpshoooters How did the Boer war start? During the early stages of the South African War 1899-1902, the British Army suffered defeats at the hands of the Boer Commandos, What were the Boer Commandos? Boer Commandos, composed of men who were first-class shots and good horsemen.
Who were the sharpshooters?
Who were the sharpshooters in the Boer war?
During the early stages of the South African War 1899-1902, the British Army suffered defeats at the hands of the Boer Commandos, composed of men who were first-class shots and good horsemen. The effect in the United Kingdom was to inspire a rush of volunteers. The Earl of Dunraven formed a committee in Dec 1899 to raise a squadron of 'Sharpshooters' from those volunteers who could both ride and shoot well. By March 1900, a full battalion (18th Bn Imperial Yeomanry) had been raised. On 6 April 1900, Dunraven's Sharpshooters started for South Africa. Lord Dunraven at the last moment decided to accompany the force and was posted as a supernumerary captain on the battalion staff. He was gazetted on 17 April 1900 to be Captain (Supernumerary) of the 18th Battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry, with the temporary rank of Captain in the Army, from 18 April 1900, which he relinquished in July 1901. He was mentioned in despatches (29 November 1900) by Lord Roberts, Commander-in-Chief during the early part of the war. In January 1901, the government made a further call for yeomanry and between February and March, another 1,200 men were recruited by the Sharpshooters Committee. They were formed into two battalions, the 21st and 23rd. The Sharpshooters fought many small-scale actions against the Boers, with increasing skill, and showed the value of mobile, well-armed and resourceful troops. Following their success, Lord Dunraven was given permission to raise a regiment for service at home. On 23 July 1901, the 3rd County of London (Sharpshooters) Imperial Yeomanry was formally organized. On 25 March 1902 Dunraven resigned his commission and received a new commission, subject to the provisions of the Militia and Yeomanry Act, 1901, retaining his rank and seniority as Lieutenant-Colonel (Honorary Captain in the Army). On 22 November 1903, Major-General Baden-Powell, Inspector of Cavalry, unveiled a memorial in the Church of St Martin's in the Fields. About 400 men of all ranks of 3CLY under the command of Colonel Lord Dunraven attended the ceremony. On 6 August 1904 he was appointed to the Honorary Colonelcy of the Regiment. In 1904 the Regiment's first battle honour South Africa 1900-02 was awarded. CANNOTANSWER
volunteers who could both ride and shoot well.
Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin, 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl,  (12 February 1841 – 14 June 1926), styled Viscount Adare between 1850 and 1871, was an Anglo-Irish journalist, landowner, entrepreneur, sportsman and Conservative politician. He served as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies under Lord Salisbury from 1885 to 1886 and 1886 to 1887. He also successfully presided over the 1902 Land Conference and was the founder of the Irish Reform Association. He recruited two regiments of sharpshooters, leading them in the Boer War and later establishing a unit in Ireland.

A big game hunter, in 1874 Dunraven claimed 15,000 acres in Colorado, United States, determined to make the area a game park. He built a tourist hotel there but sold the land in the early 20th century, as he was under continuous pressure from settlers trying to encroach on his holdings.

Background, education and early life
Lord Dunraven was the son of The 3rd Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl by his first wife, Florence Augusta Goold, third daughter of Thomas Goold, Master in Chancery. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. After serving as a lieutenant in the 1st Life Guards, a cavalry regiment, Dunraven became, at age twenty-six, a war correspondent for the London newspaper The Daily Telegraph. He covered the Abyssinian War in Africa. In this capacity, he shared a tent with Henry Stanley of The New York Herald.

Dunraven became a special correspondent for a "big London daily" during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870–71. He reported the Siege of Paris, saw the Third Carlist War and war in Turkey, and probably the Russo-Turkish War. Dunraven witnessed both the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, and later the signing of the Treaty of Versailles to end the Great War in 1919.

Military

He served as an ensign of the 4th Company, Oxford University Rifle Volunteer Corps 30 December 1859  promoted lieutenant. 1 March 1860., resigned 3 December 1861. Cornet and sub-lieutenant, 1st Life Guards, 2 June 1865. purchased promotion to lieutenant on same date (which was customary at the time). Extra Aide-de-Camp to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1864. Retired from 1st Guards 1 February 1867. He was a lieutenant in the Gloucestershire Yeomanry Cavalry and resigned his Commission on 9 June 1875. He was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Glamorgan Artillery (Western Division) Royal Artillery on 17 April 1895.  He was appointed to the Honorary Colonelcy of the 5th Battalion, the Royal Munster Fusiliers, on 25 August 1897.

Boer War and the Sharpshooters

During the early stages of the South African War 1899-1902, the British Army suffered defeats at the hands of the Boer Commandos, composed of men who were first-class shots and good horsemen. The effect in the United Kingdom was to inspire a rush of volunteers. The Earl of Dunraven formed a committee in Dec 1899 to raise a squadron of 'Sharpshooters' from those volunteers who could both ride and shoot well. By March 1900, a full battalion (18th Bn Imperial Yeomanry) had been raised.

On 6 April 1900, Dunraven's Sharpshooters started for South Africa. Lord Dunraven at the last moment decided to accompany the force and was posted as a supernumerary captain on the battalion staff. He was gazetted on 17 April 1900 to be Captain (Supernumerary) of the 18th Battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry, with the temporary rank of captain in the Army, from 18 April 1900, which he relinquished in July 1901. He was mentioned in despatches (29 November 1900) by Lord Roberts, Commander-in-Chief during the early part of the war.

In January 1901, the government made a further call for yeomanry and between February and March, another 1,200 men were recruited by the Sharpshooters Committee. They were formed into two battalions, the 21st and 23rd. The Sharpshooters fought many small-scale actions against the Boers, with increasing skill, and showed the value of mobile, well-armed and resourceful troops. Following their success, Lord Dunraven was given permission to raise a regiment for service at home. On 23 July 1901, the 3rd County of London (Sharpshooters) Imperial Yeomanry was formally organized.

On 25 March 1902 Dunraven resigned his commission and received a new commission, subject to the provisions of the Militia and Yeomanry Act, 1901, retaining his rank and seniority as Lieutenant-Colonel (Honorary Captain in the Army). In the November 1902 Birthday Honours list he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (CMG) for his service in South Africa.

On 22 November 1903, Major-General Baden-Powell, Inspector of Cavalry, unveiled a memorial in the Church of St Martin's in the Fields. About 400 men of all ranks of 3CLY under the command of Colonel Lord Dunraven attended the ceremony. On 6 August 1904 he was appointed to the Honorary Colonelcy of the Regiment. In 1904 the Regiment's first battle honour South Africa 1900-02 was awarded.

Political career
Dunraven succeeded his father in the earldom in 1871 and took his seat in the House of Lords. He served as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies under Lord Salisbury from 1885 to 1886 and again from 1886 to 1887. During 1888 to 1890 he was chairman of the Commission on Sweated Labour. As a constructive moderate Unionist he sought to bring about a peaceful solution to the Irish land question and to the demand for Home Rule. In 1897 he published The Outlook in Ireland, the case for Devolution and Conciliation which was reprinted in 1907.

Dunraven was an inaugural member of Glamorgan County Council, representing Bridgend as a Conservative between 1889 and 1892. He also sat as Moderate Party councillor representing Wandsworth on the London County Council from 1895 to 1899.

Dunraven was the owner of the  Adare Manor estate at Adare, County Limerick. Following the initiative of George Wyndham, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, he was instrumental in forming the 1902 Land Conference of which he was chairman, representing the landlord side. Together with William O'Brien, who represented the tenant side, the conference resulted in the publication of a unanimous report in January which led to the enactment of the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act 1903. This terminated the last vestige of absentee landlordism in Ireland and enabled tenants to purchase land from their landlords under favourable financial provisions.

After presiding over the Land Conference, Lord Dunraven founded the Irish Reform Association. While reflecting primarily the views of progressive landlords like him, it was intended to rally all those who wished to see the 'conference policy' applied to other spheres of Irish life. In the course of 1904, this body produced a scheme of "devolution"—that is, for granting to Ireland limited powers of local self-government.  The Under-Secretary for Ireland, Sir Antony MacDonnell, had a hand in drafting it.

It was greeted at first as a significant step towards self-government, while not Home Rule. Such a policy failed to gain sufficient nationalist support, the new proposals dismissed by John Dillon. Unionists responded by forming the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905. For Dillon, devolution was not enough; for the alarmed Ulster Unionists, it was a Trojan Horse for Home Rule. In the end, the controversy resulted in Chief Secretary George Wyndham being driven in ignominy from office.

Dunraven was also a member of the Order of Saint Patrick. On the foundation of the Irish Free State, he became a member of the first Senate in December 1922 and served until his resignation in January 1926. He was nominated to the Senate by the President of the Executive Council, W. T. Cosgrave, as part of assurances during the 1921 negotiation of the Anglo-Irish Treaty given by Arthur Griffith to southern unionists and the British government that unionists would have adequate representation in the new parliament to safeguard their interests.

Colorado huntsman

Lord Dunraven spent much of his leisure time hunting wild game in various parts of the world. After hearing of the fine hunting in the American West, he decided to visit. He first arrived in 1872, and met and befriended Texas Jack Omohundro, who acted as a guide and led the earl's party on buffalo and elk hunts. Reuniting with Texas Jack on his second visit to the American west in 1874, he explored Yellowstone Park.  This trip would be documented in his book Hunting in the Yellowstone or On the Trail of the Wapiti with Texas Jack in the Land of Geysers.  Later on the same trip, the young earl decided to make the whole of Estes Park, Colorado into a game preserve for the exclusive use of himself and his British and Irish friends. By stretching the provisions of the Homestead Act and pre-emption rights, Dunraven claimed 15,000 acres (61 km2) in what later was designated as the present-day Rocky Mountain National Park. His efforts resulted in what has been called "one of the most gigantic land steals in the history of Colorado". The coming of more settlers in 1874 and 1875 stopped this wholesale appropriation of land.

In 1876, the earl commissioned Albert Bierstadt to make a painting on canvas of Longs Peak and Estes Park for US $15,000, . He intended to hang it in Dunraven Castle. Bierstadt traveled with Theodore Whyte, the earl's associate, to the area and visited locations to make sketches and paintings; Whyte was also working to identify a site for an English hotel for the Earl. The completed painting is now held in the Denver Public Library's art collection. Although for 33 years Dunraven considered the Park his personal property, the settlers did not. Their hostility forced him to give up the game preserve idea.

Dunraven later described the influx of settlers and his consequent plans:

Tourist enterprise

Bierstadt, commissioned by Dunraven to paint at Estes Park, also helped select the site for Dunraven's 'English Hotel,' which was built in 1877. It was situated in a meadow east of the present Estes Park village, and was the first strictly tourist hotel built in the Park. The hotel was a three-story, timber-frame building. It had twelve narrow windows, and a large door opening onto a one-storied, columned porch. The roof of this porch formed an open deck surrounded by a small hand railing. The porch ran the full length of the front of the building and about halfway around each end.

Despite the success of this 'English Hotel and Lodge,' the disillusioned Dunraven left the area forever in the late 1880s. He later said:

Dunraven realised it would be impossible for him to control all of the park region; in 1907 he sold his property to B. D. Sanborn of Greeley, Colorado and F. O. Stanley of Newton, Massachusetts. Stanley later built the historic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. Dunraven's wooden 'English Hotel' burned to the ground in 1911.

Sportsman

Lord Dunraven maintained an equestrian stud farm on his Adare Manor estate. He experimented in growing tobacco until his factory was burned down in 1916. A keen yachtsman, the earl was the owner and co-owner of the 1893 and 1895 America's Cup yachts Valkyrie II and Valkyrie III. 
 On returning home in 1896 from Newport, Rhode Island, Dunraven alleged cheating by the winning American yacht, Defender.
As a sportsman, he wrote Canadian Nights about "life and sports in the Rockies".

Family and personal life

Lord Dunraven married Florence Kerr, second daughter of Lord Charles Kerr. The latter was the first son of The 6th Marquess of Lothian by his second wife.

The Dunravens had three children:

Lady Florence Enid Wyndham-Quin (13 June 1870 – July 1891).
Lady Rachael Charlotte Wyndham-Quin (20 February 1872 – 30 January 1901), married Desmond FitzJohn Lloyd FitzGerald, 27th Knight of Glin and had children. 
Lady Aileen May Wyndham-Quin (9 April 1873 – 25 February 1962), married Lord Ardee, who later became, in 1929, The 13th Earl of Meath, and had children. In 1897, she was one of the guests at the Duchess of Devonshire's Diamond Jubilee Costume Ball.

In 1869, Lord Dunraven revealed in his diaries, under the title Experiences in Spiritualism with D. D. Home, that he had slept in the same bed with Daniel Dunglas Home. Many of the diary entries contain erotic homosexual references between Home and the then Lord Adare.

From 1900 onwards Lord Dunraven developed the gardens on "Garinish Island" (near Sneem, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland), which he had inherited from his father, The 3rd Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, into a subtropical wild garden. It is still in existence today. The house, called "Garinish Lodge", was burned in September 1922 during the Irish Civil War (1922–1923), but later rebuilt.

Lord Dunraven died in June 1926, aged 85. As he died without a male heir, the earldom passed to a cousin, Windham Wyndham-Quin, 5th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl. The barony of Kenry, which had been created for his father, became extinct. He left all his unsettled property (acquired during his lifetime), including Garinish Island, his yacht and racehorses to his only surviving child, Aileen. All the settled property, which included Adare Manor and other properties there, as well as Dunraven Castle estate and several valuable coal mines in South Wales, was left to his successor, his cousin. Dunraven was buried at St. Nicholas' Church of Ireland in Adare, County Limerick, Ireland. In 1895 Dunraven had lived at 27 Norfolk Street.

Legacy and honours
In 1939, 13 years after his death, Norfolk Street (London, Mayfair, United Kingdom) was renamed as Dunraven Street in his honour. Dunraven Pass on the Grand Loop Road between Tower and Canyon in Yellowstone National Park is named after Lord Dunraven, as is nearby Dunraven Peak, a 9,869 feet (3,008 m) mountain peak in the Washburn Range.

References

External links

 Bunbury, Turtle, Adare Manor: The Renaissance of an Irish Country House (Adare Manor Publishing, 2019) 

 

1841 births
1926 deaths
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
19th-century Anglo-Irish people
20th-century Anglo-Irish people
British Life Guards officers
Irish unionists
Knights of St Patrick
Lord-Lieutenants of Limerick
Members of the Privy Council of Ireland
People of the Abyssinian War
Irish war correspondents
Members of the 1922 Seanad
Members of the 1925 Seanad
British racehorse owners and breeders
Place of birth missing
Members of the Senate of Southern Ireland
Members of London County Council
Members of Glamorgan County Council
Independent members of Seanad Éireann
Earls of Dunraven and Mount-Earl
The Ottawa Sharpshooters were a junior ice hockey team from Almonte, Ontario, Canada. They began play in the 2016–17 season in the Canadian Premier Junior Hockey League (CPJHL). After two seasons in the CPJHL, the Sharpshooters joined the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League (GMHL) for 2018–19. In December 2019, the Sharpshooters folded during their second season in the GMHL.

History
Originally part of the Ottawa Sharpshooters youth organization, the Jr. Sharpshooters were among the first organizations approved to play in the new United Hockey Union-sanctioned Canadian Premier Junior Hockey League. In June 2016, the Almonte Town Council passed a motion to have the new Jr. Sharpshooters team play out of the Almonte & District Community Centre for the 2016–17 season and took on the name Almonte Jr. Sharpshooters. The organization also fielded an U18 team in the National College Prospects Hockey League (NCPHL) that retained the Ottawa Sharpshooters name. 

During the 2016–17 season, Almonte placed first in the East Division at the end of the regular season and earned the second overall seed for the playoffs. The made it to the inaugural championship game where they defeated the regular season champion Muskoka Wild 4–3 in overtime. 

After the 2016–17 season, the Jr. Sharpshooters announced their intentions to leave the league and were removed from the CPJHL website. At the same time, the Sharpshooters' organization announced that it would be replacing its U18 team in the NCPHL with the Almonte team and launched a second team, called the Eastern Ontario Hockey Academy (EOHA) Wolves, as part of a NCPHL Canada Division. However, by September 2017, the NCPHL had several teams struggling to sign enough players and the league ceased operations. The four NCPHL teams that had enough players, including the Sharpshooters and Wolves, then joined the CPJHL for the 2017–18 season. At the start of the season, Sharpshooters and EOHA ended their affiliation with the Ottawa Valley Wolves and the EOHA teams dropped the use of the Wolves nickname.

Both the EOHA and Jr. Sharpshooters teams would end the 2017–18 regular season in fourth and fifth places, respectively, in their division, leading to an elimination playoff game between the two teams. However, it appears this game was never played and EOHA was then scheduled to face the top-seeded Smiths Falls Settlers. After splitting the first two games of the best-of-three series, the CPJHL forced EOHA to forfeit the series due to illegally using Jr. Sharpshooters' players in the series. Both teams were immediately removed from the league upon the completion of the 2018 playoffs and the league confirmed it had terminated the two teams' membership with the CPJHL on April 6.

In April 2018, the Sharpshooters announced they would be joining the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League (GMHL) for the 2018–19 season as the Ottawa Sharpshooters.

In December 2019, the Sharpshooters forfeited their last two games before the winter break with the opposing home teams posting identical messages claiming weather and travel related issues, although it had been reported that the owner could no longer fund the team. On 3 January 2020, before the GMHL was to resume play after the winter the break, the league president announced the Sharpshooters had been folded by the owner.

Season-by-season records

References

External links
Ottawa Sharpshooters website
old Sharpshooters website
Ottawa, Almonte and EOHA former website

Ice hockey teams in Ontario The 66th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Western Sharpshooters) originally known as Birge's Western Sharpshooters and later as  the "Western Sharpshooters-14th Missouri Volunteers", was a specialized regiment of infantry sharpshooters that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was intended, raised, and mustered into Federal service as the Western Theater counterpart to Army of the Potomac's 1st and 2nd United States Volunteer Sharpshooters ("Berdan's Sharpshooters").

Independent service 
"Birge's Western Sharpshooters" was a multi-state, Federal unit organized at St. Louis, Missouri and mustered into federal service on November 23, 1861. Initially two companies were raised in Ohio, three in Illinois, one in Michigan, and four were organized at St Louis' Benton Barracks of Missourians and detachments of volunteer candidates sent by recruiting officers from Iowa, Minnesota and other western states, thus forming a regiment that represented every state in the west, a pet scheme of General John C. Fremont.

During the unit's existence it was re-designated first as the "Western Sharpshooters-14th Missouri Volunteers", and later re-designated again as the "66th Illinois Volunteer Infantry (Western Sharpshooters)".  While federal and state authorities repeatedly changed the formal designation of the unit, the regiment was commonly referred to as the "Western Sharpshooters" (or simply "The Sharpshooters") for the duration of the war. After the war autographs by former members often included the appellation W.S.S.

Companies of the Western Sharpshooters
"Welker's Company" (WSS's original Company A): Missouri men with some outstate members
Company A: "Boyd's Company", Missouri and outstate members
Company B: Missouri and outstate members
Company C: Illinois (Bureau and Logan Counties) and some Iowa men
Company D: Michigan
Company E: Illinois (Edgar County)
Company F: Missouri and outstate members
Company G: 1st Independent Company of Ohio Volunteer Sharpshooters (Reed's Sharpshooters)
Company H: 2nd Independent Company of Ohio Volunteer Sharpshooters (Dougherty's Sharpshooters)
Company I: Illinois (Lawrence County)
Company K: 3rd Independent Company of Ohio Volunteer Sharpshooters (Taylor's Sharpshooters)

The regiment was envisioned as a specialized unit of marksmen and skirmishers, a Western Theater counterpart to Colonel Hiram Berdan's 1st and 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters (raised from multiple states under President Lincoln's patronage for service in the Eastern Theater). On August 28, 1861, Fremont authorized a St. Louis physician, John Ward Birge, to raise the regiment and muster recruits at Benton Barracks, St. Louis.

As marksmen, Fremont intended that they should have a special uniform based on "hunter's dress" and be armed with highly accurate Plains Rifles (handmade half-stock long rifles), provided by the famed St. Louis firearms firm of Horace (H.E.) Dimick of St. Louis (a competitor of the Hawken Brothers, also of St. Louis). While the majority of the special uniform envisioned by Fremont did not survive long beyond his removal (except for an extraordinary sugar loaf hat decorated with three squirrel tails), Dimick fulfilled his contract, providing over 1,000 long rifles, although he had to scour regional (and even east coast) gunmakers to fulfill the enormous order for handmade weapons in the time allotted. The Western Sharpshooters found the "Dimick Rifle" (as the unit called them, although Dimick's gunsmiths built only about 150) to be lethally accurate and declared themselves "well pleased" with the Plains Rifles.

Fremont's scheme was partially squelched by Major General Halleck when he relieved Fremont in November 1862, ending additional recruitment. General Halleck returned a tenth company of Missouri sharpshooters under Captain John Welker (which had initially been recruited by Birge, but detached on MG Fremont's orders for his southwestern expedition, and subsequently operated as an independent company), bringing Birge's Western Sharpshooters up to full strength of ten companies. Immediately afterward, Halleck ordered the partially equipped and trained sharpshooters into the field in guerrilla racked central and northern Missouri. On December 12, 1861, Colonel John W. Birge, of St. Louis, marched them from Benton Barracks to Centralia, in Northern Missouri. The regiment was then deployed in small detachments to fight bands of the secessionist Missouri State Guard and guerrillas attacking the strategically vital North Missouri Rail Road and other targets of interest to the Federal government. On December 28, 1861, five companies of Birge's Sharpshooters and five companies of cavalry fought a mixed force of Missouri State Guard and secessionist volunteers at the small, but strategically important Battle of Mount Zion Church.

On February 4, 1862, the sharpshooters were first shipped by railroad to St. Louis and then by steamboat to Fort Henry, where they eventually arrived on the 9th, just too late to take part in its capture. (Note: As they passed through St. Louis, Maj. Gen. Halleck ordered Company A (Welker's Company) stripped out of the regiment and reassigned to the newly forming 26th Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment, temporarily reducing the regiment to nine companies). At Fort Henry, the Sharpshooters joined Colonel Lauman's brigade of General C.F. Smith's division and marched with them to Fort Donelson. In Grant's army they served at the Battle of Fort Donelson and the Battle of Shiloh.

Missouri service 
On April 14, 1862, acting commander Lt Col B.S. Compton received a letter informing him that on the order of Major General Henry Halleck, Commander of the Department of Missouri, the regiment had been redesignated the "Western Sharpshooters-14th Missouri Volunteers".

The redesignated WSS-14th MO Vols, participated in General Halleck's long advance on the Confederate rail center at Corinth, Mississippi, skirmishing ahead of the main force almost every day. On May 30, 1862 Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard evacuated the city without a fight. The Sharpshooters were then stationed in the Corinth area.

On July 8, 1862, the regiment's new commander Colonel Patrick E. Burke arrived. A veteran militia officer, he had been awarded a Regular Army Captain's commission following service in the old 1st Missouri Volunteers in  General Lyon's Missouri campaigns (including participation in the stand at Bloody Hill at  Wilson's Creek)  . Colonel Burke used the period at Corinth to integrate new recruits from Camp Butler and unify the regiment as a military organization.

In mid-September 1862, in response to the offensive by Confederate Generals Earl Van Dorn and Sterling Price, a three company battalion of the Sharpshooters marched south with Major General Rosecrans' army towards Iuka, Mississippi. This detachment participated in the September 19th battle. They then returned to Corinth, where the entire regiment fought on both days of the October 3rd-4th (2nd) Battle of Corinth. On Oct 4th, as per General Rosecrans' orders, the regiment fought as skirmishers in the timber in front of the Federal fortifications (to the right of a 3 company battalion of the  64th Illinois ["Yates' Sharpshooters"]).  They skirmished under the direct command of Colonel Burke from 4 a.m. to around 10 a.m., when they began to fall back on the main Federal line. When the Federal center collapsed, the regiment fell back again towards the town and Battery Robinette, where they continued to fight until the Confederate breach was contained.

Illinois service 
After the Second Battle of Corinth, the regiment helped establish Camp Davies, a stockaded outpost six miles south of Corinth.  In December, 1862 (after the strong intervention of Governor Yates of Illinois) the Sharpshooters were transferred to Illinois service as the 66th Illinois Volunteer Infantry (Western Sharpshooters) on November 20, 1862. (The regiment was allowed to maintain the Western Sharpshooters as part of its official designation following a request by letter to Governor Yates from Colonel Burke.) Beginning in the autumn of 1863 the men of the regiment began equipping themselves with the new 16 shot Henry Repeating Rifle, giving them a major advantage in firepower over their Confederate opponents. Over 250 of the sharpshooters spent an average of 40 dollars out of pocket (over three months pay for a Private) to arm themselves with this highly effective new weapon. The government, while it did not purchase the weapons, did provide Henry rifle cartridges for companies whose soldiers had done so.

The regiment remained at Camp Davies until November 12, 1863, when 2nd Division, XVI Corps moved to Pulaski, Tennessee, where they established "Camp P.E. Burke".  During December 1863, 470 men of the regiment re-enlisted and in January, 1864, were sent to Chicago to be given veteran furlough.  After being re-organized as a veteran regiment of 600 men, they returned to Pulaski, until April 29, when they left for Chattanooga to join in the Atlanta Campaign.

The regiment left Chattanooga on May 6, and three days later opened the fighting against the Army of Tennessee, at Snake Creek Gap and the Battle of Resaca. There, on May 9, the Sharpshooters singlehandedly captured the Heights at Resaca, Georgia. Throughout the Atlanta Campaign, the regiment was used as the scouting and skirmishing spearhead of XVI Army Corps and participated in ten major battles.

After the Atlanta Campaign, the regiment was attached to the XV Corps where they remained until they mustered out. They participated in Sherman's March to the Sea and the Carolinas Campaign and their last combat action of the war was at the Battle of Bentonville.  The regiment accompanied Sherman to Washington, D.C., where they marched in the Grand Review of the Armies on May 24, 1865, and were subsequently discharged from service on July 7, 1865.

Total strength and casualties
The regiment lost six officers and 73 enlisted men who were killed in action or mortally wounded and two officers and 146 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 227 fatalities.

Commanders
Colonel John W. Birge - commissioned a colonel, Birge was replaced by;
Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin S. Compton
Colonel Patrick E. Burke - mortally wounded at the Battle of Rome Cross Roads on May 16, 1864, while commanding 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Left Wing, XVI Corps, Army of the Tennessee. Died at Resaca, Georgia, on the morning of May 20, 1864;
Captain William S. Boyd - Captain of Co A, and in tactical command of the regiment when Burke was wounded, continued in de facto field command of the Regiment through the March to the Sea;
Lieutenant Colonel Andrew K. Campbell - Mustered out with the regiment.

See also
List of Illinois Civil War Units
Illinois in the American Civil War
List of United States Volunteer Civil War units
64th Illinois Volunteer Infantry-"Yates Sharpshooters"

Notes

References
The Civil War Archive
Reenactors: 1st Independent Company of Ohio Volunteer Sharpshooters, also known as Co G, WESTERN SHARPSHOOTERS
Reenactors portraying Company D ("The Michigan Boys"), Western Sharpshooters
Regimental Colors and National Colors of the Western Sharpshooters
 Information on Battle of Lay's Ferry at the Friends of Resaca Battlefield website
 CDV of soldier of 66th Illinois Infantry Regiment
Units and formations of the Union Army from Missouri
Units and formations of the Union Army from Illinois
Sharpshooter units and formations of the American Civil War
1861 establishments in Illinois
Military units and formations established in 1861
Military units and formations disestablished in 1865