Per the included letter from Sharps record holder R.L. Moore, this item was part of a group of 50 Model 1878 carbines shipped to General J.W. Patton of New Orleans, Louisiana on April 25, 1878. Page 71 of "Sharps Firearms, Volume IV" by Marcot, Paxton, and Marron Jr. also lists this serial number as shipped on a different date of April 20, 1878, as part of a group of 50 sold to Louisiana, shipped in three packing cases, $732 total. The final iteration of the Sharps breechloading carbine of Civil War and Western Frontier fame, the Borchardt Carbine was made in very limited numbers, estimated at around 384 (per Flayderman's Guide, page 205). General J.W. Patton has not been identified; at the time of delivery Isaac W. Patton, a former Confederate Colonel and Adjutant General of Louisiana, was the mayor of the city of New Orleans, and the rank and first initial may be typos. A veteran of the Siege of Vicksberg and the Battle of Spanish Fort, Patton served as Sheriff before being elected mayor, and was the great uncle of famed swordsman, tank commander and World War II leader George S. Patton Junior. Blade front and folding ladder rear sights installed on the "Old Reliable" marked barrel, single barrel band, three line Borchardt patent and Sharps address markings on the left side of the receiver ahead of the saddle ring, and a smooth straight wrist stock with a checkered buttplate.