VERY RARE Documented John Brown "Beecher Bible" Sharps Model 1853 Saddle Ring Carbine

VERY RARE DOCUMENTED JOHN BROWN “BEECHER BIBLE” SHARPS MODEL 1853 SADDLE RING CARBINE
Serial Number 13030 Cal. 52
As a boy of five, John Brown witnessed a slave his own age being beaten with a shovel. He vowed to become a foe of slavery. By the mid-1800s, Brown was fulfilling his vow. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed the two states to decide the issue of slavery by a popular ballot. The fight in Kansas was so intense that the state earned the nickname of “Bleeding Kansas.” As Missouri pro-slavery “Ruffians” flocked to Kansas, New England abolitionists bankrolled “Free-Soilers” to move to the settlement of Lawrence, Kansas. Henry Ward Beecher raised money to purchase Sharps carbines for use by antislavery forces in Kansas. Rifles, said Beecher, are “a greater moral agency than the Bible” in the fight against slavery. The guns were packed in crates labeled "Bibles" so they would not arouse suspicion. Soon the Sharps rifles sent to Kansas were referred to as “Beecher’s Bibles.” In 1856, after abolitionists were attacked in Lawrence, John Brown led a raid on scattered cabins along the Pottawatomie Creek, killing five people. Kansas would not become a state until 1861, after the Confederate States seceded. John Brown had another plan to bring about an end to slavery, a slave uprising. He led his militia armed with his Beecher Bible Sharps along with polearms “John Brown pikes” on raid to Harpers Ferry where he took over the arsenal and waited for the slaves to revolt. The revolt never came. Two days later Robert E. Lee and his troops overran the raiders and captured John Brown. Brown was found guilty of murder, treason, and inciting slave insurrection. On December 2, 1859, he was hanged.

This exact carbine listed by serial number 13030 arrived in Lawrence, Kansas on May 23, 1855 in case #317 labeled “Bibles”. This carbine's serial number is published in Frank Seller’s iconic 1988 text (p. 91) Sharps Firearms. The name "Beecher's Bible" originated as the result of a speech given by Henry W. Beecher which appeared in the New York Tribune on Feb. 8, 1856. Mr. Beecher is quoted as saying "that there was more moral power in those instruments, so far as the slaveholders of Kansas were concerned, than in a 100 Bibles". He, of course, was referring to Sharps rifles and thereafter the Sharps carbine became known as a Beecher's Bible.
Standard configuration, brass mounted, 21.75” barrel , German silver half moon front sight and ladder rear sight missing slide, long sling bar & ring. Sharps patent markings found on tang and lock
Precious few of these historical guns documented by serial number survive and this is a beautiful survivor.
CONDITION: Good to very good overall, iron cleaned, mottled brown patina with scattered pitting. Brass has toned patina. Stock is sound, well-fit, with small inset toe repair and chip repair in forearm. Mechanics are fine, bright shiny bore. This gun was previously purchased through James Julia Auctions. This gun was reviewed by noted gun historian John Sexton.