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Here is an explanation adapted from an article i wrote several months back on the topic. I hope you find it informative....
The term 'sniper' originally comes from 18th century English gamesmen and British army officers who were able to consistently hit the small, fast, and agile snipe(a European gamebird, very similar to the woodcock). The first recorded use of the word 'sniper' in a military context was penned by an English officer serving in india, in the year 1782.
The Ghilli suit, the preferred dress of snipers in the field, was originally developed by the wardens of the Scotish Highlands- or Ghilli's, some hundreds of years ago, somewhere about the middle of 16th Century(Depends who you ask).
Every US sniper makes his own Ghilli suit by hand, and it is one of the most prized possessions a sniper has. We are very proud of our Ghilli's, as each is a one of a kind item that the owner has spent hours and hours crafting many times over to suit his own ideals of camouflage for any given environment.
The US Sniper first came into being during the period of the Revolutionary war, on 14 June, 1775 when 10 company's of riflemen(remember, almost all weapons were smooth-bore muskets at this time) were authorized by the Continental Congress, and were subsequently used to harass British formations from long range, primarily as skirmishers.
They were not put to service in numbers until 1776 however, hence my tag line.
This was also the first time in the history of armed conflict that an offically organized 'sniper' corps was formed and employed. Though they would be known simply as marksmen or sharpshooter s for nearly 100 years to come.
While the range of the Brown Bess musket(Std British issue) was about 80-100 yds, the Pennsylvania long rifle could reach out to ranges well over 400 yds in the hands of a highly skilled American fronteirsman(600 meters was not unheard of).
The Pennsylvania long rifle is actually most commonly-but incorrectly- known, as the Kentucky long rifle.
This is because of the exploits of the Kentucky Volunteer Regiment at the battle of New Orleans, in the year 1815, during the War of 1812, while using the exquisite 5 foot long Pennsylvania rifles.
They were made by old world craftsman in Pennsylvania, but they were made famous by a bunch of boys from Kentucky.
The first British General to feel the impact(literally) of a US 'marksman' was General Simon Fraser, commander of British forces at the battle of Saratoga, 1777.
He was killed by a Pennsylvanian by the name of Tim Murphy, assigned to Morgan's Sharpshooter's, from a range in excess of 300 yards.
After the Battle of Boston, British General Lord Howe dubbed the Pennsylvania rifle as "The terrible gun of the rebels" in a letter to the King, so effective was the Pennsylvania long rifle in battle.
To counter the US sharpshooter s, the British formed a company of their own riflemen commanded by Captain Frederick Peterson, of the 70th Regiment Afoot.
Fittingly, he was killed by a US Sniper at the Battle of King's Mountain, in 1780.
This would be the Brit's only attempt to counter the US Snipers during the Revolutionary war.
This same man on the field of battle earlier, at the Battle of Brandywine creek, 1778, had the tremendous good fortune of finding General George Washington right in his sights, but while lining up his shot, Washington turned on his horse and rode off.
Ferguson later wrote that he could not bring himself to shoot a man in the back, and so history was forever changed.......
During the American Civil War, the US Sniper became the world's first artillery counter-battery weapon.
Early artillery tactics- Primarily developed dring the Napoleonic Wars- involved closing to within 300 yards of the enemy, and pouring concentrated cannister fire into his ranks.
When this tactic was repeated early in the Civil war, the US Snipers, fighting for either the North or South, took to systematicly killing every artilleryman in sight.
The result of this was to force enemy artilery to set up at much, much greater distances. Even at 700 yards they were not safe from snipers using early telescopic sights.
The abuse at the hands of enemy sniper's also served to seriously affect the morale of artillery troops throughout the war- on both sides.
An unwanted side effect of this success from the sniper's point of view was the fact that this made sniper's a favorite target of enemy artillery.
This is a cat and mouse game that continues to this day- Sniper vs Artilleryman.
It was the Confederates who first took to using small two man sniper teams, more out of a shortage of suitable British Kerr and Whitworth rifles, then any tactical advantadge or forethought.
This has also stuck however, as the standard US Sniper team is still two men, to this very day. One shooter, one spotter.
During the battle for Washington DC, President Abraham Lincoln was almost killed by a Confederate sniper of the 5th Alabama Regiment, but was saved by being heaved to the ground by a Union Officer after a surgeon standing three feet from Lincoln was shot dead through the heart by the unseen shooter. The Reb Sniper had mistaken Lincoln's entourage, inspecting the defenses of Washington, as members of the Union homegaurd, so he did not realize the opportunity he had just missed by shooting the doctor, instead of Lincoln.
Once again, a US Sniper had nearly rewritten world history with a single shot.....
It is the ability to engage a single key target with total discrimination from an unseen source that makes the Sniper so reviled on the battlefield- then as today.
The psychological impact of removing the literal head of the enemy at the moment your forces strike is profound. It leaves the opposing chain of command in confusion, and allows friendly forces to assault their objectives against a disorganized, leaderless enemy.
Operating independantly of the main body of forces, Sniper's can interdict supply routes, target key individuals or equipment for nuetralization, and wreak havoc with the enemy's morale.
The legendary USMC Sniper Gunnery Sargeant Carlos Hathcock was a prime example of this. He was so effective in terrifying the VC/NVA in his sector that a huge cash bounty was placed on his head by the North Vietnamese Gov't.
The same was true for Vasiliy Zaitsev, whose expliots at the Battle of Stalingrad during WWII are almost impossible to believe.
The most successful US Sniper to date that i know of is US Army Sgt Adelbert F. Waldron III, who is credited with 106 confirmed kills while operating in the Mekong Delta region of South Vietnam.
He is another guy that was just larger than life in the community.
During the Raid on Mogadishu in Somalia, 1993, it was two US Army Delta Force Snipers, Sgt's Shughart and Gordon who repeatedly volunteered to go in and secure crash site #2 against a converging crowd of thousands of Somali's.
After numerous requests they were finally inserted, and defended CWO3 Michael Durant and the bodies of the dead US soldiers there for hours- not minutes as was portrayed in the movie- until they were finally overrun, and killed.
For their actions Shughart and Gordon became the most recent recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Posthumously.
I hope i have answered your questions about the origin and early history of the US Sniper teams. And also perhaps why i am so proud- and protective- of the men i served with, and the mission we performed. They were and will always be my brothers.
--------------------
The term 'sniper' originally comes from 18th century English gamesmen and British army officers who were able to consistently hit the small, fast, and agile snipe(a European gamebird, very similar to the woodcock). The first recorded use of the word 'sniper' in a military context was penned by an English officer serving in india, in the year 1782.
The Ghilli suit, the preferred dress of snipers in the field, was originally developed by the wardens of the Scotish Highlands- or Ghilli's, some hundreds of years ago, somewhere about the middle of 16th Century(Depends who you ask).
Every US sniper makes his own Ghilli suit by hand, and it is one of the most prized possessions a sniper has. We are very proud of our Ghilli's, as each is a one of a kind item that the owner has spent hours and hours crafting many times over to suit his own ideals of camouflage for any given environment.
The US Sniper first came into being during the period of the Revolutionary war, on 14 June, 1775 when 10 company's of riflemen(remember, almost all weapons were smooth-bore muskets at this time) were authorized by the Continental Congress, and were subsequently used to harass British formations from long range, primarily as skirmishers.
They were not put to service in numbers until 1776 however, hence my tag line.
This was also the first time in the history of armed conflict that an offically organized 'sniper' corps was formed and employed. Though they would be known simply as marksmen or sharpshooter s for nearly 100 years to come.
While the range of the Brown Bess musket(Std British issue) was about 80-100 yds, the Pennsylvania long rifle could reach out to ranges well over 400 yds in the hands of a highly skilled American fronteirsman(600 meters was not unheard of).
The Pennsylvania long rifle is actually most commonly-but incorrectly- known, as the Kentucky long rifle.
This is because of the exploits of the Kentucky Volunteer Regiment at the battle of New Orleans, in the year 1815, during the War of 1812, while using the exquisite 5 foot long Pennsylvania rifles.
They were made by old world craftsman in Pennsylvania, but they were made famous by a bunch of boys from Kentucky.
The first British General to feel the impact(literally) of a US 'marksman' was General Simon Fraser, commander of British forces at the battle of Saratoga, 1777.
He was killed by a Pennsylvanian by the name of Tim Murphy, assigned to Morgan's Sharpshooter's, from a range in excess of 300 yards.
After the Battle of Boston, British General Lord Howe dubbed the Pennsylvania rifle as "The terrible gun of the rebels" in a letter to the King, so effective was the Pennsylvania long rifle in battle.
To counter the US sharpshooter s, the British formed a company of their own riflemen commanded by Captain Frederick Peterson, of the 70th Regiment Afoot.
Fittingly, he was killed by a US Sniper at the Battle of King's Mountain, in 1780.
This would be the Brit's only attempt to counter the US Snipers during the Revolutionary war.
This same man on the field of battle earlier, at the Battle of Brandywine creek, 1778, had the tremendous good fortune of finding General George Washington right in his sights, but while lining up his shot, Washington turned on his horse and rode off.
Ferguson later wrote that he could not bring himself to shoot a man in the back, and so history was forever changed.......
During the American Civil War, the US Sniper became the world's first artillery counter-battery weapon.
Early artillery tactics- Primarily developed dring the Napoleonic Wars- involved closing to within 300 yards of the enemy, and pouring concentrated cannister fire into his ranks.
When this tactic was repeated early in the Civil war, the US Snipers, fighting for either the North or South, took to systematicly killing every artilleryman in sight.
The result of this was to force enemy artilery to set up at much, much greater distances. Even at 700 yards they were not safe from snipers using early telescopic sights.
The abuse at the hands of enemy sniper's also served to seriously affect the morale of artillery troops throughout the war- on both sides.
An unwanted side effect of this success from the sniper's point of view was the fact that this made sniper's a favorite target of enemy artillery.
This is a cat and mouse game that continues to this day- Sniper vs Artilleryman.
It was the Confederates who first took to using small two man sniper teams, more out of a shortage of suitable British Kerr and Whitworth rifles, then any tactical advantadge or forethought.
This has also stuck however, as the standard US Sniper team is still two men, to this very day. One shooter, one spotter.
During the battle for Washington DC, President Abraham Lincoln was almost killed by a Confederate sniper of the 5th Alabama Regiment, but was saved by being heaved to the ground by a Union Officer after a surgeon standing three feet from Lincoln was shot dead through the heart by the unseen shooter. The Reb Sniper had mistaken Lincoln's entourage, inspecting the defenses of Washington, as members of the Union homegaurd, so he did not realize the opportunity he had just missed by shooting the doctor, instead of Lincoln.
Once again, a US Sniper had nearly rewritten world history with a single shot.....
It is the ability to engage a single key target with total discrimination from an unseen source that makes the Sniper so reviled on the battlefield- then as today.
The psychological impact of removing the literal head of the enemy at the moment your forces strike is profound. It leaves the opposing chain of command in confusion, and allows friendly forces to assault their objectives against a disorganized, leaderless enemy.
Operating independantly of the main body of forces, Sniper's can interdict supply routes, target key individuals or equipment for nuetralization, and wreak havoc with the enemy's morale.
The legendary USMC Sniper Gunnery Sargeant Carlos Hathcock was a prime example of this. He was so effective in terrifying the VC/NVA in his sector that a huge cash bounty was placed on his head by the North Vietnamese Gov't.
The same was true for Vasiliy Zaitsev, whose expliots at the Battle of Stalingrad during WWII are almost impossible to believe.
The most successful US Sniper to date that i know of is US Army Sgt Adelbert F. Waldron III, who is credited with 106 confirmed kills while operating in the Mekong Delta region of South Vietnam.
He is another guy that was just larger than life in the community.
During the Raid on Mogadishu in Somalia, 1993, it was two US Army Delta Force Snipers, Sgt's Shughart and Gordon who repeatedly volunteered to go in and secure crash site #2 against a converging crowd of thousands of Somali's.
After numerous requests they were finally inserted, and defended CWO3 Michael Durant and the bodies of the dead US soldiers there for hours- not minutes as was portrayed in the movie- until they were finally overrun, and killed.
For their actions Shughart and Gordon became the most recent recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Posthumously.
I hope i have answered your questions about the origin and early history of the US Sniper teams. And also perhaps why i am so proud- and protective- of the men i served with, and the mission we performed. They were and will always be my brothers.
--------------------
(aka CENTCOM). I came here from Ft. Meade, where I worked on Iraq at NSA for three years. Which is why I have so much to say about the matter, and why I tend to lose patience with other folks' particularly ludicrous posts on it.
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