I'm pretty sure General Custer and his crew would have liked to have had a few more Winchesters on their side
It shows here the Sharps predated the Henry/Winchester rifles. Bit I still don't think the "Won The West" for Winchester..........His patent date was 1848 and that beats the Henry by several years.
The early Sharps models used a paper cartridge and a percussion cap. This was the type that was used in the Civil War. The first Sharps rifle that used metallic cartridges was the model 1869, nine years after the 1860 Henry. (Yes, Henry production did not actually start until 1862, but still earlier than the first Sharps cartridge rifle.) The most commonly recognized Sharps, the one manufactured by most of the replica companies today, was the Model 1874, which actually first appeared in 1871.