The Civil War’s LeMat Revolver: ‘The Doctor’ is in
When civil war broke out in the New World, the southern states found themselves awash in ideas but short on resources. Such was the condition when a forward thinking New Orleans doctor drafted a truly visionary personal defense weapon and put a large caliber pistol cum shotgun on the hips of eager Confederate officers.
Back in 1850s New Orleans was still much more French than American. The city’s Creole heritage extended from the names of the streets, to the language spoken in its taverns, to the very essence of its inhabitants and one such case study to this phenomenon was a physician by the name of Dr. Jean Alexandre Francois LeMat. Born in Paris to an aristocratic family, he studied first for the priesthood before taking up medicine at a military hospital. A darling of local society, he was very well connected, in fact, his New Orleans creole wife was cousin to Major Pierre Gustave Toustant Beauregard of the US Army (more on this connection to follow).
In 1856 at 32-years of age, Dr. LeMat applied for and was granted a patent (US 15925) for a rather interesting and flamboyant revolver.
Read the rest in my column at Guns.com
