The test posed to the men of the Second Company of Minnesota Sharpshooters consisted of placing 10 consecutive shots within a target 20 inches in diameter at a range of 200 yards.
The Army of the Potomac had launched the Peninsula Campaign and made its way to Yorktown, Virginia, when the Second Company reported to Colonel Berdan at Camp Winfield Scott.
While stationed with the rest of the 1st United States Sharpshooters Regiment the Second Company received advanced training in skirmish formations before seeing its first action at Hanover Court House on May 27.
A tactical blunder exposed the regiment's flanks at a position known as “the West Woods.” As a result, the opposing Confederates under the command of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson released a three-sided torrent of fire against the men of Company L. The walls of lead cut down roughly half the men of the company resulting in a casualty list which included four of the eight Northfielders.
When the two armies collided at Gettysburg, Company L and the rest of the 1st Minnesota Infantry was assigned to Major General Winfield Scott Hancock’s II Corps.
The company continued to serve even after the expiration of the 1st Minnesota Infantry's term in May 1864, fighting in the battles at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg.
Following Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865, the battalion took part in the Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac in Washington DC and mustered out in Louisville, Kentucky, on July 15, 1865.