The LeMat's Grapeshot' Revolver

The life, exploits and intrigue of Dr. Alexander LeMat would take a TV mini-series to tell. The man snuck $400,000 in gold out of New Orleans right under the noses of the Union occupiers! Since this isn’t a copy of War and Peace, we can’t cover every thread in the fabric of his life.

Jean Francois Alexander LeMat was a young doctor in France. No doubt, stories of the wealth flowing through the Crescent City (New Orleans) had crossed the Atlantic. In 1840 New Orleans was the third-largest city in the U.S.A. and the fourth-largest port in the world. Riches from the interior of the Missouri/Mississippi/Ohio river systems all flowed through the city. New Orleans was still strongly French, so it is no mystery what pulled LeMat away from his family.

It was a smart move too. With the constant influx of travelers from around the world and the bayous breeding hordes of blood-sucking insects, New Orleans was a petri dish of illness and disease. Of the 167,000 inhabitants, only 75 were doctors. Doctor LeMat could have written his own paycheck, but he had other aspirations.

Into Production

The idea of manufacturing the revolver in France may seem strange but LeMat may have been thinking of the future. Clouds of war were forming in the halls of Washington. If Lincoln were to get elected, southern states threatened to secede. Belgium and France had facilities and experienced craftsmen already producing firearms. And, LeMat was thinking of marketing his revolver around Europe as he had applied for patents in Belgium, France, England, Saxony and Russia.

Within a week of Lincoln winning the presidential election, LeMat received an order of 400 revolvers from the Louisiana Militia. Not long after Louisiana joined the other southern states in seceding from the Union. LeMat was in the thick of things and already working to obtain arms for his adopted country along with producing his revolver.

In August 1861, LeMat received an order from the Confederate War Department for 5,000 revolvers. The Confederate Navy followed suit ordering 3,000 more.

LeMat settled on a factory in Paris, France to produce his revolvers. But a problem plagued LeMat and his revolver. Unlike assembly-line manufacturing by his contemporaries in the U.S., firearm production in France was a cottage industry. Components were machined by small shops and then pieced together in the main factory. Each LeMat was custom made and parts were not easily fitted on another LeMat.

As the LeMat went from prototype to production, changes were made in its design to improve reliability and reduce production time and costs. Firearm experts break the run of percussion LeMat into two distinct models, with a transitional period between the two. The revolver featured here is from the first production run.

Living Antiquity

The featured LeMat is numbered 451, which puts it seven guns before the last known First Model LeMat. Pistols in this production run still had the ram lever (missing on this gun) on the right side, a feature the military testers recommended be changed to the left side. Some experts feel a missing ram indicates a battle-used weapon as there is evidence they were removed to make the pistol easier to use and carry.

LeMat 451 sports a stylish spur trigger guard, much like the Smith & Wesson Model 3 Russian. This was dropped during the Transition period.

The barrel markings are engraved, which, while stylish, required extra skill and added cost. Later production revolvers switched to cheaper roll-stamps.

The pistol barrel on a LeMat screws onto the shotgun barrel. Early First Pattern LeMat revolvers required a spring-loaded lever to be depressed, allowing the barrel to unscrew. The casting and machining to fit the lever added expense. LeMat 451 shows the barrel lock lever had changed to a cheaper flip-out lever. We can assume it’s original as it sports the same serial number and font as the rest of the serial number markings on the revolver.

LeMat 451 still features the pin-type cylinder lock, an extremely complicated and expensive system changed in later production revolvers. Reports claim combat grit filled the pin holes and caused the cylinder to either over- or under-rotate.

It’s exciting to imagine who originally owned this revolver. The odds are great it went to a high-ranking officer, and we can assume this for several reasons. The LeMat was not cheap. It was roughly three times as expensive as other revolvers manufactured for the Confederacy. The original contract price was $35 each but inflation and blockade-running costs drove the price to $80 — over $2,750 in today’s money! Issuing such an expensive weapon to a rank and file soldier would have not been cost-effective for a country struggling to sell cotton and fund a war.

LeMat knew how to generate buzz about his product. If there was a possibility of an endorsement for a government contract, LeMat made sure the person received one of his pistols. Several notable Confederate generals carried a LeMat. Beauregard received two. One was accidentally left at a friend’s home, so he gifted it to them and procured another. Jeb Stewart was shot as he was firing his LeMat at Union soldiers. Stonewall Jackson allegedly owned one, but proof of this has disappeared over the years.

Some LeMat revolvers were stolen from shipments and a rare few made it to the Confederate civilian market.

Unique History

So who owned this LeMat? Unless a forgotten log or journal is found referencing the serial number, I doubt we will ever know. According to records, the LeMats were shipped to the Confederacy in 25-revolver crates. General P.G.T Beauregard’s second LeMat was number 427. General Patton Anderson owned number 475. Our featured revolver most likely shipped with one or the other.

The Union blockade took its toll and the Confederacy only received a fraction of the 8,000 LeMats contracted for. Would they have made a difference in battle? Most likely not. A young private demonstrating the revolver for LeMat complained the recoil from the grapeshot barrel was unbearable. The revolver rounds were .42 caliber so it couldn’t use commonly found .36 or .44 bullets.

Recently, the LeMat’s capabilities have been taken to mythical levels in the hit series, Westworld. In the hands of star Ed Harris, the LeMat can mow down entire gangs of men and even shoot through sun-baked adobe walls!

Reproduction LeMats are designed like the Second Model and are very popular with Civil War reenactors with some going to great lengths to make them appear well-used — known as de-farbing.

I wanted the thrill of shooting a reproduction LeMat, but fate had other ideas. The pandemic hit Italy hard and shut down all replica firearm production. Taylor’s & Company is one of the few distributors of the LeMat. Like the originals, the reproduction LeMat is labor-intensive and requires significant tooling changes to produce. So, a LeMat will not be forthcoming until other orders are caught up and stocks are replenished. In the meantime, check out the videos by “duelist1954” on YouTube if you would like to see one in action.

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