I'll jump in here and somebody will probably tell me I'm full of hickorynuts, But the term sharpshooters as used in military terms in the 1860's had very little to do with marksmanship skills. We have a misconceptions today that the word sharpshooters implyed what would be called "snipers" today.

The term is use primarily in southern units. Now I am aware that there were the Berdan Sharpshooters which did at the orginal foundation require a measure of shooting abilities, but that was rather rare. This is some of the reason we misunderstand the term "Sharpshooter".

In actual usage the Sharpshooters Units, even the famed Berdan Sharpshooters, were "professional" Skirmishers and guards. This was a hazardous duty which required many skills including being a fairly good shot. But, outside of the Berdan Sharpshooters, I am not aware of any marksmanship qualifications, in southern units.

Maybe southern men could just shoot better anyway since a lot of them were hunters and outdoorsman. Maybe marksmanship was just a factor that was assumed to always be presnt in southerners. And history generally proves that the southern army, in general, were better shots. In any case, these units were generally made up of just regular men, sometimes entire companies of men from various units, that were trained in the skills of preforming the duties as Skirmishers. For example the Palmetto South Carolina Sharpshooters, which my GGrandfather was a member, was made up of entire companies from 3 different South Carolina regiment, which chose to disband in the Spring reorganization of 1862. This regiment had 12 companies instead of the usual 10.

Skirmishing was very dangerous duty because it always involved your skirmisher against the other guys skirmisher. Also you had to know how to get out from between the opposing armies main battlelines without getting shot by your own side, when the real fight started. In many engagements the main battlelines were never involved, but there would be very heated battles between the opposing lines of Skirmishers.

While all of the army was supposed to be trained in Skirmishing and could do the duty. It was determined that certain units could be formed to do a better job. After all the Skirmishers in the advance were the shock troops of the army. The first to engage the enemy skirmishers. And if they (the enemy skirmishers)could be driven into the enemys own battlelines that could be the thing which caused confusion in the enemy ranks and tipped the tide of battle in your favor. This was something that you wanted to avoid if your enemy attacked you.