Several prominent names are associated with American firearm development during the 19th century: Oliver Winchester, Eliphalet Remington, Jacob and Samuel Hawken, Melchior Fordney, and Christian Shar.ps to name a few. The lesser known of these gunsmiths was Christian Sharps.
Dating to 1848, the Sharps rifle and its patented breech-loading, falling block design was a go-to firearm for snipers and long-distance shooters due to its accuracy and ease of use. Christian Sharps left the enterprise in the 1850s and the company moved to Connecticut, but the Sharps Rifle Company carried on using his name to market rifles for the next several decades.
Texas Senator Thomas Jefferson Rusk touted the new style rifle in an 1848 newspaper article noting that the rifle was “the most convenient and fatal weapon ever used.” This early model was capable of carrying 50 percussion caps at a time, which made it possible for a rifleman to shoot at a much more rapid rate than previously possible. It was the most popular carbine rifle during the Civil War, and it saw use for a significant amount of time following the war.