The Spencer was invented in 1860 for use by the Union Army. I'm not certain that it would therefore have made it into the hands of a Seattle lawman (Briar's father) by 1863 but it's alt history anyways so, of course it would. Unless you are a rifle buff perhaps (I'm not), there isn't anything that distinguishing in its looks:
It could fire 20 rounds a minute which made it a huge advantage for the Union in combat. The South did capture a few but lacked the raw materials to manufacture new cartridges.
And, here's a sequence I particularly liked between Angeline and Zeke on the death of possible deserter and tragic but rightfully doomed figure Rudy:
"We should do something," he said weakly.
"Like what? Like help him? Boy, he's so far beyond help that even if I wanted to, there's nothing to be done for him. Hell. The kindest thing we could do is shoot him in the head."
"Angeline!"
"Don't look at me like that. If he were a dog, you wouldn't let him suffer. Thing is, he ain't a dog, and I don't mind him suffering. You know what's in that bottle? The one that he's holding there, like it's his own baby?"
{it's a bottle of Blight made to be drinkable-not sure how it differs from the distilled Blight beer that is safe to drink}
....
"This miserable poison was bound to kill him one day, and I think today will be that day."
"We should help him," Zeke said, protesting the man's death as a matter of formality.
"You want to shoot him after all?"
"No!"
"Me either. I don't think he deserves it...Cover him up if you think that's polite."
Ok, first line:
She saw him and she stopped a few feet from the stairs.
Last line:
Hale Quarter jabbed a pen against his tongue to moisten it, and began to write.
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