Redford Sharp was the son of William R. and Hannah Cornelia Sharp. He was born in Belvedere, Warren County, NJ, October 5, 1830, and was the oldest of eight children. His father was a justice of the peace. It is possible that his full name was William Redford Longsteet Sharp ⁱ, as this form appears in a later obituary but I can find no early confirmation of the Longstreet name. Stauffle Longstreet, the great grandfather of James Longstreet, the famed confederate general, operated a mill in Allentown NJ. The foundation of this building is still intact and marked. ⁱⁱ There is also a record of a William R. Sharp graduating from Washington College (Washington & Lee) in 1850. There is no information available on his medical training, however, in the same county, there was a Dr. John Sharp, son of Jacob Sharp who was a respected physician. Perhaps he apprenticed with him. This bears further research. 

In 1857 Sharp became a member of the District Medical Society for the County of Warren. Redford’s father had invested in the “Alfred Thomas”, a steamer and was among a party of gentleman from Easton PA and Belvedere, who boarded it in March, 1860  for a pleasure cruise down the Lehigh River.   The boiler of the boat exploded killing ten of the men, including Mr. Sharp.  William Sharp, Jr. was listed as missing ⁱⁱⁱ in a newspaper report.  This, however,  was not Redford but the son of Jacob Sharp.

In the 1860 census he is living in Belvedere with some of his younger sisters and a woman named Mary Sharp who had independent means. Perhaps she was an aunt who volunteered to run the household after the death of his father. Perhaps she was an aunt who volunteered to run the household after the death of his father  His mother, Hannah Sharp, had died  in April, 1852. ^iv 

When the Civil War began, his response was immediate. He enlisted as a Hospital Steward on 27 April 1861 in the 1st New Jersey regiment. A month later he was discharged, in order to be promoted to full surgeon of the 3rd Infantry Regiment. When Edward Taylor, the 3rd NJ Militia’s surgeon, was taken prisoner at Bull Run, Sharp took his place. When the regiment disbanded, Sharp took a commission with the 6th NJ Volunteers and eventually the 15th NJ Volunteers, 19 July 1862. This regiment is well documented in a history by Alanson Haines, the Chaplain of the Regiment ^v and more recently by Joseph G. Bilby ^vi . In February, 1863 Sharp was court-martialed. The charges against him were disobedience (using an ambulance in a way that was prohibited), conduct prejudicial (he ordered the ambulance driver to go another way at White Oak Church), and language, “When I send for an ambulance, I shall do as I please with it,” he is quoted as saying. The White Oak incident involved Sharp having a woman in the ambulance. Use of ambulances as taxis was prohibited although it was a common practice with officers. ^vii He said “a surgeon overrules anyone about the use of an ambulance and that “he may do as he wishes with it.” He was found guilty on two counts and received a reprimand. 

Sharp must have had a kinder side though, as Chaplain Haines, reports that at the battle of Fredericksburg, a fine mansion had been requisitioned for use as a hospital.

“To this hospital the surgeons of our brigade were mostly detailed. Doctor Redford Sharp, Surgeon of the Fifteenth, was most active. He was able to do much for the wounded of the regiment brought to him, and was specially tender and careful of all under his charge.” ^vii 

After the war, Sharp ^ix moved to Texas and in 1870 served as a contract physician at Fort McKarett, Menard County.^x He married Florida Tunstall born 10/30/1849 in St. Louis MO. They had one son, Redford Brian Tunstall Sharpe, born September 23, 1872. Dr. Sharp died March 1, 1873 and is buried in the San Antonio National Cemetery. In 1880, Florida Sharpe is living with her father, William Tunstall, a lawyer and younger sisters in Bexar TX. Her son, Redford, is seven years old. This young man went on to Yale Law School and began the practice of his profession in San Antonio. However, he was soon appointed, by Justice Brewer (Yale, 1856) as Secretary for the Venezuelan Boundary Commission Tribunal. He went on to become District Attorney in the Western District of Texas. He died of pneumonia at age 32 in Laredo Texas. He is buried near his father in the San Antonio National Cemetery. ^xi 

i Obituary of Redford Bryan Tunstall Sharpe, www.mssa.library.yale.edu/obituary
ii John H. Kuhl, personal communication
iii History of  Sussex and Warren County, NJ, p490 available on ancestry.com
iv Warren County Library, Obituary Index, online.
v Alanson A. Haines.  1883.   The Fifteenth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers.  Reprinted by Old Soldier Books.
vi  Joseph G. Bilby, 1993, Three Rousing Cheers; the History of the 15^th NJ Regiment, Longstreet House, Hightstown NJ.
vii Surgeon General Clement Finley designed a two wheel ambulance which was reported to provide a very bumpy ride for the wounded.  Apparently they were also favored by officers to use as a taxi and were in short supply on the battlefields. 
viii  Haines, page 35
ix In military documents his name has an alternate spelling using a final “e”
x In the 1870 US Census his name appears with a final “e”.  He can be found on page 8 of the Menard County Census.
xi Ancestry.com  US Veterans Gravesites, 1775-2006. San Antonio National Cemetary, 517 Paso Hondo Street, SA, Texas, Section H, Site 232 and 233.

 
Submitted by: V. Josephson rev 07/17/2008