Tom,
Thanks for a very informative post. It's a subject I find very interesting. I noticed from Bill's post that Pindall's Sharpshooter Battalion did engage itself as brigade skirmishers at Helena. So it looks like they were taking their specialized duties seriously, and not just acting like an infantry battalion with a "sharpshooter" designation.
Are you aware of any instance in the Trans-Mississippi where highly accurate, specialized rifles were used for sniping purposes during a battle (to pick off officers, use against batteries, etc.)? You hear about that occasionally east of the Mississippi River, but I'm not sure if I've ever heard of a case like that in Arkansas.
Allan