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Actually Blackford commanded a unit of about 250 men pulled from the five regiments of Rodes'--O'Neal's brigade (3rd 5th 6th 12th 26th Alabama). These were brigade, not division, sharpshooters. Blackford did, however, eventually command Rodes' division sharpshooters but these were not formed until the spring of 1864. In the retreat from Gettysburg Rodes gave Blackford command of the five sharpshooter battalions of his division, but this was a temporary arrangement.

I'm working on a book on the subject now, and I think we can definitely say that Rodes and Blackford were first with the idea of the sharpshooter battalions. In 1864 Lee adopted the idea for the entire ANV.

Just as a historical note, these were very similar to the "storm trooper" battalions used by the Germans in late WWI.