Page 94 - 89-FLIPBOOK2

92
One of Jones’s men was killed by debris during the attack. None of the Free State residents were killed in contrast to the August 21, 1863, Lawrence Massacre conducted by the Confederate Quantrill’s Raiders that left more than 150 unarmed men,
boys, and civilians dead. While the first raid on Lawrence may have had little bloodshed, it was part of an escalation that
led to further raids by both the Free State and Pro-Slavery forces, including two attacks on Franklin’s Fort where Jones’s men had taken the cannon and other loot secured during the Lawrence raid. The second attack was successful. David S. Hoyt, who handled the carbine shipment, was murdered near Fort Saunders on August 12, 1856, after trying to negotiate an end to the fighting. After his mutilated body was discovered, Fort Saunders was destroyed by the Free State forces, and they also attacked Fort Titus and compelled its surrender. Violence on both sides continued, including famously bloody attacks by John Brown and his men. As the Civil War loomed, Kansas was finally admitted to the Union as a Free State in January 1861 thanks to the senators of the seceding states leaving the Senate.
Also included is a copy of a 1903 letter from Arthur T. Cabot, son of Dr. Samuel Cabot who was the secretary of the New England Emigrant Aid Society who handled the purchasing of the rifles and is discussed in the above article. In the letter,
"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 are concerned, than in a hundred Bibles... but they have a supreme respect for the logic that is embodied in [the] Sharps rifle."
- Reverend Henry Ward Beecher
Cabot discusses his father’s letters during Bleeding Kansas, including noting that he was “in charge of the shipments of rifles to Kansas with which the settlers might defend themselves against the border ruffians. In consequence of the technical infringement of the laws in such transactions, most of the letters were destroyed...” He also noted that among the documents that remained was his father’s small book with a list of people who contributed to the purchase of rifles for Kansas. Copies of that list are included.
CONDITION: Very good with mottled gray and brown patina on the iron along with some patches of mild oxidation and pitting, attractive age patina on the brass furniture, and general mild overall wear appropriate for a Bleeding Kansas and Civil War
era Sharps. The wood is also very good with a period tacked
in repair visible on top left forward wrist at the frame juncture, some mild dings, light scratches, and a few notches visible in the bottom of the butt. The automatic primer is missing parts; otherwise, mechanically fine. This is a very attractive and rare example of a documented “Beecher’s Bible” Sharps
Model 1853 carbine.
Provenance: The Eric Vaule Collection; The Greg Lampe Collection.
Estimate: 40,000 - 60,000