Guns International #: 101210034
Seller's Inventory #: 8610

Category - Civil War Carbines - Sharps Rifles - Antique

Category
Civil War Carbines
Sharps Rifles - Antique

ICONIC “BEECHER’S BIBLE” Range Slant Breech SHARPS

Description:

ICONIC “BEECHER’S BIBLE” Range Slant Breech SHARPS

Famous for John Brown’s Raids in Kansas & Harpers Ferry

Here we present an antique Sharps Model 1853 Slant Breech Saddle Ring Carbine manufactured in Hartford, Connecticut, between 1853 and 1854. This model is also known as the "John Brown Sharps" or "Beecher's Bible" because it was used by anti-slavery forces in the bloodshed leading up to Kansas statehood, commonly known as "Bleeding Kansas", and the American Civil War. Over 900 of these Sharps Carbines were named for abolitionist preacher Henry Ward Beecher after an article was written about him February 8, 1856 in the New York Tribune, saying that Beecher “believed that the Sharps Rifle was a truly moral agency, and that there was more moral power in one of those instruments, so far as the slaveholders of Kansas were concerned, than in a hundred Bibles. You might just as well read the Bible to Buffaloes as to those fellows who follow Atchison and Stringfellow; but they have a supreme respect for the logic that is embodied in Sharp's rifle.” Money was raised through his efforts and the New England Emigrant Aid Society to purchase these arms, smuggle and distribute them to abolitionists in Kansas. This carbine falls within a range of serial numbers from a survey of 400 Sharps Carbines that have been identified by Frank Sellers in his book Sharps Firearms. This one is numbered 12950 and a recorded example from crate #320 is 12946.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed the two territories to decide the issue of slavery by a popular vote. The fight in Kansas was so intense that the state earned the nickname of “Bleeding Kansas”. The Sharps Carbines that were purchased by the Emigrant Aid Society were packed in crates labeled “Bibles” so they would not arouse suspicion. In 1856, after abolitionists were attacked in Lawrence, Kansas, John Brown led a raid on scattered cabins along the Pottawatomie Creek, killing five vocal proslavery men with swords. He then made a test run of a larger plan that he was about to set in motion when he raided several farms in Missouri, taking their slaves and staying just ahead of those hunting them as they hid and quickly made their way through Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa before making a train to Chicago. From there the fugitives were ushered to Detroit where they crossed into Windsor. The first run a success, his plan was to do the same: raiding plantations and feeing slaves, arming the freed slaves, and ultimately draining the Southern economy. He would start at Harpers Ferry Armory in Virginia.

Brown contracted with Charles Blair, a forge master in Connecticut, to make 950 pikes, or spears, for $1 each. Brown would issue the pikes to the slaves as they revolted as well as arms captured from the armory. On October 16, 1859, Brown led a small group armed with Sharps Carbines and revolvers to Harpers Ferry where he took over the arsenal, held hostages, and waited for the slaves to revolt. The revolt never happened and Brown and what remained of his band were captured and tried by U.S. troops, among which were then Colonel Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart, who would be premier leaders of the Confederate forces once the Civil War started. Brown was found guilty of murder, treason, and of inciting slave insurrection. On December 2, 1859, he was hanged, despite outcries internationally such as from the likes of Victor Hugo.

The overall condition is good. The brass has a mellow patina and the iron parts bear a gray patina. The markings are clear. The walnut stock shows use and remains in good condition. The action remains strong. Here is a wonderful example of an Abolitionist icon!

Own the original! This is a legitimate antique and not a reproduction.

Barrel is 21 ½ inches.

Caliber: .52

Overall condition as seen in photos.

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ancestryguns

$4925

#8610

SOLD

Antique: Yes