The Sharps Breechloading Carbine, in both the New Model 1859 and New Model 1863 configurations, was the most used carbine to see service with the United States Cavalry during the American Civil War. From their initial deliveries to the Ordnance Department in early 1860, through the end of the Civil War, the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company delivered a total of 77,330 Sharps percussion breechloading carbines. Throughout the war, the Sharps outnumbered the other carbines in the field by as many as about 6 to 1. According to the December 1862 Ordnance Department returns, there were already 13,645 Sharps in the field, with the Smith Carbine being the next most issued carbine in the field at 1,922. The September 1863 Ordnance Department returns showed similar numbers with 20,378 Sharps in the field, with the next most issued carbine in the field at that time being the Burnside, of which 8,179 were in service. While the Spencer Carbine was eventually issued in very large numbers during the last eighteen months of the war, no carbine ever superseded the Sharps for overall numbers, quality, and durability. Field reports regarding the service of the Sharps carbine during the war were almost entirely positive, with very few negative reports noted. 

Not only did the Union cavalry have an affinity for the Sharps design, but so did the Confederacy. In the months leading up to the outbreak of hostilities, southern states like Georgia and Virginia purchased Sharps carbines, both directly from Sharps and on the open market from retailers and distributors. The carbine was so well designed, simple to use and durable in the field that the Confederacy even strove to produce their own version of the carbine. Initially these guns were produced by the firm of S.C. Robinson of Richmond, VA, but eventually the Confederate central government took over the Robinson production facilities in an attempt to streamline production and increase the output of these southern made Sharps copies.

During the course of the war, the two primary variations of the carbine to see service were the New Model 1859 and New Model 1863. Both were single shot, .52 caliber carbines with 22” barrels that were secured to the forend with a single spring-retained barrel band and a screw. They featured a “falling block” breech loading action and the automated Lawrence Pellet Priming System. A folding leaf rear sight that was graduated to 800-yards was installed on the barrel and a German silver front sight blade was installed in a fixed iron base near the muzzle. Most of the guns featured a sling bar and ring on the reverse of the frame to allow the gun to be slung while mounted. The standard finish was a blued barrel with a color casehardened receiver, hammer and operating lever. Small parts like screws and springs were fire blued. Early production guns were brass mounted, but rather quickly the patchbox, buttplate and barrel band were changed to iron, with the first two components color casehardened. With the introduction of the New Model 1863, the patchbox was eliminated. Stocks were of American black walnut with a smooth straight grip and crescent butt and a smooth formed.

Prior to the introduction of the newly designed Model 1859, the Sharps breechloaders had used a “slant breech” breech block design that was set at about a 22-degree again from the perpendicular, or at a 112-degree angle to the barrel. From the initial Sharps designs back to the late 1840s, some degree of gas leakage between the breechblock and barrel had been an ongoing issue. Numerous small design changes and fixes were tried to solve this issue, but none were as successful as the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company wanted them to be, nor were they as successful as the Ordnance Department wanted them to be. It would be Richard S. Lawrence, formerly of Robbins & Lawrence of Windsor, VT that would finally improve the breechblock design to resolve most of the gas leakage issues. 

In 1858 Lawrence started to experiment with a “straight breech” design, with the breech block perpendicular to the barrel, set at a 90-degree angle with no “slant”. This also allowed the block to move straight up and down when operated. This improved the gas leakage issue. At about the same time Lawrence also patented an improvement for the pellet primer system, allowing it to be disabled to prevent pellet feed when the action was operated. This prevented the waste of pellets if the action was worked without firing the gun and also allowed the use of conventional percussion caps. Finally, Lawrence designed a new folding ladder rear sight that as an improvement on all of the previous rear sight designs. A number of patents were issued to Lawrence for his design improvements and taken as a whole the new gun was designated the Model 1859 by the Sharps company.

Like the earlier Sharps long arms, the Model 1859 was brass mounted, with a brass patchbox, buttplate and single flat barrel band that was retained by spring. The carbines appeared at about serial number 30,000 but did not remain in production very long before some more improvements were made to the breechblock design, resulting in the New Model 1859 designation. The team of authors and researchers who wrote Sharps Firearms – The Percussion Era 1848-1866 have noted that that the earliest serial number noted for a “New Model” 1859 is #30,875. It is worth noting that the longarms produced by the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company were all serialized somewhat consecutively in a single serial number range. As such there is overlap between the various models, with both military and civilian arms as well as carbines and rifles are all interspersed within the same group of numbers. Most sources list the New Model 1859 serial numbers as running from about 30,000 to about 59,000 with some 27,000 of the guns made between late 1858 and early 1863. However, at least one New Model 1859 carbine is known with the serial number 80,894 which is well within the range of the New Model 1863 guns, which run nominally from about #71,000 to #C,49528 (149,528). Production of the early, brass mounted Sharps New Model Carbines is estimated to be about 3,000 and these guns are found in the 30,000 to 36,000 serial number range. Of those guns, several hundred were delivered to the Ordnance Department under contract to the US Government, with the first 200 brass mounted Sharps New Model 1859 Carbines being delivered to the St. Louis Arsenal in mid-January of 1860, where they were issued to the 1^st US Cavalry, including Company G. Interestingly Company G had a young lieutenant named J.E.B. Stuart as one of its officers. Stuart would go on to be one of the most famous cavalry commanders in history, certainly of the Civil War, leading the Army of Northern Virginia’s cavalry for Robert E. Lee, until his death at Yellow Tavern.

The Election of 1860 that resulted in Abraham Lincoln winning the presidency was the event that triggered the beginning of southern states seceding from the Union, which would finally erupt in violence in April of 1861. The southern states had felt that a civil war was on the horizon for some time and many of them had been actively trying to acquire small arms for their state militias in preparation for the coming conflict. To that end, in November of 1860 the governor of Georgia placed an order with the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company for 2,000 New Model 1859 military pattern carbines. These were brass mounted New Model 1859 Carbines. 1,600 were delivered to the state by Sharps in December of 1860. However, the company did not have any more carbines on hand at that time, so the balance of the order was delivered by W.J. Syms & Brothers of New York. Syms was a major firearms wholesaler and distributor who would facilitate the sale of other small arms to several southern states in the months leading up to the outbreak of hostilities. These were all brass mounted guns and are scattered in the serial number range of 31,000 to 36,000. It is worth remembering that all Sharps models and types were serial numbered in a single serial number series, so not every gun in the 31,XXX to 36,XXX range was a military carbine. In fact, the large majority of the Sharps firearms in the 33,XXX to 34,XXX range were actually .56 caliber rifles delivered to the US Navy, with at least 630 of the guns in that range being those rifles and possibly as many as 900. As such, the small number of Sharps firearms in the 33,XXX to 34,XXX range that are New Model 1859 carbines almost certainly went to one of two purchasers, the US Government, or the State of Georgia. Since US contract arms were fully sub-inspected and inspected, it is safe to assume that nearly any brass mounted New Model 1859 Carbine in that narrow serial number range that is not inspected was part of the delivery to the State of Georgia. Surviving records indicate that these Georgia purchased carbines were issued to the 1^st and 5^th Georgia Cavalry and 2^nd and 57^th Georgia Infantry.

Offered here is a NEAR FINE condition example of one of those likely Georgia Purchased Brass Mounted Sharps New Model 1859 Military Carbine. The gun is serial number 33,108, making it one of the few New Model 1859 Carbines made in the 33,XXX to 34,XXX serial number range, as most were .56 caliber US Navy contract rifles. The matching serial number 33,108 is present under the barrel as well, concealed by the forend. The carbine does not have any sub-inspection markings on the primary components like the barrel or frame or any acceptance cartouches on the reverse wrist. The only component with any kind of inspection mark is the flat on the bottom of the forend where it meets the frame, which appears to be stamped with the small block letters D.H.B. However, no inspector with those initials is found in any references, including Daum & Pate’s exhaustive study U.S. Military Arms Inspector Marks, so this may be a Sharps factory inspector’s mark, or possibly a State of Georgia applied inspection mark.

The gun is well marked throughout with all of the standard markings present and fully legible. The lockplate is marked in two locations. On the upper portion of the lockplate, behind the hammer it is marked in two horizontal lines:

R.S. LAWRENCE PAT.

APRIL 12^th, 1858

This mark references Lawrence’s improvements to the pellet priming mechanism. The lock plate is also marked in two horizontal lines on the rear portion, behind the hammer: 

C. SHARPS’

OCT. 5^th 1852

The left side of the receiver is marked in two lines: 

C. SHARPS’ PAT

SEPT 12^th 1848

The top of the barrel is marked NEW MODEL 1859 in front of the breech and

SHARPS’ RIFLE

MANUFG. CO.

HARTFORD CONN.

in front of the rear sight. The rear sight base is marked in three horizontal lines: 

R.S. LAWRENCE

PATENTED

FEB. 15^th 1859

This mark also references one of Lawrence’s patented improvements incorporated into the Model 1859 and New Model 1859, in this case the new rear sight design.

As noted, the gun remains in NEAR FINE condition. The gun remains in wonderful, untouched and crisp condition with some nice traces and freckles of thinning blue on the barrel, mixed with a rich plum brown patina that is very attractive. The barrel shows some scattered patches of surface oxidation and minor roughness, as well as some sort of light-colored residue marks on the top of the barrel in the couple of inches behind the front sight. The underside of the barrel retains more original thinning blue finish, possibly as much as 10%-20% of that blue is present where it has been protected by the forend. The only area of the barrel that shows any attempt at cleaning is a small patch where the three-line address is stamped, just forward of the rear sight. This area has a dull pewter patina with some speckles of oxidation and darker discoloration. The receiver has a mottled and lightly oxidized with a brownish gray patina that suggests the original mottled case coloring, and some traces of that color are still visible on the face of the lock plate when the hammer is cocked. Some very minor, faded traces of mottled color are present on the lock plate and receiver as well, but the only obvious color is found behind the hammer. The pellet priming system appears to be complete, although the feed spring is over compressed and the system does not appear to function. The balance of the action functions exactly as it should with the lock operating crisply and breech block and lever moving smoothly. The breech block also retains some nice, faded and dulled traces of case coloring. The brass furniture has a rich, uncleaned dark brown golden mustard patina and is very attractive. As also noted, the markings remain very clear and legible throughout, with the exception of the end of the “NEW MODEL 1859” barrel mark, where a small ding partially obscures that marking. The carbine retains its original and correct short NM1859 carbine rear sight that is graduated to “8” for 800-yards. The sight ladder and leaf operate smoothly and retain some traces of their original blued finish. The original German silver front sight blade is in place in the iron base on top of the barrel, near the muzzle. The original sling bar and ring are present on the reverse wrist of the carbine. The screws and small parts all retain at least some traces of their fire blued finish, with most of the screw heads showing at least some light, if not moderate slot wear. The bore of the carbine is in about GOOD+ to NEAR VERY GOOD condition. The bore is partly bright and moderately oxidized with some evenly scattered pitting and good, clear rifling. The wood of the carbine is also in NEAR FINEcondition and is much crisper than typically encountered on any brass mounted Sharps 1859 Carbine, whether a Georgia Sharps or a US military one. The wood still retains nice edges and lines and even some feathery grain textured is present on the butt. The wood does show scattered minor bumps, dings and mars from handling and use, as well as some minor scuffs and scratches. Again, the wood is much nicer than usually encountered on these guns and is very attractive.

Overall, this is a really attractive and very nice condition example of a rare Brass Mounted New Model 1859 Sharps Carbine that was almost certainly one of the 2,000 acquired by the State of Georgia in December of 1860. This would be a fine addition to any advanced collection of Sharps firearms, a collection of Civil War Sharps arms and most importantly a collection of Civil War Confederate Arms that includes secondary Confederate acquired arms like Enfield Rifles and Rifle Muskets and Kerr Revolvers. Brass mounted New Model 1859 Carbines are difficult to find on the market in any condition, with Geogia Sharps carbines always demanding a premium. Georgia Sharps carbines in this kind of lovely condition rarely appear on the market at all, so don’t miss your chance to add this fine example to your collection.

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