Vermont sent far more sharpshooters to the Union armies than any other state, on a per capita basis. By the hundreds, Vermont marksmen passed the rigorous marksmanship test to join one of three Vermont companies. And sharpshooters from this state played a little-known but major role at Gettysburg, the great Union victory that changed the Civil War’s course.
Historian Howard Coffin will discuss his recent research into this little -recognized group and consider the reasons why Vermont may have been so well-represented in this elite group of marksmen.
About the Speaker
A seventh-generation Vermonter, Howard Coffin is the author of four books on the Civil War: Something Abides: Discovering the Civil War in Today’s Vermont; Full Duty: Vermonters in the Civil War; Nine Months to Gettysburg; and The Battered Stars, as well as Guns Over the Champlain Valley, a book on military sites along the Champlain Corridor.
