Much appreciated. I suspect, then, that the outfit I mentioned, the "Essex Sharp Shooters" of Essex County, VA, either were unaware of the background or were sufficiently determined to stress their interpretation and usage that they had the three brass letters made for themselves as distinctive insignia (before becoming "lost" in the 55th Virginia Infantry). (And, yes, the German does equate to "sharpshooter." I had forgotten about that. But, given the German practice of stringing together long "compound words," I'm not sure how it was meant.)