Gentlemen:

Concerning the Enfield and possible small bore and sharpshooter designed configurations of it. Could I get your informed and enlightened opinions on the rifle-musket appearing in the famous "Devil's Den Sharpshooter" or "Sharpshooter's Last Home" photo from Gettysburg.

SEE the following web site for links to photos (one huge 20MB tiff likely the best for perusal and enlargement):

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cwar:@field
(NUMBER+@band(ppmsc+00171))
NOTE: the above is divided into two rows of text -- both would need to be copied and pasted into the URL window to access this page

or for direct link to 20MB tiff:
http://memory.loc.gov/master/pnp/cwpb/04300/04337u.tif

This photo, taken by Timothy O'Sullivan and another of Alexander Gardner's photo assistants has been the subject of much debate and discussion (See interesting articles by Frassanito [books] and Groves [online]).

My question is: could the rifle in the photo be one of these "sharpshooter" or smaller cal. Enfields -- or is it the standard Enfield based upon your perusal?

Frank Coffman
Prof. of English and Journalism (Rock Valley [IL] College)
amateur historian with lines from both Union and Confederate soldiers
keen interest in the history of photojournalism
fcoffman@pobox.com OR dfcoffman@sbcglobal.net