Emblem on Sharps rifle

hrobalabama

First Sergeant
Joined
Aug 12, 2014
Location
Andalusia, AL
I Have an 1863 New Model Sharps rifle that has a strange embedded image. It is a 7 star emblem and it appears to have had a number or name sometimes before use have mostly obliterated through use and handling. There are no other marks or initials anywhere else on the wood. Does anyone have any idea as to what this may mean? Thanks for any help!
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Very glad you posted this. I posted the same question on a similar emblem embedded in the stock of my Sharps New Model 1863 last year. Mine is the same shape, but obviously different material and embedded in the opposite side of the stock. There is a circular metal piece in the center with what appear to be the initials "HB" inscribed. I can't help but notice that those are the initials of Hiram Berdan.
This is the URL on my previous post:
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/sharps-new-model-1863-emblem-in-stock.138775/#post-1655837
 

In particular,

Still voting that it's a law enforcement property mark of some sort.
 
In particular,

Still voting that it's a law enforcement property mark of some sort.
As retired law enforcement, I would be pleased if it turned out to be that.
I can't help but think that my gun and hrobalabama's were in the same organization, whether military or law enforcement. I would dearly love to know.
How 'bout this hypothesis......post war organization of veterans of Berdan's Sharpshooters?.......well, I can dream, can't I?
 
Two Henry Rifles, each with a seven pointed star, identified to Company B, 3rd Regiment of Veteran Volunteers.

Did Company B have Sharps rifles before they had Henrys?
 
I Have an 1863 New Model Sharps rifle that has a strange embedded image. It is a 7 star emblem and it appears to have had a number or name sometimes before use have mostly obliterated through use and handling. There are no other marks or initials anywhere else on the wood. Does anyone have any idea as to what this may mean? Thanks for any help!View attachment 323172View attachment 323173View attachment 323174
What is the serial # on your Sharps?
The serial # on mine is C37174.
 
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Two Henry Rifles, each with a seven pointed star, identified to Company B, 3rd Regiment of Veteran Volunteers.

Did Company B have Sharps rifles before they had Henrys?
The emblem looks about the same on those Henry rifles. Good work finding that.

Really good question about Co. B. Maybe someone will have an answer.
 
"Compendium of the War of the Rebellion" by Frederick H. Dyer contains no history for the 3rd US VV.
 
These are Veteran Volunteer markers. One of the perks of joining the veteran volunteers was you were going to own your rifle. Largely Sharps Rifles but there have been both Spencer’s as well as Henry Rifles. Not seen one on a P53 or Springfield yet.
I finally found a picture of it online that was big enough:

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It's the one called here Hancock's Veteran (Volunteer) Corps - by the middle of 1864 Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock had gone on sick leave from his long-time command of the Second Corps of the Army of the Potomac and while he was convalescing, a scheme was floated to use him as the head of an all-new corps of previously discharged veteran volunteers who would supposedly flock back to reenlist if they were promised they would serve under the famous general. I don't know how well it worked, but the war ended before it could be fully implemented.
 
"Compendium of the War of the Rebellion" by Frederick H. Dyer contains no history for the 3rd US VV.

3d Regiment Infantry
Organized at Camp Stoneman, D.C., February to March, 1865. Attached to 2nd Brigade, Provisional Division, Army of the Shenandoah, to June, 1865. Camp Butler, Ill., to July, 1866. Duty in the Defences of Washington, D.C., in the Shenandoah Valley, Va., and at Camp Butler, Ill. Mustered out by detachments from March 6 to July 20, 1866.

Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion: Compiled and Arranged from the Official Records of the Federal and Confederate Armies Reports of the Adjutant Generals of the Several States, the Army Registers and Other Reliable Documents and Sources. . Des Moines, Iowa: The Dyer Publishing Company, 1908.

Official Army Register of the Volunteer Forces, U. S. Army, Part VIII: Territories, Veteran Reserve Corps, U. S. Veteran Volunteers, U. S. Colored Troops,Adjutant General's Office, Washington, D. C., July 15, 1867.

 
From a thread on a Hancock's Corp jacket, a seven pointed Corp badge with a hole in the middle.

 
From a thread on a Hancock's Corp jacket, a seven pointed Corp badge with a hole in the middle.

That's the right shape also. Looks like it was in use by more than one unit.
 
Since this is crowd-sourcing research, I'm going to ask that someone look hard on newspapers.com for information on the 3rd USVV (exrpessed as 3rd Regiment Veteran Volunteers - in particular Company B) with key words SHARPS or INSIGNIA - running from late-1864 (possibly recruiting drives) to mid-1866.
 
Since this is crowd-sourcing research, I'm going to ask that someone look hard on newspapers.com for information on the 3rd USVV (exrpessed as 3rd Regiment Veteran Volunteers - in particular Company B) with key words SHARPS or INSIGNIA - running from late-1864 (possibly recruiting drives) to mid-1866.
Not exactly what you're looking for, but might be of interest?
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The Weekly Pioneer and Democrat. (St. Paul, Minn), February 10, 1865, page 2.
 
@lelliott19 Actually, that's a 10X hit

1) - it gives a start date (February 1865) for *probably* the issuance of Sharps Rifles to Hancock's Veterans Corp.

2) - are our seven pointed stars the 'name marked on his gun'? Could the little hole in the middle be for individualized initials?

3) So, where we had presumed they personal purchase could they have actually been government purchase?

Each answer begets more questions.
 
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