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Liège-made revolvers |
BELGIAN-MADE REVOLVERS USED BY THE CONFEDERATE TROOPS
Although no exact number can be estimated, fact is that the Confederate have purchased a large number of European weapons, and among them, of course, were a number of Liège-made guns. As the main topic of this serial focuses on the handguns used by the Southern Army, and in particular the revolvers, I will leave apart all muskets, carbines and various rifles made in Liège on basis of French and British regular service ones.
From his London base and through the London Armoury Co, Caleb Huse endeavored to purchase as many percussion and pinfire revolvers as possible, preferably in the .44 and .36 calibers or in close European calibers such as the 12 and 9 mm. So one can assume that the LAC approached some Belgian gunmakers in order to purchase guns, and has also purchased all those that were found available on the free market.
However, the rather small quantities and the lack of information in the remaining Confederate archives do not allow even to estimate the number of Liège-made guns used by the Southerners. Original photographs of the era showing Confederate soldiers armed with Lefaucheux 1854-type pinfire revolvers, do not allow to say wether these weapons are original Lefaucheux or Belgian or Spanish copies.
What we do know, however, is that agents of both sides who were in charge of the purchases in Europe, often came into competition for the same lots. In that case of course, the highest bidder was always the winner. At the beginning of the war, the Confederation could afford to invest huge amounts of money, which enabled Caleb Huse to win several markets, while the Union agents were facing administrative difficulties and were also more looking for uniformity in the weapons.
However, from 1863 on, the losses on the battlefields and the tightening of the blockade rendered things more and more difficult for the Confederacy. Besides the growing lack of money, the main supply lines were cut one by one.
Also known as a fact is that the Confederate States purchased as many revolvers as possible on their local market during the few months or weeks preceding the Fort Sumter incident. Although they could not buy from the main American gun producers, who were almost all located in the Northern States and opposed to the Confederate cause, they still were able to buy a large number of pre-war Colts, Remington, Starr, Savage and other American guns on their local markets.
In order to try to get an idea of the possible number of Liège-made guns used by the Confederate troops (and being part of lots "officially" bought by the Confederation), one can compare the known figures of purchases on the European market:
Union Army:
9.146 Lefaucheux 1854 revolvers, directly delivered by Eugène Lefaucheux
1.500 Lefaucheux 1854 revolvers of the same serial, delivered by Alexis Godillot
944 Lefaucheux 1854 revolvers of the same serial, delivered by Georges Raphaël
333 Lefaucheux 1854 revolvers of the same serial supplied by 6 American traders
(All made by Lefaucheux, serial# 25067 to 36900)
1.075 Beaumont-Adams revolvers (not confirmed)
106 Raphaël central fire revolvers supplied by G. Raphaël
550 Perrin central fire revolvers delivered by Alexis Godillot
25 Lefaucheux 1854 type revolvers directly bought by Henri Stanford, US Minister in Belgium, from an unknown gunmaker (probably Francotte or Janssen)
A revolver Perrin
So we have here only 131 revolvers of confirmed Belgian origin: the 25 bought by Stanford and the 106 Raphaël. Raphaël never invented nor produced the revolver that bears his name, which is a Liège patent of 1854 owned by Mangeot-Comblain. However, the makers of these guns are still unidentified...
Godillot delivered only 1500 Lefaucheux on a total of 2000 ordered. The 500 remaining revolvers are said to have been lost in transport. The fact however that the Union Army lost confidence in Godillot after that loss and has rejected a new offer on 600 revolvers, leads to think that the 500 lost revolvers were in fact not lost to everyone. The guns could have fallen into Confederate hands during a raid.
Confederate Army:
- 2.000 to 5.000 French Lefaucheux 1854 revolvers (estimated)
- 5.000 or more revolvers of the same type, or of the 2nd and 3rd type, in 12 and 9 mm calibers, of Belgian, Spanish and British origin
- 9.000 British Kerr percussion revolvers (serial between 3.000 and 10.000, plus the pre-war deliveries)
All these guns were supplied by the London Armoury Co to Caleb Huse
- 8.000 LeMat percussion revolvers, including 3.000 for the Navy (an estimated number of 3.000 reached the South. Delivered by LeMat & Girard)
- An unknown number of various European made percussion revolvers, including Liège copies of the Colt 1851 Navy made by N. Gillon and other Liège gunmakers.
According to some authors, the 20 very first LeMat have been produced in the US y John Krider, while the first 450 serial numbers of the 1st Model were made at Liège. This is possible but highly doubtful, as only one Liège-made LeMat, contemporary of the Civil War, is known to be in existence today. It is a 2nd model with a high serial#, and its condition is close to mint. The maker is still unknown today, and no mention of a possible Liège contract has been found in the LeMat & Girard archives. However, the gun is of high quality and strictly identical to those made by LeMat & Girard.
Between 1858-59 and 1865, no trace of any increased activity can be found in the Liège gunmaking industry, which could indicate any war production effort, nor mass exportations to the United States.
We can conclude that the few thousands of Liège-made revolvers that found their way to Confederate hands were only parts of lots purchased on the European market by the LAC agents. No order from the Confederacy was ever placed by any Liège gunmaker, and it seems that none of the Liège gunmakers was interested in the potential market generated by that distant conflict.
Marcel