66th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment

66th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Western Sharpshooters)
Active	November 23, 1861 to July 7, 1865
Country	United States
Allegiance	Union
Branch	Infantry (Sharpshooters)
Equipment	Dimick Long Rifle and Henry Repeating Rifle
Engagements	Battle of Mount Zion Church Battle of Roan's Tan Yard (Silver Creek) Battle of Fort Donelson Battle of Shiloh Battle of Phillips Creek Siege of Corinth Battle of Iuka Battle of Corinth Hatchie River Battle of Snake Creek Gap Battle of Resaca Battle of Lay's Ferry Battle of Rome Cross Roads Battle of New Hope Church Battle of Dallas Battle of Kennesaw Mountain Battle of Ruff's Mill Nickajack Creek Battle of Atlanta Siege of Atlanta Battle of Lovejoy's Station Battle of Jonesborough March to the Sea Battle of Eden Cross Roads Second Battle of Fort McAllister Carolinas Campaign Battle of Congaree Creek Battle of Bentonville

The 66th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Western Sharpshooters) originally known as Birge's Western Sharpshooters and later as the "Western Sharpshooters-14th Missouri Volunteers", was a specialized regiment of infantry sharpshooters that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was intended, raised, and mustered into Federal service as the Western Theater counterpart to Army of the Potomac's 1st and 2nd United States Volunteer Sharpshooters ("Berdan's Sharpshooters").

"Birge's Western Sharpshooters" was a multi-state, Federal unit organized at St. Louis, Missouri and mustered into federal service on November 23, 1861. Initially two companies were raised in Ohio, three in Illinois, one in Michigan, and four were organized at St Louis' Benton Barracks of Missourians and detachments of volunteer candidates sent by recruiting officers from Iowa, Minnesota and other western states, thus forming a regiment that represented every state in the west, a pet scheme of General John C. Fremont.

During the unit's existence it was re-designated first as the "Western Sharpshooters-14th Missouri Volunteers", and later re-designated again as the "66th Illinois Volunteer Infantry (Western Sharpshooters)". While federal and state authorities repeatedly changed the formal designation of the unit, the regiment was commonly referred to as the "Western Sharpshooters" (or simply "The Sharpshooters") for the duration of the war. After the war autographs by former members often included the appellation W.S.S.

Companies of the Western Sharpshooters

The regiment was envisioned as a specialized unit of marksmen and skirmishers, a Western Theater counterpart to Colonel Hiram Berdan's 1st and 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters (raised from multiple states under President Lincoln's patronage for service in the Eastern Theater). On August 28, 1861, Fremont authorized a St. Louis physician, John Ward Birge, to raise the regiment and muster recruits at Benton Barracks, St. Louis.

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