Civil War Deringer

The Pedersoli Philadelphia Deringer pistols are faithful reproductions of the Henry Deringer chambered in .45 caliber percussion.

The Henry Deringer’s long-established reputation as a pistol for one’s self-protection was forever tarnished by John Wilkes Booth who used a model like the example shown to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln on the evening of April 14th, 1865.

The Pedersoli reproduction of the Henry Deringer model with the 3-1/16th-inch barrel is fitted with a dovetailed front sight.

Longer barreled Henry Deringer models were often carried by U.S. soldiers in the 1840s, 1850s and during the Civil War. Many were fitted with a belt clip, as illustrated in the daguerreotype of Private Robert Patterson, Co. D 12th Tennessee Infantry.

The pistols are finished with authentic details including the ‘DERINGER PHILLA’ stamping on the lockwork.

Among Deringer imitators, which numbered in excess of two dozen, were the guns of Slotter & Co., also located in Philadelphia and established by former Henry Deringer employee Henry Schlotterbeck.

Slotter & Co. was particularly known for its “Peanut” size Derringer pistols with 1-1/2-inch barrel.

Loaded with 30 grains of Pyrodex P, a .010 patch and .440 lead ball; the pistol placed the first shot (No.1.) within 3-inches of point of aim. A second shot (No. 2) landed within an inch. Stepping back to 50 feet, the shots opened up to several inches (Nos. 3, 4, 5) but all within the chest area of the target.

Authenticity was Pierangelo Pedersoli’s goal in offering a copy of the most famous of the Philadelphia Deringer models. The Pedersoli reproductions (top) are shown in comparison with an original gun.

While many of Henry Deringer’s single-shot pistols were to be found in the pockets and purses of an unending rabble of nefarious characters, they were just as likely to be in the discrete possession of gentlemen who chose not to appear armed, and during the Civil War often stuffed into the waist sashes or gun belts of soldiers on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. The Philadelphia Deringer was truly an everyman’s gun. With all due respect to Samuel Colt’s five-shot, .31 caliber, Model 1849 pocket pistol, the best-selling percussion revolver ever made, the single-shot Henry Deringer was destined to become the most famous and infamous handgun of the mid 19th century.

Henry Deringer, Jr. was born into gunmaking; his father was one of the most respected Kentucky rifle makers in Colonial America. After apprenticing, first with his father and then with the Virginia Manufactory in Richmond, Henry Deringer, Jr. established his own gun making business in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Initially Henry Jr. had worked with his father at the newly incorporated Philadelphia Rifle Manufactory producing flintlock rifles for the U.S. government, building Trade Guns, and other more elaborate hunting arms for sportsmen. Henry Jr. also began manufacturing small, high-quality flintlock pistols around 1825, quickly moving to the new and easier to handle caplock design shortly after. By 1841 Henry Deringer, Jr. had become one of the most celebrated gunmakers in America and he owed it all the little single-shot pistols that bore his name and Philadelphia address.

Even before the Civil War, carrying one or two Deringer single-shots had become common among Calvary men on the frontier. While not a military-issued sidearm, it was wise for a solder fighting against hostiles, as well as Mexican soldiers during the Mexican-America War (1846-1848), to have a brace of the little hammer guns tucked into a belt or secreted into the pocket of their tunic. Longer barreled Deringer pistols were even fitted with belt hooks to make them more easily accessible.

For more on this check out issue #74 of Guns of the Old West