Tag Archives: Whitworth rifle

Sharpshooter glasses

You can buy these orange-colored, nickle-plated wire-frame glasses on eBay with the assurance of several books that they were worn by sharpshooters in the Civil War. Ahem. One sharpshooter (today he would be called a sniper) played a prominent role in the 1863 siege … Continue reading

Posted in "Knoxville 1863", Bleak House, Civil War accoutrements, Fort Sanders, Gen. James Longstreet, Gen. William P. Sanders | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: 600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,800 views in 2012. If every person who reached the … Continue reading

Posted in "Knoxville 1863", Civil War armament, Civil War clothing, Families Divided By The War | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Reprise: Sharpshooter

Literary critic and writing professor David Madden’s 1996 novel Sharpshooter is the only other fiction I’m aware of about the Siege of Knoxville and, very briefly, the Battle of Fort Sanders. It’s a good story, worth your money (as little as one … Continue reading

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Own your own Whitworth

The Rebs fatally sharpshot Fort Sanders’ namesake Union Gen. William P. Sanders, with a thirteen-pound English Whitworth rifle like this one. It was fired more than a mile away, from the tower  of the Bleak House mansion, Gen. Longstreet’s headquarters. … Continue reading

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Whitworth rifles

Even Queen Victoria could hit the bulls eye from 400 yards with an English Whitworth sniper rifle. So a Rebel sharpshooter—apparently firing one with a telescope sight on it from the Bleak House tower—would have had no trouble killing Gen. … Continue reading

Posted in "Knoxville 1863", Bleak House, Civil War armament, Gen. William P. Sanders | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments