Original Item. Only One Available. This is a fantastic example of an original scarce Civil War Sharps Rifle cartridge box as used by the members of the 1st and 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters during the Civil War.

The box has a great U.S. Cartridge box plate on the front, and is in fair condition overall. The securing strap is unfortunately broken, and the brass knob is also completely missing, with a hole on the bottom of the box where it once was. This box retains the original tin insert. The tins were to hold the fragile sharps cartridges.

This is a really phenomenal cartridge box to have been used by one of the scarcest regiments of the Civil War. The Sharps rifle boxes are extremely more difficult to find than the carbine boxes. Comes ready for further research and display.

Notable sharpshooter units of the Civil War included the 1st and 2nd United States Volunteer Sharpshooter Regiment (USVSR), composed of companies provided by numerous (primarily eastern) Union states. The U.S.V.S.R. were organized by Colonel Hiram Berdan, a self-made millionaire who was reputed to be the best rifle marksman in the nation at that time.

There were also battalion size sharpshooter units including the Ohio Battalion SharpShooters, The First New York Battalion SharpShooters and the First Maine Battalion SharpShooters. Both the 1st and 2nd Company Massachusetts Sharpshooters saw extensive combat during the conflict. They were armed with heavy, custom target rifles and Sharps rifles during their service.

Common duties of sharpshooters included picket duty, scouting, and skirmishing. In some cases, they were placed at the front of columns to engage the enemy first. Their battlefield role could be misunderstood at times. At the Battle of Mine Run, one sharpshooter company was ordered to conduct a bayonet charge, even though they were equipped with rifles that were unable to take bayonets.

Berdan had promised the recruits extra pay and the finest target rifles, long-barreled .52 Sharps with telescopic sights. The extra pay never did materialize and the Army Ordnance Department refused to purchase the special rifles until Berdan persuaded Lincoln to intercede. When the 2nd Regiment arrived in Washington, they were told by 1st Regiment soldiers that U.S.S.S. stands for "Unfortunate Soldiers Sadly Sold." The soldiers hung an effigy of Berdan and blew it to bits with gunpowder. Terrified, the Colonel had his headquarters guarded by 1st Regiment Company A, composed of Swiss and German-born soldiers.