Edward Wallace Bird posted a letter to Horace Kephart on April 29, 1898 from Fairmont Minnesot seeking advice on how to outfit and organize a company of sharpshooters from his hometown to participate in the Spanish American War. This was a unique proposal because the Berdan Sharpshooters of the Union Army had only pioneered this model of warfare within the past 50 years. It is possible that Bird was inspired this direction by the publication “Shooting and Fishing,” in which Horace Kephart had placed an advertisement to raise a similar company of select marksmen. The war was over before either company could form, train, and muster. However, the letter offers a unique look at the perspective of a northerner on the Civil War and insight into the most modern rifle technology of the day.