Tracing the history of an old weapon.

[Raziaar]

Hey guys. Wondering if any of you antique firearms collectors have any information for me on how I can go about tracing the history of an 1848 Sharps Carbine(I think thats the year on it). My grandpa bought it from his aunt who is a Native American. We believe it was found at the site of the battle of Little BigHorn. It has 5 or 6 distinct notches on it, the mark of how many people the owner killed with it. However, we're trying to figure out who used it... whether it was used by Reno's men, or Custer's men. We actually believe it was taken off the corpse of a soldier and used by a Native American, but unfortunately there's no way to tell that(except my great, great aunt... who is a Native.

But anyways, we have the serial number off the rifle, and i'm trying to figure out where I can use that to see what group it was issued to.

 

[JNightshade]

Try googling? :/ I don't really know, sorry.