leftyhunter
Brev. Brig. Gen'l
- Joined
- May 27, 2011
- Location
- los angeles ca
Hi Waterloo50,What about this motley crew 'The Snake Hunters' I don't really know anything about them other than a few short articles that I have briefly read.
'These Snake Hunters are daring, fearless men. They are armed with ----- rifles and sword bayonets and go where and when they please. They frequently pass the rebel pickets and sometimes even enter their camp, passing themselves off as rebels. They go sometimes on foot and when it is more convenient they are well mounted. Their horses and clothes do not cost the government anything. They are the most efficient spies we have and we obtain from them much valuable information.'
Were these 'Snake Hunters' waging guerrilla warfare? it seems to me that if you were a 'Union Guerrilla', you were referred to a spy, which seems to give a more legitimate feel to their work.
http://www.lindapages.com/cwar/11wvi-jbaggs.htm
Based on the above link it appears that the Snake hunters are regular enlisted Union soldiers and thus not guerrillas . They did not always wear Union uniforms and today would be in the special force category. If we check the muster rolls of their Wv regiment one should find Union pension records at least for some. I don't know if the Brandenburg Brigade was based on them but I would not be surprised.
Leftyhunter