First Michigan Sharpshooters

History Battles & Campaigns Regimental Roster Reunions & Last Man Home

History: Recruiting for the First Michigan Sharpshooters began in the fall of 1862, under the direction of Colonel Charles V. DeLand. The regimental rendezvous was established at Camp Chandler, at the Kalamazoo fairgrounds, in January 1863. A portion of the regiment was transferred to Dearborn in February 1863, where they guarded the U.S. arsenal. The remainder of the regiment joined them there in April.

Six companies were mustered into U.S. service on 7 July 1863, and were immediately ordered into Indiana, in pursuit of General John Hunt Morgan's Confederate cavalry. On 13 July the Sharpshooters skirmished with Morgan's rear guard, and captured several men and horses. The regiment then returned to Dearborn, where recruiting continued until August, when the regiment was ordered to Camp Douglas, Chicago, to guard Confederate prisoners confined therein. The Sharpshooters remained at Camp Douglas until 17 March 1864, when they left to join the Ninth Corps, in Annapolis, MD. The Ninth Corps joined the Army of the Potomac in April, and remained with it until the end of the war, from the Wilderness, through Appomatox to the Grand Review. It gained distinction at Petersburg, when, on 3 April 1865, it entered the fallen city at the head of the Army of the Potomac and raised the first U.S. flag to fly over the city in four hard fought years. The Sharpshooters were disbanded at Jackson, Michigan, on 7 August 1865.

The unit was the only regiment in the state designated as sharpshooters; however, in combat they were principally employed as infantry. Also unique among Michigan regiments was the Sharpshooters company of native Americans, who had been recruited from the Upper Peninsula and the northern counties of the Lower Peninsula. During the war the Indian Sharpshooters gained a reputation for loyalty and as fierce and fearless fighters.

The only comprehensive history of the First Michigan Sharpshooters is Raymond Herek's These Men have seen Hard Service.

Battles: Skirmishes against Morgan's raiders, North Vernon, Indiana, 13 July 1863 and Piereceville, Indiana, 14 July 1863. The Wilderness, Virginia, 5-7 May 1864. Ny River, Virginia, 9 May 1864. Po River, Virginia, 10 May 1864. Spotsylvania, Virginia, 12-13, 18 May 1864. Oxford, Virginia, 23 May 1864. North Anna, Virginia, 24-25 May 1864. Tolopotomy, Virginia, 29 May 1864. Bethesda Church, Virginia, 2-3 June 1864. Cold Harbor, Virginia, 7 June 1864. The regiment was continually engaged in the siege of Petersburg, Virginia, from 17 June 1864 until 3 April 1865. During this period they participated in the following battles: Assault on Confederate works, Petersburg, Virginia, 17-18 June 1864. The Crater, Virginia, 30 July 1864. Weldon Railroad, Virginia, 19-21 August 1864. Reams' Station, Virginia, 25 August 1864. Poplar Springs Church, Virginia, 30 September 1864. Pegram Farm, Virginia, 2 October 1864. Boydton Road, Virginia, 8 October 1864. Hatcher's Run, Virginia, 27-28 October 1864. Fort Stedman, Virginia, 25 March 1865. Fort McGilvery, Virginia, 1 April 1865. Assault on Petersburg, 2 April 1865. Capture of Petersburg, Virginia, 3 April 1865.

Reunions & Last Man: There was "not a large crowd at the reunion of the First Michigan Sharpshooters," the State Journal said of the event, held at Lansing on 28 September 1932--just a few old men, gathered together "to see how long we can stick on." Of the nineteen veterans of the organization still living then, only six answered roll call that morning. Among them were the three survivors of the regiment's last four man color guard: Eston Hoag, 87, of Hillsdale, Peter Stevens, 87, of Tuscola County, and Franklin Wright, 88, of Caledonia. Others in attendance were George H. Saxton, 94, of Lansing, Cyrus Perrigo, 87, of Tuscola County, and James Coon, 87, of Leslie. After a lunch tendered by the Daughters of Union Veterans, the old Sharpshooters whiled away the afternoon, reminiscing about hard fought battles and comrades lost. There was no business meeting or officers elected, for "time had disorganized the old unit and buried its dead in many places."

The first reunion of the Sharpshooters, at which the formal organization of the First Michigan Sharpshooters Association took place, occurred forty-six years earlier, at Jackson, on 14 September 1886. The first officers of the organization elected then were C. V. DeLand, president, E. J. Buckbee, first vice-president, Frank Whipple, second vice-president, H. Dorr Blakeman, treasurer, George H. Saxton, secretary, and A. F. Whelan, orator. Informal reunions may have taken place for three years previous, since in subsequent years reunions were numbered from 1883. A regimental roster published at the time of the 1886 reunion listed the names and residences of two-hundred and forty-seven Sharpshooters. There were undoubtedly many more survivors omitted.

Annual gatherings of the organization continued until at least 1919. Of those I am aware of the following: Lansing, 1 September 1887. Battle Creek, 10 October 1889. Jackson, 30 September 1890. Detroit, 1891. Detroit, 19 September 1894. Jackson, 30 September 1896. Battle Creek, 1889. Hillsdale, 18 October 1899. Detroit, 5 August 1891. Lansing, 13 September 1892. Battle Creek, 16 September 1902. Battle Creek, 16 September 1903. Lansing, 14 December 1915. Lansing, 20 June 1917. Battle Creek, 19 August 1919.

Significant gatherings: Jackson, 1890, at Colonel DeLand's Pleasant Hill Farm, functioned at a testimonial to the Colonel. Detroit, 1891, held in conjunction with the Grand Encampment of the GAR. Eight-one members attendended. A roster published then listed a membership of 350, included two who had died during the previous year. One of those was surgeon A. F. Whelan. Battle Creek, 1903. Celebrated as the twentieth anniversary of the Association. The members in attendance then were well aware that Colonel DeLand lay close to the end, and a discussion of how to honor him in death took up a significant portion of the business meeting. (He died five days later.) Lansing, 1915, in which the First Michigan Sharpshooters Memorial was unveiled on the Capital grounds.

The 1932 reunion may have very well been the last, since the men mustered out fairly rapidly thereafter. According to Department of Michigan records, GAR, only five Sharpshooters still survived on 1 January 1936. They passed over as follows: Private Wrey Mitchel, at Flint, 10 May 1936. Private George H. Saxton, at Lansing, 15 July 1936. Musician Charles M. Stevens (Stephens), Battle Creek, 9 March 1937. Corporal Peter Stevens, at Kalamazoo, 5 September 1939. Private Cyrus Perrigo thereupon became the last living Sharpshooter. He passed on at Millington, on 9 December 1946.