This Sharps rifle bears no maker’s mark; it was made especially for John Brown. Brown carried this weapon on his Kansas campaign in 1856 and later presented it to Charles Blair of Collinsville, Connecticut. In 1857, Brown contracted Blair to forge pikes for the clandestine slave insurrection he was planning for Harpers Ferry.
This one is in the collection of the Smithsonian, specifically the National Museum of American History.
Oh hell yeah! I was already going to that neck of the woods in a month anyway. Thanks!
Hope you have a good time in the Smithsonian, if you take any pictures of arms in their collection don’t forget to share them here.