LeMat’s Early Activities

Richmond authorities for payment of his revolver accounts.
In September, 1862, reference to money for LeMat is made by C.S. agent Edwin De Leon, writing directiy to Judah Benjamin from Paris. His lengthy epistle brings Benjamin up to date on many matters, and toWard the end declares:
The establishment of credit here would save the Government from great embarrassment and the enormous loss on exchange which it now suffers, as well as relieve the agents abroad from the difficulties of which they complain. I have been requested by Messrs. C. Girard & Co., who are making LeMat’s revolvers for the Government under contracts with the Navy and Army Departments with Colonel LeMat, a partner in the factory, to forward their correspondence with the agents of those Departments in Europe, and to request that effectual steps may be taken to fulfill the Government obligations in that respect. They complain of the loss of both time and money in consequence of the failure of Captain Huse to co-operate with them or carry out his instructions in spirit as well as in letter.
In what manner Huse failed to cooperate with LeMat is not known; possibly he was not so prompt in furnishing payment or advances of funds, or in some other way hindered the work. But LeMat himself seemed to be giving more time to “commuting” via blockade runner to New Orleans and conniving with Gautherin, than giving his attention to the business. Whether he was a practical gunmaker, or even a skilled amateur, is not known; he may have had professional gunsmiths do all his model making. But he must have had considerable practical knowledge about the details of manufacture of his gun, and to this gunmaking project he was not devoting enough time.
The contract which LeMat had with the C.S. Navy, according to Secretary Mallory, required that “the pistols are to be delivered and inspected in London,” and after passing inspection, they were to be paid for by Navy Agent Commander James D. Bulloch and reshipped to the South. Up to July 30, 1862, just 200 of the Navy LeMats had been accepted, having been forwarded to Richmond and paid for there. (The inference is that these were not proof tested in London nor inspected there. Possibly they were Transition Model revolvers with round guards, “Paris” markings?)
Bulloch proposed to C. Girard & Company that they arrange to ship the revolvers to him and he would make arrangements to inspect them. He explained that he had no funds at the moment with which to pay, and suggested they might have some ideas of security he should offer. They replied, evidently after debating the whole summer what to do, that they would waive payment in London, and started to ship pistols to the Navy representative.
Bulloch ordered his inspecting officer, Lieutenant Chapman, to “ask for a sample of the pistols already delivered to the War Department and to get a written certificate from the manufacturer that the one furnished him was identical with those previously accepted.” Chapman procured the sample but turned it over to his successor, Lieutenant Evans, without doing any inspecting. Evans approved 100 guns and reported to Bulloch they were as well finished as the sample, but that “the barrels, lock frames and hammers, are of cast iron; that the contact between barrels and cylinders is so loose as to permit much escape of gas; and that the cylinders, not being provided with springs, as in other repeating arms, are apt to revolve too far when the pistols are rapidly cocked, so that the hammers are likely to fall upon the divisions between the nipples when the firing is quick.”
These mechanical defects were serious to Bulloch, who refused to receive any more LeMats under that contract, preferring to ship them on to Richmond for the Ordnance officers there to pass or reject. This method of shipment seemed satisfactory for a time to Girard. The record book of Colonel John M. Payne, Ordnance officer in charge of imported arms received at Wilmington, North Carolina, from the blockade runners, notes 150 LeMat revolvers coming through during July, 1863, “which were not approved.” The probability is that LeMat felt small obligation to the Confederacy because of the unusual pay-later plan, and decided to run these guns in to sell privately if the Army wouldn’t accept them.
Meanwhile, Bulloch took a walk over to the London Armoury Company and got a quotation. “The grapeshot revolver Messrs. C. Girard & Company are now supplying can be manufactured by the London Armoury Company for something less than £5 each,” he wrote

Transitional LeMat possibly made for C.S. Army has spur guard for cavalry use and barrel is not full-octagon. Loading lever is of simpler form, but studs are still made on sides of hammer nose. Butt ring is delicate, made in separate pieces. Serial 755.

Probable Navy LeMat is this improved Second Model with Rigby-type loading lever on left side of full-octagon barrel. Gauge mark “18” and Birmingham proofs appear on barrel and cylinder. Barrel latch is screw pin which has to be unscrewed before barrel can be turned off of fixed shotgun barrel. Hammer nose is turned down in position to hit shot barrel nipple.

to Richmond. In spite of this, there seems to be no specimen of LeMat which finish and manufacturing characteristics would assign to London Armoury or any other English maker. The British-proved LeMats bear Birmingham marks but are wholly Paris-manufactured, finished and stamped there. Still, LeMat did not give up, and during early spring of the next year, negotiated another contract with the Confederate Government, this time the Navy Department.
Direct reference is made to a Navy contract “with Mr. LeMat” as early as July, 1862. After supplying a few revolvers on this contract—no complete record exists to say how many—a second contract is mentioned. Writing to Commander Bulloch April 7, 1864, Commander John M. Brooke, Chief of the Navy’s Ordnance, stated, “Herewith you will receive a copy of a contract with Messrs. C. Girard & Company, for 2,000 ‘grapeshot revolvers’ for the use of the Navy, to be delivered and inspected in England.” More efficient payment terms were set forth with this contract, funds to be made available from Fraser, Trenholm & Company upon presentation of certificates of inspection by some officer in England appointed by or acting as agent for Commodore Barron. The pistols were to Paris-finished Navy Second Model LeMat No. 1666 in M. Clifford Young, Boston, collection, has screw-barrel latch of simple form with spring on side attached to barrel. Hammer nose has tail through hammer head slot.
be shipped in lots of 250 or 500, each gun accompanied by ten cartridges and ten percussion caps. This suggests the existence of packets of LeMat cartridges— nine .40 caliber conical ball loads for the revolver cylinder, and one buckshot charge for the shotgun barrel.
The terms of the contract including requirement for ten shots each were passed on to Lieutenant W. H. Murdaugh, CSN, the officer appointed to inspect the LeMat guns.