Hi Art & Jim -

Wonder if any of these Tenn. sharpshooters in Archer's Brigade might have been "squirrel barkers"...???

Nothing to do with making noises to attract squirrels, but rather the ability to knock squirrels (food) out of trees by shooting the bark away that supports them.

If one hits a squirrel dead-on, there is not much meat left, hence the learned skill of "barking squirrels".

I read about this in a history of the "Land Between The Rivers" (modern day Land Between The Lakes aka LBL). Apparently this skill of barking squirrels was something highly valued by menfolk living there in Stewart County between the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. Suspect it was a valued skill throughout large parts of the South....

Can provide the ref if anyone is interested; let me know...

y.o.s.,

Ken