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smoothbore “grape shot” barrel combined with its use by well-known Confederate military officers, including P. G. T. Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, and J. E. B. Stuart. They were designed by Jean Alexandre LeMat of New Orleans, but mainly manufactured in Liege, Belgium and Paris, France. Period advertisements for the revolvers refer to them as “LeMat’s Grape Shot Revolvers.” The upper barrel has “LEMAT’S PATENT” marked in an engraved panel on the breech section, a triangular front sight, and “286” on the right flat at the breech and on the underside ahead of the band for the lower barrel. The revolver has a loading lever on the right side of the upper barrel that houses a removable ramrod for loading the smoothbore lower barrel. The frame has a matching numbered improved assembly lever and has the matching serial number on the right side below the cylinder. The “grapeshot” barrel has the matching serial number on
the bottom near the breech end. The only marking visible on the cylinder is the matching serial number. Belgian LeMats are noted as sometimes missing Liege proofs. The revolver also features a spurred trigger guard, a pair of checkered walnut grips, and a lanyard ring. The cylinder chambers measure .40 caliber, and the “grapeshot” barrel measures .64 caliber (around 18 gauge).
This revolver was passed down through the family of Confederate General Lucius Jeremiah Gartrell (1821-1891) to the current owner who is a direct descendant via the consignor’s maternal line and Gartrell’s second wife, Antoinette Phoebe Burke (b. 1834). Per his obituary in the Columbus Esquirer-Sun on April 8, 1891, Gartrell was born in Wilkes County, Georgia, and studied at Randolph-
Macon College in Virginia and Franklin College in Georgia. He read law under Robert Toombs and became a lawyer. He served as a representative in Congress in the two years prior to the Civil War and resigned when Georgia seceded from the Union and raised the 7th Georgia Infantry Regiment and served as their commander prior to being elected to the Confederate Congress as a representative
104 for Georgia’s Fourth District.
LOT 1126
Historic Civil War First Model LeMat “Grapeshot” Percussion Revolver Passed Down Through the Family of Confederate Brigadier General Lucius Jeremiah Gartrell - Serial no. 286, 40 cal., 7 inch octagon and 7 inch round bbl., blue finish, checkered walnut grips. The
revolver is similar to other First Model LeMat revolvers, including sn. 282 shown on page 55 of “LeMat: The Man, The Gun” by Forgett and the Serpettes. These Belgian LeMats were manufactured c. 1861-1862.
The LeMat is one of the most distinctive and famous of all 19th century revolvers thanks to an unusual central