It is interesting to note that the three most advanced, self-contained metallic cartridge handguns to see use during the American Civil War were French designs. We looked at the most common of these revolvers, the Model 1854 Lefaucheux, a few months ago. At least 10,000 of those revolvers were imported during the course of the war. The second most purchased French cartridge revolver was the Model 1859 Perrin, of which at least 550 were purchased. The revolver acquired in the smallest number and least commonly encountered on the collector’s market is the subject of this month’s article, the socalled “Raphael.”
The Raphael revolver is distinguished among American Civil War used handguns for its rarity, its high price during the war, and the fact that the name we use to refer to the gun comes from the arms seller who provided them to the U.S. government, not its manufacturer or inventor. The correct name for the gun is actually the Model 1860 Pidault- Cordier Revolver, but these revolvers will be forever known as the “Raphael.”
The gun was a collaboration between Parisian gunmakers Martial Pidault and Charles Cordier. The pair received a French patent for their design on May 28, 1860. Author, researcher, and arms collector Marc Schwalm postulates in his book European Arms in The Civil War, that Cordier (who had helped develop the Thouvenin system for rifled small arms in the French military) was the inventor of the revolver and Pidault was the manufacturer.
Rear of the Raphael revolver cylinder with the hammer nose in the blind “safety” hole. Inset shows the loading gate open, and the cylinder freed to rotate separately from the back plate.
needed revolvers in the field. It also suggests that the Ordnance Department may have actually seen the advantages of a revolver that fired a self-contained metallic cartridge, instead of the standard issue cap and ball revolver. While some in the Ordnance Department may have been interested in experimenting with self-contained metallic revolver cartridges, it would take a presidential intervention to get them to change their minds about using metallic cartridge repeating long arms!
The military sized Raphael revolver fired an early center fire cartridge that was 11 mm (or roughly .42 caliber). A pocket model was produced in 8 mm as well, but that gun has no documentable Civil War association. The back plates of the revolvers had six holes, through which the firing pin on the hammer could contact the primer in the cartridge. There was one additional “blind hole,” between two firing pin holes, that allowed the firing pin to rest in it, as a primitive form of safety. To take the revolver “off safe,” you merely needed to pull the trigger.
The gun was loaded through a gate on the right hand side of the frame. This gate was actually part of the revolving back plate at the rear of the cylinder. This back plate normally revolved with the cylinder, but when the loading gate was opened, the back plate was unlocked from the cylinder. To open the gate, the firing pin was placed in the “blind hole” on the back plate. Once the gate was open, the cylinder rotated freely to load cartridges or remove spent rounds. In order to eject the spent cases, the user simply unscrewed the lanyard ring from the butt of the gun and used the rod projecting from it to push empty cases out of the chambers. Once the cylinder was rotated completely, the loading gate could be closed to lock the back plate and the cylinder to each other again.
The lock work of the gun was what we would call “conventional double action” today. The user could fire the gun by a long, deliberate pull on the heavy double-action trigger, or manually cock the hammer and have a lighter single-action pull for more accurate shooting. The revolver had some other uncommon features for the period. The cylinder arbor pin entered through the front of the frame in a conventional manner but was retained by a transverse screw at the rear of the frame, forward of the hammer. Removing this screw not only allowed the arbor pin to be withdrawn (freeing the cylinder from the revolver), it also allowed removal of a small side plate on the left side of the revolver. This sideplate concealed the hand and hand spring for the revolver, which were now easily accessible for repairs or maintenance.
The 11 mm guns were nominally 10.75 inches in overall length with a nominal 5.75 inch round barrel with a small octagonal section forward of the cylinder. The barrels varied slightly in length, typically within about +/- .125 inch. The barrels were rifled Reverse of Pidault-Cordier Model 1860 “Raphael” Revolver #188, with serial number from the frame web, forward of the cylinder, shown in the inset.
Raphael Revolver with the combination lanyard ring/ejector rod removed and inserted in a cylinder chamber to remove a cartridge. with eight narrow grooves. Sights included a simple notched rear sight mounted on top of the octagonal barrel flat, forward of the cylinder and a dovetailed front sight blade with a pyramidal base and sort of English style “peppercorn” bead on top. The guns were usually blued with the hammer and rear cylinder plate color case hardened.
The guns were typically unmarked, except for a serial and series of assembly numbers, although some sources claim that examples have been noted bearing the markings “Raphael Paris,” a marking that I have never seen either in person or in a photo. If the guns were to be marked at all, it would make more sense for them to bear the marks of Pidault or Cordier, the manufacturer or inventor, not the importer. The serial number was typically located on the left side of the frame forward of the cylinder. Assembly numbers were usually located on the front face of the cylinder, on the arbor pin, on the face of the frame, and inside the grips, although they have been found in other locations as well. The guns had two-piece walnut grips that were typically smooth and lightly varnished.
Some estimates place Civil War purchases of Raphael revolvers as high as 1,000 but this seems unlikely, as most of Raphael’s additional deliveries were at $16 each, and although many do not mention the type of revolver, at least one revolver delivery at that price is recorded as being Lefaucheux pattern pistols. According Fredrick Todd’s seminal work American Military Equipage 1851–1872, these revolvers were imported by the Confederacy as well as the U.S. government; however, Todd rightly points out that the unique cartridge required for the revolver makes any C.S. purchases a questionable decision. Additionally, Todd provides no documentation or evidence to support his assertion. Until such evidence surfaces, it seems unlikely that any were imported by the Confederacy and any Raphael revolvers that might have southern provenance were likely privately purchased prior to, or captured during the earliest days, of the war.
The Raphael revolver pictured in the accompanying photos is serial number 188 and has the assembly number 75 found on all the numbered parts. It retains much of its original blued finish, with faded case color present on the hammer, recoil shield, and cylinder back plate. The revolver retains its original grips and Publishers:
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3670 Falling Leaf Lane, Cumming GA 30041-2087 the original combination lanyard ring/ejector rod, that is often missing. Based upon extant examples, Raphael revolvers with potential Civil War association appear to be numbered in the high two-digit range through the 3XX serial number range.
Due to the relatively small numbers acquired, the Raphael remains a rather scarce handgun on the collector market today. For the collector who wants to display the three most advanced handguns of the American Civil War, they need only to find the three French cartridge pistols that foreshadowed the future of firearms: the Lefaucheux, the Perrin, and the Pidault-Cordier, aka the “Raphael.”
Tim Prince is a full-time dealer in fine & collectible military arms from the Colonial Period through WWII. He operates College Hill Arsenal, a web-based antique arms retail site. A long time collector & researcher, Tim has been a contributing author to two major book projects about Civil War era arms including The English Connection and a new book on southern retailer marked and Confederate used shotguns. Tim is also a featured Arms & Militaria appraiser on the PBS Series Antiques Roadshow.