Q: What is General William T. Sherman’s Bodyguard?
A: Gen. William T. Sherman’s Bodyguard for 32 years has been a team in the North-South Skirmish Association. Each N-SSA team attempts to honor the memory of a unit, be it Federal or Confederate, which actually served in the Civil War.

The Bodyguard recalls the service of the Seventh Independent Company of Ohio Sharp Shooters, raised in Cleveland in 1863 and assigned to the Mississippi (Western)Theater. From 1864 onward, it served as the personal protection company for Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman -- thus the name. Our members live throughout Ohio, from Alliance to Sandusky, South Euclid to Copley and Cleveland to Cincinnnati. We’re always looking for folks interested in the War of the Rebellion (Civil War to northerners) who like to stand on their two hind feet and shoot.

Q: What is this Skirmishing?
A: Skirmishing is a team sport. The object of which is to break a set number of targets in the shortest possible time, using either original Civil War firearms (now rare) or approved reproductions. Across the N-SSA, shooters compete with revolvers, carbines, muskets, breechloading repeaters (Henrys, Spencers, etc.), smoothbores, mortars and cannon. The Bodyguard regularly fields teams in revolver (four shooters), carbine (five shooters) musket (eight shooters) and smoothbore (three shooters). The minimum firearm requirement for membership in any unit is the possession of an N-SSA approved musket for the musket competition, which is the core event of the N-SSA.

Skirmishes usually last all day Saturday and Sunday morning. Some folks arrive and set up camp late Friday, others roll in early Saturday morning.

Saturday morning and early afternoon the range usually is open for "individuals" — bulls-eye paper-target shooting at 50-yards and 100-yards. Targets are official N-SSA targets, and are sold for $1 each or sold at the site by the host team as both a convenience and a fundraiser for the host team. You may shoot as many targets as you have time for. High scorers in individuals win medals and other bragging rights. Even without winning, skirmishers find the individuals competition an excellent "warm-up" time to determine just where their musket/carbine/revolver is shooting on that given day.

Saturday afternoon is the Carbine Match: five-member teams shooting usually five, sometimes six, relays of a maximum of five minutes each at such breakable targets as clay pigeons mounted on a 4-foot x 8-foot cardboard backer, hanging wooden blocks, hanging clay flowerpots, etc. These targets are assembled by team members immediately before each match from components supplied by the host team. Targeting, like shooting, is a team sport. All members are expected to participate in the assembling of the targetry, as well as the cleanup that follows the match. Many hands make light the work.

The object is to be the fastest team — to break all your targets in the least elapsed time. Stopwatches, controlled by your competitors, determine this. The best teams finish each event in less than a minute.

Afterwards, Bodyguard members usually break bread together, either at a reasonably priced restaurant or around the campfire stewpot. Many members camp overnight at the range, enjoying cigars and spirits around the fire. Others stay in nearby motels.

Musket Competition (8 members on a team) start about 9 a.m. on Sunday morning, right after the Opening Ceremonies which include a Call to Colors and the playing of The Star-Spangled Banner and Dixie. The Musket course of fire is similar to that of the Carbine Competition, only with more targets in each event, which reflects the increased number of team members. It is generally all over by noon, and everyone is homeward-bound by 1 p.m. or so.

Rules require that, in addition to using an original or approved reproduction firearm, competitors come to the firing line in the uniform of their unit. For the Bodyguard, that means, at minimum: a dark green shirt, uniform pants, footwear, kepi or slouch hat, and leather accoutrements including a cap pouch, cartridge box and belt. In addition, we may wear vests and/or sack coats, and carry haversacks, canteens, appropriate bayonets or knives, and any other authentic, authorized uniform accoutrement.

Q: What does all this cost?
A: Thought you’d never ask. The initial outlay for musket, uniform and leather goods will range from $700 to $1,000. Further, you’ll almost certainly get into bullet casting, since each member fires close to 1,000 rounds a season from each firearm used. That will mean acquiring lead, a lead pot, bullet molds and sizing dies.

But don’t let the initial costs put you off. If you are a re-enactor, you already have almost all the equipment you will need. If you're a totally "fresh fish", team members will be able to lend you some of the basics until you can get your own.

Q: Are there any dues?
A: Each member pays $50 annual team dues and $55 annual National dues. Much of the National dues goes to provide and maintain our 350-acre central home range and campground, Fort Shenandoah, just north of Winchester, Virginia. Twice a year, in mid-May and early October, some 4,000 or so skirmishers, plus their families and friends, from around the country gather there for Nationals -- four days of competition, companionship and sutler-shopping that has to be experienced to be fully appreciated. The dues also cover publication of The Skirmish Line, the official magazine of the N-SSA.

Q: How do we select members?
A: Since what we do involves the live fire, as well as the deft handling, of loaded guns and black powder in the heat of competition, we tend to be a bit careful about the people we invite to join us. We like to meet candidates, invite them to watch a skirmish or two, get to know them a bit, get a couple of references to check out, then vote on their membership. Prospective members are not judged by their income, social or job status – we have white collar, as well as blue collar and greasy-collared people on our team. We just want to know if you are safe with a loaded gun, and if your temperament allows you to occasionally laugh at yourself rather than slam your musket to the ground and stomp off when, for no reason you can fathom, you have just missed every bird on the board.

Nor are we a guys-only team. We welcome women shooters, under the same requirements as listed above.

The Bodyguard is NOT a grim-faced, lock-jawed, win-at-any-cost group -- as is evident by where we finish in the standings! (That's a joke, folks.) But we are family oriented (spouses and kids often come along), conversational, convivial and, above all, safety-minded. Nobody on the Bodyguard is about to walk away from Nationals with the top individual medal, but we give it what we’ve got, and we have finished in the medals there from time to time.

Q: Where do y’all shoot between skirmishes?
A: Most of us hold memberships at various private shooting ranges around the region. Others have their own backyard ranges where they practice. We do not have a team practice range. We do, however, have a team Ordnance Sergeant, Steve Jencso, who just happens to be one of the top gunsmiths in the N-SSA. He can tune your musket lock, help you with sight adjustments, and answer at least some of the 1,001 questions that new skirmishers have about the sport.

Q: How do I reach you for more details?
A: If you'd like to meet us, call either Sergeant Major Eric Schuessler (Commander), at (330) 278-4815, or First Sergeant Mike McCloskey, at (330) 666-8062, after 7 p.m. most any evening. We’ll answer whatever questions we can and get you directions to the next Regional Skirmish, so you can meet us and see just what this sport is like up close, where you can smell the sulfur and watch the targets shatter.