Skip to main content

Death of Sharps

Christian Sharps died aged 64 in Hartford, March 12, . The brief obituary in the Hartford Courant for Sunday, March 14, contains a sentence which, for reasons still not clear, must be his epitaph:
As an inventor he was one of the greatest, not confining himself to firearms—though he produced several models—but covering the peaceful arts as well, and in whatever he undertook in this direction he displayed a great fertility of resource; yet somehow failed to secure a decided practical advantage out of any of the valuable products of his brain-work.
In Philadelphia, scene of his last gunmaking activities, the papers noted this failing, saying he “never derived from his inventions the pecuniary share to which he was entitled.” Inventor of the most famous breech-loading rifle in the world, though produced in far fewer numbers than some more financially successful, Christian Sharps at his death was described as a man of peace, “a decided spiritualist,” without the slightest fear of death. He left behind his wife, Sarah, a daughter, Satella, a son, Leon Stewart Sharps, and an estate of $341.25.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CHAPTER 6 Rifle Muskets: Civil War Scandals

You place me in a most embarrassing position, Mr. Secretary. How is that, Mr. Wilkeson? the gaunt-faced Penn sylvanian queried, the lines of his expression amplified by the fatigue and, somewhat, disappointment with which he laid down his role as Secretary of War for Mr. Lincoln. Because, Mr. Cameron, the newspaperman re sponded, your contract for rifle muskets with the Eagle Manufacturing Company of Mansfield, Connecticut is for only 25,000 arms, and my friends there, whom I induced to engage in this business in expectation of your issuing a further order, as your assistant Mr. Scott assured me you would, will be sorely embarrassed in their operations on this small amount. Indeed this is bad news to me, Mr. Wilkeson, War Secretary Simon Cameron sympathetically observed, as he stuffed papers from his desk drawer into a large portfolio, scanning them briefly, consigning some to the waste basket. But as you can see, I am leaving office today; I believe Mister Stanton, who repla
Post a Comment
Read more

The Gatling Gun

Ager, Williams, Vandenberg, these have faded into history. The repeating gun most remembered from the war, and yet one which had a very confusing record of use therein, is that of Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling. I had the pleasure of witnessing how effectively Dr. Gatling had builded when I attended a meeting of the American Ordnance Association at Aberdeen the fall of 1957 . Mounted on a testing stand was a small bundle of barrels, dwarfed in seeming firepower by the huge cannon flanking it. But when the gunner pushed the button and that mighty mite whirred into action with a high-pitched snarling roar so rapidly that no individual explosions could even be sensed, I knew I had witnessed not only the world’s fastest-firing machine gun, and the world’s heaviest gun in weight of metal fired (a ton and a half in one minute), but a gun that was directly inspired by the Civil War special artillery General Butler bought from Dr. Gatling. First of Gatling’s guns was bulky wheeled carriage “c
Post a Comment
Read more

CHAPTER 7 Injustice to Justice

In justice to Justice, it must be said that a recent examination of one of the muskets, for the supplying of which to the Union he was so villified, proves to be a reasonably well-assembled hodgepodge of surplus parts and at least as strong and reliable as the American parts from which it was built. But when Philip S. Justice, gunmaker-importer of Philadelphia, tried to get aboard the Federal musket contract gravy train, he both got more than he bar gained for—and Holt and Owen conversely gave him less.
Post a Comment
Read more