Talk:Beecher's Bibles

This article is pretty short, maybe it could be placed in the Sharps rifle article.

Rampant unicorn (talk) 22:57, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Why named

Kansas History Spring 1998: Vol 21 Iss 1:

Perhaps the most celebrated donation of arms was Reverend Henry Ward Beecher’s procurement of rifles for the free-state settlement at Wabaunsee. The sometimes notorious preacher promised at a meeting in New Haven, Connecticut, in March 1856 to per- suade his congregation in Brooklyn, New York, to contribute twenty-five Sharps rifles if the attendees at the meeting would pledge another twenty-five. That challenge was met, and soon boxes containing fifty- two rifles were on their way to Wabaunsee. Nothing is said to support the often repeated story of the boxes being marked “bibles” to prevent the detection of the rifles by proslavery Missourians, and thereby inadvertently imparting the name “Beecher’s Bibles” to Sharps rifles. Instead the explanation is that the rifles were accompanied by a gift of twenty-five bibles from Beecher’s Brooklyn congregation, creating the link between rifles and bibles.”

So, everyone has the story wrong? -- GreenC 07:20, 5 September 2022 (UTC)

@GreenC: I have sent you an email with some research from the Seller's book. Lightburst (talk) 15:09, 5 September 2022 (UTC)

Seems like at least three variations:

• Guns hidden in a box labeled bibles, containing guns and possibly bibles
• Guns in a box labeled "guns and bibles", containing guns and bibles
• Guns in a box not labeled, but containing guns and possibly bibles, or bibles in a separate box

Makes one head spin. Anyway our article only recounts one variation as the undisputed fact. Typically in situations like this one resorts to historiography. Like, "According to this historian.." and so on in chronological order to show how the story has been told, received and changed over time. I think it would also help solidify the topic as a standalone article. -- GreenC 17:28, 5 September 2022 (UTC)

This source, from wabaunseecomuseum.org gives a more nuanced story. It says nothing about concealment. In fact it looks like Beecher sent a check for $625 to the Sharpes rifle company along with 25-bibles '- the bibles were sent to the Sharpes rifle company. Further variation.. I tend to give more weight to local museums as they have more interest in a topic and access to sources ie. anyone doing research on this would contact the museum. -- GreenC 17:55, 5 September 2022 (UTC)

This source confirms via Beecher himself who said:

The letter that accompanied the check and the Bibles [sent to the president of Sharpes Rifle company] was widely reprinted in newspapers across the country under the headline, BIBLES AND RIFLES FOR KANSAS and BIBLES AND RIFLES IN KANZAS. It was from these events that the company began to be referred to as the “Beecher Bible and Rifle Colony” and the Sharps rifle took on the nickname “Beecher’s Bible.

This is from the horses mouth how the name originated. Again, nothing about mislabeled boxes. -- GreenC 18:04, 5 September 2022 (UTC)