Whether you are in a crowded saloon or outside on the dangerous frontier in the wild west, sometimes staying alive meant depending on the weapon you carried by your side. Oftentimes this would be smaller firearms that were able to be easily concealed(even within a boot or handbag!) to have a bit more protection on them, such as a derringer pistol.
Created by Henry Deringer of Philadelphia, who was a famous 19th century manufacturer and started out by producing weapons for the military to use such as rifles and and muskets, the Derringer pistol is well known and still manufactured today. Deringer's father was also a gunsmith, making and refining his work on rifles, most notably the Kentucky rifle and pistol, and mentored his son in his craftsmanship. Although Philadelphia wasn't a huge manufacturing hub like other states such as New England or Massachusetts, they still produced a large amount of different weapons as they became more in demand. Although Henry Deringer got his start with his father and then helping out with military treaty contracts, he stopped fulfulling those in the mid 1840s and started working on his own personal endeavors with gun production. During the early 19th century, many firearms were actually individually handcrafted by gunsmiths rather than produced in a factory like they are today, meaning skilled craftsmanship was highly valued and often passed down through families, and specialisation to guns were unique.
The word derringer is a widespread misspelling of the surname of Deringer, and other gun manufacturers in various countries made many copies of the original Philadelphia Deringer pistol, with the surname frequently misspelled. However, other companies would also intentionally misspelled the name to avoid trademark or legal issues in order to continue production, as this error ultimately became a generic word to describe any pocket pistol, along with the generic phrase palm pistol that Deringer's competitors invented and used in their advertising. This was because Deringer never liscensed or bought a patent for his work, thus allowing anyone to remake his gun and sell it as their own. This actually led to Henry Deringer being involved in a Supreme Court case called Deringer v. Plate, where he sued A.J. Plate for trademark infringement in hopes of stopping people from using his name and design to sell their own guns. The court ultimately ruled in favour of Deringer, which led to his specific guns being called 'Deringers' while the general term 'derringer' refers to the generic term now used.
The original Deringer was a single-shot muzzle-loading pistol; with the advent of cartridge-operated firearms, these pistols began to be produced in their present form. Earlier muzzle-loading pistols required gunpowder, a projectile, and a percussion cap for it to be loaded separately, making the firing process slow and inconvenient in emergency situations. It was not created as a repeating weapon, as repeating mechanisms such as those in a semi-automatic pistol or revolver would make the pistol bulky, defeating its purpose fo being small and concealable. The original cartridge derringers used only a single cartridge, usually a 10mm caliber, usually spigot or rimfire, with its barrel pivoting to one side of the frame for chamber access and reloading. The design of the famous Remington derringer doubled its ammunition capacity, while retaining its compact size, by adding a second barrel on top of the first. The Deringer pistols were usually sold in sets of two to compensate for the fact that they were only a single shot, allowing buyers to have a backup shot with another gun if need be. The production of the pistol started a trend of making small pistols that only carried a few shots at most that weren't revolvers or automatic, not offering much firepower. A pair was usually sold at about $20 depending on the model and material it was made out of.
A derringer is generally the smallest functional pistol of any caliber, making them originally popular witth militant officers and regular citizens, they were also popular with women specifically as well. Women’s clothing at the time was known for layered dresses and limited pocket space, which made larger firearms impractical to carry. However, a compact derringer could be discreetly hidden in a handbag, muff, or under clothing, sometimes referred to as the "stocking pistol" for beign able to situate them in your stockings. For women who were traveling alone on stagecoaches or railroads across the frontier where law enforcement was sparse and danger unpredictable, the derringer offered a form of personal protection that could be carried without drawing attention. In an era like the wild west where women were still often expected to appear delicate and dependent on men instead, carrying a concealed weapon around allowed some women to maintain their sense of independence and security while traveling.
Since places like saloons and brothels were common places that larger guns would be considered an issue, the size of the Deringer was beneficial in these places in case the building banned obvious weapons, so they could still carry them in self defense. Sometimes these hang outs would get violent, whether it be from a lost gambling game or just a revengeful killing, meaning some carried a gun for survival regardless.
The Deringer pistol had its claim to fame when John Wilkes Booth used a .44-caliber pistol and .41 caliber ball successfully in his assassination of then current President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865 in the Ford’s Theatre as he was watching the show 'Our American Cousin'. Booth had probably selected the Deringer because of it's compact size that allowed him to conceal it easily while entering the theater without attracting any suspicion. Immediately upon his escape, Booth dropped the gun in the Presidental Box that the Lincolns were sitting in, and it was turned over to investigators to be used as evidence. It was then put on museum display in the Ford's Theatre National Historic Site. However, a little more than a century later, the gun was taken back out to be examined by the FBI once again to confirm whether it was the real thing or not after they were informed that it may had been replaced with a replica. Upon their examination by reviewing similar pistols, photo comparisons, and looking at the cracks and wear on the gun, the FBI confirmed that it was the same gun and was not replaced.
Derringer pistols continue to be in production today through companies such as Bond Arms and American Derringer, although there are more modern versions than those used back in the wild west that are more cartridge based and have better safety features on them for reliability. It is said that Henry Deringer produced about 15,000 original Philadelphia Deringer pistols between 1852 and 1868, with other models also reaching a high amount of manufacturing rates as well, such as the Snake Slayer and Remington Model 95 model. Modern derringers are typically made with stronger metals, improved safety mechanisms(like stated earlier), and more reliable cartridges than the original black powder models used during that century.
Today's derringers are used by historical reenactors of the Wild West, as well as concealed carry weapons because of their size and speed of use. Critics do not believe it is a suitable weapon for self-defence due to their limited bullet capacity. They are sometimes often common among collectors of antique guns and firearms. Derringer pistols are also commonly seen in Hollywood western movies, telvision shows, and even mentioned in cowboy novels, showing the legacy that they hold despite these depictions not always being accurate. The derringer has become symbolic of hidden danger in these western fiction because they are so easy to hide on your person, often portrayed as the secret weapon of gamblers, outlaws, or desperate characters during dramatic confrontations taht play out in these kinds of medias. These pistols can sometimes be found in museums alongside of reenactments, either real ones or replicas, showing off their iconic history.
All in all, the derringer pistol has a long and complicated history in some ways for a firearm that's so small yet so important even on the American frontier. From Henry Deringer’s original handcrafted pistols to the many copied and modernised versions that followed in years to come and now, even then the derringer left a lasting impact on firearm history and popular culture alike. Although it is sometimes criticised for its limited ammunition, this pistol’s role in famous history along with it being memorialised in museums, reenactments, and western media, demonstrates the lasting legacy it still holds today. The derringer ultimately reflects an important part of the Wild West era we know and love, remaining one of the most recognisable pocket pistols ever created.