RICA'

DISTINGUISHED

MARKSMEN

While much has changed in the competitive shooting world since the days of the trapdoor Springfield, marksmen in this country still strive to become members of the same elite club.

BY SUE ANN SANDUSKY

WHEN Sgt. Cyrus Clark took his Springfield .45-70 down

from his -

shoulder, the last wisps of smoke fading in the breeze as the final shot was delivered to its mark 600 yds. away on the range at Ft. Leavenworth in October 1882, he might have been calculating how the gold medal ,,. ... --..,,

he'd just won would look on his uniform.

As he cleaned his rifle and received the handshakes of the other competitors, he might have been thinking that the excursion to Kansas for the first Army shooting championship was a nice break from fighting the Nez Perce Indians out in Washington Territory where he was stationed at Ft. Walla Walla with B Troop, 1st U.S. Cavalry.

But whatever was on the soldier's mind, it's certain he couldn't have guessed his skill would have left an imprint on military shooting 109 years later. Yet it was on account of the likes of Sgt. Clark and a handful of other Army "crack shots" of a century ago that

Gen. Phil Sheridan created a class of "distinguished marksmen," and began a tradition that

today still denotes the pinnacle of excellence in military marksmanship.

The Army's rifle marksmanship pro-

gram was really in its infancy in the 1880s.

With the organization of the National Rifle Association in New York in 1871 and the first NRA matches at Creedmoor, Long Island, a number of Army \_1Ii!I~~"-=, officers stationed near I New York City be-

rr / gan taking an inter-

,/ est in "target practice," as the enterprise was commonly called.

The Army engineers at Ft. Totten helped construct the nearby Creedmoor range, and they competed in the early NRA matches. Troops at the Army's Atlantic Division Headquar-

ters on Governor's Island in New York harbor, under the command of Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, entered the NRA championships in 1875.

On the other side of the continent, Gen. Edward O.c.

~~ Ord, commander of the Depart-

<, ./' L ment of California, ordered his

troops to weekly rifle training in the early l870s. The best shot at each post was excused

36

AMERICAN RIFLEMAN

from a tour of guard or fatigue duty after each practice, and the worst shot was awarded a green leather medal at the next company parade-perhaps contributing to the shooting expression, "first leather," stiiJ used today to mean the highest scoring competitor not winning a medal or earning credit toward the Distinguished badge.

But the Distinguished badge was still a ways off in the 1870s, and in the rest of the Army there were but pockets of interest in rifle shooting.

The NRA tried to drum up interest in 1878 by sponsoring the "international Military Match." Open to teams of 12 from each of the divisions of the U.S. Army-Atlantic, Missouri and Pacific-the U.S. Navy, the National Guard or uniformed militia of each state and territory, and teams from similar categories from other countries, the competition was an ambitious undertaking. At the urging of Gen. Hancock, New York state judge Henry Hilton donated a magnificent silver and bronze shield as the prize. Army club teams representing the divisions were permitted to participate. The Atlantic Division squad finished third, behind National Guard entries from New York and Massachusetts, while the Missouri Division team came in fifth. The Pacific riflemen arrived too late to shoot.

The next year the Army adopted a new set of rifle firing regulations, patterned closely on the course of instruction written by NRA founder Gen. George W. Wingate for the New York National Guard. For the first time, the Army had standard targets, prescribed firing positions, a uniform system of rifle qualification and mandatory monthly practice.

By 1880 the new program started to payoff as an Army team from the Division of the Missouri returned to Creedmoor and won the Hilton Shield. Hancock's election as NRA president in January 1881 appeared to confirm that the Army was moving into the vanguard of competitive marksmanship.

MAY 1991

The Distinguished Rifleman Badge was created by the Army 104 years ago. Since that time, nearly 5,300 marksmen have earned the highly sought after prize.

But then disaster struck. Major budget cuts kept Army teams out of the Creedmoor matches in 1881. The Hilton Shield was packed up and shipped back to the NRA, not to be defended by the men in Army blue.

Partially to make up for this sad development, the Army instituted its own system of championship rifle competitions that year. Annual department and division championships were authorized. The best marksmen from each company, battery or troop in each of the Army's departmentsEast, South, Texas, Missouri, Platte, Dakota, Columbia, California and Arizona---contested for a place on the 12-man department teams that competed in the division matches.

In alternate years starting in 1882, an all-Army championship gathered 12 of the Army's premier riflemen-two out of the Atlantic Division, three from the Pacific, six from the Missouri and one

This century-old line engraving of Sgt. George Doyle, 1888 Military Champion of the U.S., depicts the Distinguished badge as correctly worn with additional medals.

37

liberality of the War Department in providing so many artistic and costly medals and other rewards, for successful efforts on the part of officers and soldiers, has been a powerful and healthy stimulus to the steady improvement of the Army in skillful marksmanship. Being an expert shot leaves noth-

ing wanting to the perfection of the modern soldier. The bullet that unerringly attains its object fully repays all the expense and labor that makes it possible."

But by 1884 it also appeared there were some perennial winners in the ranks-Sgt. Clark among them. In addition to winning a gold medal at the first Army champion-

ship, Clark had taken similar honors at the Pacific Division competitions in both 1882 and 1883 and the Columbia Department championship in 1883. While he and the other repeat-medalists were certainly to be commended, the Am1Y's leadership saw the impor-

tance of getting new blood onto the teams.

Phil Sheridan, the famed Civil War field commander and then the commanding general of the Army (and later to become the ninth president of the NRA), observed it was possible that these "splendid riflemen ... will continue indefinitely to represent their companies and carry off all prizes offered. This is very disheartening to others scarcely inferior in skill..."

from the Battalion of Engineers, for a three-day shoot, preceded by several practice days.

On each match day, all competitors, using the Model 1873 Springfield breechloading service rifle with a 6-lb. trigger pull and standard issue service ammo, fired one seven-shot string at each ranO"e-200 yds. standing, 300 yds, kneeling and 600° yds, lying down in any position within the rules, which included such exotic configurations as the "Laidley" and the "Fulton" positions and the "Texas grip," along with the more familiar prone. At 200 and 300 yds.,

TR,IPLE iOlSTINGUISHED SHOOTERS

BRANCff RIFLE PISTOl:. INT'I:.
USMC 1929' 1921 1924
USA 1904 1955 1962
USMC 1970 1978 1963
IJSA 1988 1970 1977
USA 197() 1967 1971
USA 1961 1962 1966
USN 1970 1964 1974
LJSMC 191,6 1923 1920
USA 1964 197i 1970
USMC 1964 1986 1962
USA 1923 1922 1924
USMC 1954- 1950 1962
USAF 1960. 1956 1963
USAR 1965' 1983 1967
USMC 1938 1939 1954
USAF 1977 1967 1967
USA 1923 1922 1924
USMC 1930 1940 1930
USAF 1972 1962 1967
US.Me 1935 1935 1952
USMC 1982 1981 1977
USN 1965 1982 1977
Civilian 196.4 1964 1977 Henry M.Bailey

WilliamB. Blankenship, Jr. David I. Boyd

Kenneth Buster

Hezsklah L. Clark, .Jr. Frederick P. Dean

Herbert B .. DeLong, III Morris Fisher

Barbara J. Hile

James E. Hill

Sidney R. Hinds, Sr. William W. McMillan William Mellon

Bruce Meredith

T.R. Mitcheli

Rhody Nornberg

George A. Rehm

Emmet O. Swanson Arnold Vltarbo

Walter R. Walsh

Mark Willis

Webster Wright,. Jr.

Darius Young

During last year's National Matches, 740 pistol competitors sought to win a "leg" toward becoming Distinguished Pistol Shots.

five-point bullseye was a black circle 8" in diameter. The first white ring, known as the "center" and worth four points, was 26" across. The "inner" or three-point ring was 46". A hit anywhere on the remainder of the 4x6 ft. target was called an "outer" and worth two points. At 600 yds., the target was 6 ft. square with a 22" bullseye and center and inner rings of 38" and 54" respectively.

An expensive prize schedule was adopted. Gold and silver medals, some designed by Tiffany and Co. of New York and struck at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, were awarded to the winners at the various levels. With a monetary value of up to $200, the medals were genuine treasures.

They were authorized for wear upon all dress occasions at a time when a soldier's uniform was somewhat drab, the Medal of Honor and the various Civil War Army Corps badges being the only other decorations permitted.

As top riflemen throughout the Army were gearing up for the second Army championships in 1884, the Chief of Ordnance was able to report: "The

To solve this problem, General Orders 12, issued Feb. 20, 1884, from the Headquarters of the Army in Washington, established the class of Distinguished Marksmen: "Hereafter, all' duly qualified marksmen in the Army will be considered eligible for selection to attend annual department competitions; but whenever any marksman has been three times a member of a department team or has won

38

AMERICAN RIFLEMAN

any three of the authorized prize medals, he will be announced in general orders from these headquarters as belonging to a distinguished class no longer eligible to compete for these honors without special permission from the Commanding General of the Army."

Clark and 14 others were transferred to the distinguished class in General Orders 24, March 28, 1884, with these words conveying Gen. Sheridan's sentiments: "The Lieutenant General Commanding takes this occasion to congratulate those who have so repeatedly won a distinction which could scarcely have been attained without possessing all those qualities which combine to make a perfect soldier. He hopes in passing from the list of competitors for those honors their places may be taken by others inspired by an ambition to win promotion to the highest class now open to members of rifle teams."

MAY 1991

Gen. Sheridan's hopes surely have been exceeded. Scores of thousands have been inspired by that ambition over the last century, and 3,800 soldiers have earned the coveted title-along with over 1,600 Marines, about 400 sailors and Coast Guardsmen, almost 500 airmen and nearly 1,800 civilians.

It's unlikely, however, that the Army's top riflemen enjoyed sitting on the sidelines in "distinguished" retirement after G.O. 24 came out. So it's hardly surprising to find a new competition, exclusively for Distinguished Marksmen, inaugurated in 1887 to alternate with the biennial Army championships. In that year, too, the first Distinguished badges were issued.

The design of the badge was strikingly similar to the centerpiece of a medal manufactured by New York jeweler Jens Pedersen for the Dakota Department's marksmanship competition in 1885, on orders of Capt. Stanhope Blunt, the department's inspector of rifle practice. Blunt was shortly to tum up in the Ordnance Department's Washington office, rewriting the Army's rit1e regulations. Elliptical targetswere among the changes in Army practice adopted with Blunt's Instructions in Rit1e and Carbine Firing for the United States Army.

Such a

target, fabricated of a black and white enamel, appeared on the first Distin-

continued on p.92

Soon after he became the Army's chief commander, Phil Sheridan, NRA's ninth president, moved to salute "distinguished marksmen."

39

continued from p.39

Distinguished Marksmen

guished badges. Also made by Pedersen, who improved the original design by adding stars and stripes to the shield bearing the initials "U.S." surmounting the suspension bar, these badges were 16-pennyweights (0.8 oz.) of 14-karat gold. They cost the Ordnance Department $20 each. Sixty were delivered at the end of June 1887 and 10 more in October.

The Distinguished Pistol Shot badge appeared in 1903, the year separate pistol competitions were introduced at the Army championships. Army pistol competitions had been held in conjunction with department and division cavalry championships as early as 1889. These championships involved carbine and revolver events, the latter including both mounted and dismounted firing with either the Colt Single-Action Army or the Smith & Wesson cavalry six-shooter.

From 1889 until 1903 there was no special Distinguished designation for pistol firing, but rather medals and credits-"Iegs" in shooters' parlanceearned in cavalry revolver championships were counted along with rit1e and carbine legs for the Distinguished Marksman badge. Conflictingly, however, Director of Civilian Marksmanship records date the Distinguished pistol award to 1891.

The Navy and Marine Corps began presenting Distinguished badges to their top shooters around the turn of the century. Beginning in 1923, civilians who had earned credit toward the award while in the service were permitted to shoot in designated matches in order to try to "leg out." Three years later, all civilians were permitted to shoot for the badges.

Modem shooters will recognize the badges have changed little over the years. The Army abandoned the elliptical target in 1903 and replaced it on the Distinguished Marksman badge soon thereafter. In 1959 the Army changed the designation from Distinguished Marksman to Distinguished Rit1eman and replaced the shield and scrollwork on the suspension bar of both badges with the words "U.S. Army." Civilians' badges, issued by the National Board for the Promotion of Rit1e Practice, still use the original design.

Although the course of fired used in "leg matches" has changed many times, there is still much Sgt. Clark and other Distinguished Marksmen of yore would recognize. Perhaps most of all, they would recognize the desire for excellence which marks all those who strive to become Distinguished shooters. •

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AMERICAN RIFLEMAN