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North-South Skirmish Nationals
They are as authentic as re-enactors, but when the units representing the North and the South meet at Fort Shenandoah, there are titles at stake. They are skirmishers, shooting targets against the clock, with Muskets, Carbines, Mortars and Cannons! They are the collectors and shooters keeping our Civil War history alive.
There are hundreds of thousands of people in this country who find Civil War History to be fascinating.
There are thousands who collect artifacts and firearms from the war and thousands more who dress the part and participate in re-enactments every year, playing the roles of soldiers and generals from the North and the South. But within that vast group of Americans attracted to the history of the war, there is a group that is quite different from re-enactors. They are skirmishers who are every bit as authentic in their uniforms and the in the units they represent, but they are shooters who meet on the range to compete.
The firing line at the skirmishers’ National competition is the longest in the world under one tower’s control. Over four hundred shooters are on the line at one time with twelve hundred more waiting their turn.
The guns must be Civil War originals or historically accurate reproductions, and some of them were actually used in the war. Some are highly prized antiques. Most are reproductions, made to look and shoot just like the originals. But a skirmish is more than a historic display, it’s competition among shooters who take it very seriously.
Rifles and smoothbores aim at clay targets, or pieces of ceramic tile, hung up 50 or 100 yards. A unit on the line shoots together, against the clock. The winning unit will clear all their targets first.
Mortars shoot at stakes in the ground, 100 yards from the firing line. The winner will be the team with their balls closest to the stake.
The cannons shoot 200 yards, with the targets pasted on sheets of drywall, just so you know when you hit one.
You can’t join the skirmishers by yourself, you have to sign up with one of more than two-hundred local units, or organize a unit one of your own. Each skirmish unit accurately represents a unit from the war, keeping the history alive to be experienced at Fort Shenandoah in Virginia.
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