I though I read somewhere that there were a few at Wilson's Creek? Does anyone have documentation of this?
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I finally found the union unit I was thinking of, the unit that used half-stocked "plains rifles"; it was a unit that as the war went on, their unit designation changed.
They were first known as "Binge's Western Sharpshooters" mustered into service in Nov. 1861. With their first name change they became the "Western Sharpshooters-14th Missouri Volunteers, and later their name was finally changed to the 66th Illinois Infantry Regiment. The idea for the unit was one of Gen. Fremont's and was to be the western version of the Burdan's Sharpshooters, to act as "sharpshooters" and skirmishers. They were first supplied 1,000 half stock "plains rifles" by the St. Louis firm of Horus E. Dimick, although Dimick could only supply around 150 of these rifles from his own shop, the rest he sourced from other suppliers. The men of the regiment stated they were "well pleased" with the accuracy of their rifles and used them until the fall of 1863, when the men began to individually purchase the Henry Repeating Rifle to take the place of the Dimick rifles. While the government didn't purchase the Henry rifles, it did supply the ammunition.
As I stated earlier, the regiment was formed in Nov. of 1861 so they did not take part in the battle of Wilson' Creek, and spent the first few months of their service in central Missouri chasing guerrillas. Their first major battle at Shiloh, then battles in Mississippi, and later in the Atlanta campaign, Shermans March and finished the war in the Carolina Champaign, taking part in the Bentonville battle.
When the unit was first formed, the men were supposed to wear a type of hunting frock, to denote their use as sharpshooters. That didn't last long, but the men did manage keep their unique "suger loaf" hats (which looked like a high pointed hat, much like a witches hat), with three squirrel tails attached. About 1/2 of the regiment was recruited from Missouri, and the rest from Midwestern states.
There you go, a regiment that used civilian half stocked rifles, with distinction!