THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 18, 1995 TAG: 9506170089
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 25 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
``Shooting'' is what they do.
But, even if they're only aiming at clay tiles and targets, the Dismal Swamp Rangers try hard to live up to the reputation of the 19th century group whose name they took.
A championship modern skirmish group, the Rangers are the team to beat at many national shooting events as well as most regional competitions.
The original Rangers were Civil War heroes, a militia unit of Norfolk County men whose first duty was at the Naval Shipyard on the day the Federal government burned and abandoned it.
From the shipyard, the Rangers moved to the Naval Hospital before going on to many of the major battle sites of the Civil War including Manassas, Harpers Ferry and Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg before surrender at Appomattox.
Today's Rangers are one of 185 teams that make up the North-South Skirmish Association. The association owns a 400-acre ranch near Winchester, the site of many competitive shooting events including the nationals. In addition to musket events, there are carbine, revolver, cannon and mortar events.
The Rangers have 29 members who live in Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Disputanta, Gloucester and Elizabeth City, N.C. Their ages vary from the newest member, 16-year-old Daniel Moody, to their oldest member, 76-year-old Red Taylor of Portsmouth.
Sgt. Maj. John Sharrett of Suffolk, who has headed the team for the past four years, started shooting 35 years ago when he was 16.
``I was playing football at Westhaven (in Portsmouth) and I bought a Remington rifle I ordered for $19,'' Sharrett said. ``My coach was a member of the Independent Grays of Portsmouth. Most people who do this have some curiosity about the Civil War.''
Sharrett's ancestors were Yankee soldiers but he wears the uniform of the Dismal Swamp Rangers. He helped organize the 20th century Rangers in 1962.
``The competition keeps you going,'' Sharrett, a retired C&P telephone company employee, said. ``The friendships you form and the history you learn make it worthwhile.'' MEMO: AT A GLANCE
The Dismal Swamp Rangers have been the National Musket Champions for
six of the past 10 years but came in second recently to the Washington
Blue Rifles. They also have were the National Carbine champions in 1990
and 1992.
In regional competition, they have been the musket champions for 15
consecutive years and the carbine winners for seven consecutive years.
Since August of 1988, they have won 52 of 53 skirmishes held in the
Tidewater Region. by CNB