Nathan Stuart
2nd Lieutenant
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2020
Given these unit positions on May 9, Kershaw’s brigade (under Henagan) was clearly nearest to where Sedgwick was shot. (Bearing in mind whitworth marksmen often operated independently from their units, this is less likely to have occurred with the close quarters of massed fighting at Spotsylvania – they were more likely to be in rifle pits alongside other sharpshooters at the critical time).Much appreciated. Thanks again
If Sedgwick was shot by a whitworth, it would most likely have been from a marksman attached to Kershaw’s South Carolina brigade. As mentioned before, Kershaw’s brigade composed 2 SC, 3 SC, 7 SC, 8 SC, 15 SC, and 3 SC battalion.
Kershaw’s South Carolina brigade definitely had several whitworth sharpshooters in its group. This brigade, as part of the majority of Longstreet’s corps, was temporarily sent to help Bragg’s western army during the second half of 1863. It is widely thought that one of the whitworth rifleman from Kershaw’s brigade located nearby also shot Union Brigadier General William Sanders at Knoxville, East Tennessee.