66th Illinois Infantry Regiment
MILITARY UNIT
14th Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment; Western sharpshooters; 66th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment
The 66th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Western Sharpshooters)By late December 1863, 470 Sharpshooters had reenlisted, far above the 3/4 percentage required to allow the unit to be awarded the "Veteran" designation: Barker, With the Western Sharpshooters, p 170The Regiment was officially allowed to maintain the WSS name as part of their official Illinois name after a request from Col Burke to Gov Yates: Illinois State Archives, Illinois Adjutant General's Office Civil War Records, Records Group 301.18, Burke letter of Jan 8, 1863 originally known as Birge's Western Sharpshooters and later as the "Western Sharpshooters-14th Missouri Volunteers",During the units Missouri incarnation, state officials allowed the "Western Sharpshooters" name to predominate in the unit title, using the WSS-14th MO arrangement in orders, official correspondence and Commissions: MO State Archives, Records of the Adjt Gen, Records Group 133The Sharpshooters were never officially known by the WSS alone, they were must