Percussion Revolvers
Handguns had been unreliable, hard to handle single shot muzzle-loading weapons until Samuel Colt set out to solve that problem in 1835.  A side effect of the percussion system of ignition used in rifles was that it enabled the revolver to become a practical proposition.  Revolvers were developed using the flintlock mechanism but they were far from satisfactory.  The small charge of loose priming powder had to be prevented from falling out as the cylinder revolved.  This problem was solved by the percussion cap.  The cap was snugly fitted on the nipple of a cylinder.  The nipple was placed on the same axis as the cylinder so that the cap and the charge would never be upside down.  Another advantage was that the cap could not easily fall off when the cylinder was rotated or held in any position.  Getting the cylinder to smoothly revolve presented a minor problem also.  This contingency was quickly eliminated by simple modifications.  Other improvements like rifled barrels made the pistols effective to a range of 50 to 75 yards.  The two most popular types of revolvers are pictured at the right.  The Colt type (top) and the Remington type (bottom).  The Colt type, which has no top strap allows for the removal of the barrel and separates into three distinct assemblies.  The Remington type (bottom) has a top strap (above the cylinder) and the barrel remains attached to the frame and as you can see, has only two assemblies.  All types of revolvers were used in the civil war.  Everything from obsolete flintlocks to the new double action pistols saw duty.  As was natural, a greater variety of antiques and oddities saw service in the weapon poor South than in the North.  In this era of technical inventiveness, Southern manufacturers played their part, both by developing new pistols designs and ingeniously copying those of their foes, but the South never quite caught up with their Northern adversaries.  Production limitations and scarcity of materials always kept them restricted.  When the war broke out, there were at least 60 pistol manufacturers in the United States most of which were located in the New England states, with Colt, Remington, and Smith and Wesson dominating the market.  Some of the suppliers of pistols for the war had been in arms manufacturing years before the hostilities broke out.  Companies like the Starr Revolver and Rifle company (Yonkers, New York) made arms for the American Revolution.  The percussion detonation system itself was invented in 1807.  Both Colt and Remington were in business during the early and mid 1800's and by 1847, the Colt six shot revolver had already been adopted for military use by mounted troops.  During the Civil War, the U.S. Government purchased 373,077 percussion pistols.  Many men in the Civil War were issued or bought their own revolvers only to lose them, give them away or throw them away.  The extra weight of the pistols and their ammunition proved to be too much for the infantryman.  Many other regiments were forbidden by their officers to wear pistols.  In this article, I have decided to mention only the top six sidearms used in the war.

Colt Revolvers
Samuels Colt's patent gave him a monopoly in the United States on the production of handguns with mechanically rotated cylinders.  When the Civil War began, Colt's manufacturing company in Hartford, Conn, was prepared to produce enormous quantities of the revolvers and they did until a fire in February of 1864 closed the factory's revolver production for more than a year.  The Colt 1861 Navy pistol produced in both .36 and .44 caliber (rare matched set of .36 caliber Navy models pictured here) was the most popular of the percussion pistols at that time.  The Navy Model came with standard walnut grips and distinctive ship engravings.  The 1851 Navy had an octagon barrel, squared back trigger guard and no front sight. The Union government bought only 17,000 of the 38,000 Navy Model pistols that were produced.  The Colt Army Model 1860 .44 caliber was a streamlined version of the 1848 dragoon and weighed two pounds 11 ounces, less than half the weight of the dragoon.  The Colt Army model is 14 inches long only slightly differing from the Navy Model which is one inch shorter.  Colt replaced the octagonal barrel with a round barrel featuring internal rifling and the hinged loading lever with a new creeping lever in 1860.  The Union purchased over 107,000 of the revolvers between 1861 and 1863 with a price tag of $13.75 each.  That price made the Colt Army Revolver far more expensive than those made by Remington or Starr.  The high cost coupled with the death of Colt in 1862 caused government orders to cease after November 1863.

Griswold and Gunnison Revolvers
The Confederate government gave interest free loans and lucrative contracts to encourage a number of entrepreneurs to begin making sidearms for the army.  Griswold and Gunnison were one of only three manufacturers of pistols who took advantage of those incentives and the only company to achieve any degree of success in the South.  In 1862, the Confederate Ordnance Department selected Griswold and Gunnison to make all the pistols they possibly could.  Griswold operated a cotton gin factory in Georgia before the war so he and Gunnison set up their manufacturing operation there.  Their pistols were almost exact replicas of the Colt .36 caliber Navy pistol.  The main differences between the two pistols were the brass frame instead of steel and a round barrel.  The Confederate army used brass because of a shortage of suitable metals.  The pistols were of good quality but the company was only able to make 3,600 pistols during its three year existence.  The revolvers were sold to the Southern army for an astounding price of $40.00 each.  The factory was destroyed by Gen. Sherman in 1864.  Today, only a few of these pistols remain.

The LeMat
A French born New Orleans physician named Jean Alexander Francois LeMat invented the most formidable handgun used during the Civil War.  Col. LeMat as he was sometimes called, patented his unique revolver in 1856.  The double barrel sidearm had a cylinder that held nine .44 caliber rounds fired from the top barrel and a load of buckshot in the lower .63 (18 ga.) caliber barrel.  The configuration of the hammer in the position to fire the nine shot cylinder can be seen in the top right photo.  The lower barrel was fired by a flick of the thumb which repositioned the small "inner hammer".  The configuration of the hammer in the position to fire the lower shotgun barrel can be seen in the lower left photo. Notice the striker at the top of the hammer has been rotated down to strike the nipple of the lower shotgun barrel.  This central (lower) barrel would serve as a cylinder pin as well as the secondary barrel. 

The revolver was 13.25 inches long.  There were three primary versions of this pistol commonly referred to as the Navy edition, the Army edition and the most popular Cavalry edition; but more accurately known as first and second models, early to mid-Paris Transitional models, the London model and so on. 

One of the early production problems with this revolver was that the pistols were designed in a non standard ammunition size.  The standard revolver sizes for both the Union and Confederate troops were .36 or .44 caliber.  The LeMat was manufactured in .40, .42 or .35.  A soldier in the field would be limited to what the arsenals could provide, or he would be forced to make his own bullets.  Soon the LeMats were developed in standard caliber sizes. 

LeMat manufactured about 300 of these well made and very reliable revolvers in New Orleans before the war.  Due to production and material problems, LeMat returned to France to have the weapon mass-produced for the Confederacy.  French made pistols had their problems and the first batch were found to be of poor quality and none were purchased by the Southern army.  LeMat didn't give up but instead contracted with Belgian and English firms and soon 3,000 high quality revolvers reached the South.  This run of pistols came with either an 18 or 20 gauge shot barrel and a full length extension could be added to the shotgun barrel of one type of the weapon.  The pistol was also offered with two different barrels, one a full octagon upper barrel and the other with a top barrel that was a half octagon.  The loading arm itself is interesting in that the rod, which can be removed in all variations of the LeMat revolvers, is a tool.  Its end is threaded, either for mounting a cleaning brush or as a “stuck” ball removing adaptation.  This rod also has a groove cut in it for holding a cleaning swatch.  There is a third groove cut into the rod at the bottom.  That groove is thinner and has a small (approximately 1mm) hole at the end. 

An example of the Second Model revolver is pictured at upper right.  Many of these percussion pistols were given to prominent Confederates as gifts.  General J.E.B. Stuart was known to be very fond of his LeMat.  Gen Beauregard, who also carried the pistol, was rumored to be in partnership with LeMat in manufacturing the revolver and historians still argue if General "Stonewall" Jackson owned one.

The photo at left  is an example of the early to mid-Paris Transitional model.  It has the full octagonal barrel.  The spur trigger looked good and was also helpful in stabilizing the gun while firing.  A substitution of an integral butt-cap lanyard ring instead of the rotating one and the "LeMat" logo was moved to the right side of the barrel.  The first models had problems with the right hand side loading arm as it dislodged or broke and could become jammed in the cylinder.  The arm was also mounted into the metal of the barrel, creating a potential weak spot.  The loading arm was moved to the left side of the transitional model and a change in its configuration and mounting it into the gun's frame addressed these issues.  Also on this model a small screw was added in the barrel lock lever.  This mechanism of locking the frame and barrel together was the final modification.  An additional advantage of all types of LeMat revolvers over its five or six-shot percussion competitors (Colt, etc.), was that the Le Mat delivered nine shots of high caliber plus a grapeshot load, effectively doubling the firepower that a single soldier could deliver.  Equipping an entire unit with these would give them significant advantages over opposing forces.

The England LeMat is even more rare than the transitional model.  It is not clear when production of the LeMat revolver in England began.  LeMat received an English patent for his two-barrel revolver in early 1862, but there are no surviving records of the actual production dates.  The experts have long wondered who made these guns in England, with some speculation focusing on the London Arms Company, although there is no evidence to support such a claim.  The production of LeMats in England took place at the same time as the production of the Second Model LeMats in France and was completed prior to the summer of 1864, when the last of the Paris address LeMats were made; so London LeMats are in fact earlier guns than the late Second Model Paris LeMats.  There are only two known surviving examples of the "London LeMats".  Notice the different style lanyard ring on the butt of this example.  A photo of the English manufactured LeMat is pictured at the right. 

The Baby LeMat
The extremely rare Baby LeMat Pattern Percussion Revolver was made in Paris, France in 1861 through 1862.  Of the 2,000 Baby LeMats ordered from Girard and Cie in June 1864 for the C.S.A., only about 100 were delivered and those revolvers had to run a Union blockade of the South to do so.  It is debatable if any others made it through the blockade and the Confederate import receiving site at Wilmington, North Carolina, was captured on January 15, 1865.  This made further imports of arms practically impossible.  The nine shot .32 caliber revolver with an octagonal top rifled barrel was accompanied by a .41 caliber center shotgun barrel.  The top barrel was 4 and 1/4 inches long and the bottom shotgun barrel was 4 and 5/16 inches long.  The originals were hand-engraved with "Systeme LeMat Bte s.g.d.g. Paris" on top with a line border.  The Baby LeMat was adorned with the same checkered walnut grips and engraved iron escutcheons as its big brother.  This small Le Mat, whether percussion or cartridge, is one of the most rare and sought-after of the LeMat series firearms.  The one pictured here on the top left (serial number 75) belonged to Lt. Murdaugh of the C.S.A. Navy.  This pistol's value was increased even more because it has the acceptance stamp of Lieutenant Murdaugh, the Confederate Arms Inspector in London, indicating its Confederate origins.  It sold at auction in March, 2003, for $75,600.00.   There are only twelve known Baby LeMats in existence today.
 

Leech and Rigdon
The little known Leech and Rigdon company was formed within a year of the outbreak of the Civil War and they soon were producing substantial numbers of their revolvers for the Confederacy.  More than 1,500 of their pistols were bought by the Confederate Ordnance Department.  Charles Rigdon of St. Louis was a scale maker in the north but being a Southern sympathizer, he moved his equipment to Memphis, Tenn., where he joined forces with Thomas Leech.  Leech was a manufacturer of military cutlery and dabbled in small arms repair.  In 1862, Leech and Rigdon began producing swords and other military equipment.  When their company moved to Columbus, Mississippi, in 1863-64, they started turning out pistols.  About 1,500 of their revolvers were purchased by the Confederacy.  Their design was based on the Colt Model 1851 Navy revolver.  The Leech and Rigdon had an iron barrel and frame instead of steel with brass back straps and trigger guard.  Due to a shortage of steel, a lot of brass and iron parts were used in the manufacturing process.  Unfortunately, this resulted in some inferior metal casings which led to poor performing actions.  The invading Union army pushed the company from city to city and finally Leech and Rigdon quit manufacturing pistols in 1863.

Remington Revolvers
The Colt patent expired in 1857 and the E. Remington and Sons company took immediate advantage of its demise by introducing its own pistol designs.  The Beals-Remington company designed two double action revolvers that were manufactured in .31 caliber and held five shots.  The U.S. War Dept. bought nearly 3,000 pistols of this style.  The high quality and low price of the Remington revolvers led the U.S. government to purchase 125,314 of the Army model pistols and 4901 of the navy model pistols.  The Remington six shot .44 caliber percussion pistol edged out the Colt pistol in overall sales to the Union army.  The Remington .31 caliber pocket pistols were popular and are widely remembered today but in fact fewer than 1,000 were made.  Remington is best known for it's Navy Model 1861 in .36 caliber and the Army Model 1863 in .44 caliber.  Both were six shooters and being manufactured after 1860 they were mostly in the hands of the Union army.  Soon, Remington developed an innovative loading system.  The New Model 1863 further enhanced these features with added safety notches on the rear of the cylinders.  The pistol weighed 2 pounds 14 ounces and sported an octagonal barrel that was 6 1/2 inches long.  The Remington was considered one of the finest revolvers of the civil war, and was sought after by troops of both sides.  The Remington has several design advantages over the Colt.  The Remington's solid single piece frame gave it the advantage of strength and accuracy over time.  The trigger groove in the cylinder between each chamber allowed the hammer to rest in a safe position with the cylinder fully loaded as opposed to the Colt's hammer resting on a loaded chamber. But the biggest advantage is that the user of a Remington can reload within seconds by changing out the empty cylinder for a loaded one.  To change the cylinder, the trooper only had to drop the loading lever, slide out the cylinder pin, slide in a freshly loaded spare cylinder, slide back in the cylinder pin and snap shut the loading lever.

Starr Revolvers
Inventor Ebenezer (Eban) Townsend Starr's company in New York manufactured 3 types of percussion revolvers.  The Starr company was noted for it's carbine but they did produce and sell a .44 caliber pistol to the Union army.  Union soldiers in the western campaigns used the Starr double action revolver (weighing almost three pounds) but at the urging of the U.S. Ordnance Department the Starr Arms Company of New York scrapped its expensive self cocking (double action) Army revolver which sold for $25.00 each for the more conventional and much cheaper single action design.  The Union bought 25,000 of the .44 caliber single action percussion pistols with eight inch barrels and fewer parts to break for $12.00 each.  The Union purchased a total of 47,454 of Starr's pistols making it the third most popular pistol used in the Civil War.  By the close of the war, the Starr Arms Company had grown so dependent on its sales to the government that it could no longer survive without the military orders and by 1867 the company closed its doors.  During its short time in business, the Starr Arms Company produced about 48,000 revolvers, 26,000 carbines and an unknown number of derringer pistols.

References
Time Life Books
Echoes Of Glory
Hard Tack And Coffee
Various internet sources
Atlas Of Official Records
The Muzzleloading pistol
Black Powder Gun Digest