Uniform of a First Lieutenant
U.S. Volunteers 1^st Sharpshooters Rifle Company

This is the unusual uniform of a Sharpshooter Rifle Company Officer. Col. Hiram Berdan (Berdan primer) conceived the idea of a Sharpshooter Regiment consisting entirely of men who passed rigorous marksmanship testing. The enlisted men wore forest green coats. The officers wore green fields on their straps. And had the letter ?R? for rifle on their uniform buttons (all branches used this feature. ?I? for infantry, ?C? for cavalry and ?A? for artillery). The creation of such a unit was a far thinking idea. Camouflage and snipers are concepts heavily exploited in the military usually with very telling results. This is truly a rare uniform as there were only a handful of such officers