| Fans of the Old West can probably guess from | | | | recent magazine article, "their accuracy at card |
| the title of this article what "little gun" I'm referring | | | | table range was actually good." The guns were so |
| to. That's right. I'm talking about the derringer | | | | well made that other arms makers began creating |
| (more properly, the "Deringer"), and specifically, | | | | replicas or imitations of the original, giving rise to a |
| I'm writing about the.41 caliber palm-sized Deringer | | | | whole group of pistols known by the misspelled |
| pistol used by Actor and Southern Sympathizer | | | | name "derringers." |
| John Wilkes Booth in the 1865 assassination of | | | | The Deringer, therefore, was an excellent choice |
| President Abraham Lincoln. | | | | for Booth when he shot Lincoln and vaulted from |
| If you're familiar with the history of America | | | | the balcony to the stage and into his place in |
| before and after that time we call "the Old West," | | | | American history. |
| you've probably seen lots of images in books and | | | | Which brings us back to the impact this single |
| movies, and perhaps even live replicas, of this | | | | action by such a small weapon had on American |
| toy-like firearm. It may have looked toy-like, but | | | | history, particularly on the history of the American |
| it was extremely lethal. According to writer Phil | | | | West. It was all in the fallout from Lincoln's |
| Spangenberger, an expert on weapons in general | | | | untimely and tragic death. Lincoln's sudden death |
| and guns in particular, the Deringer (his spelling and | | | | as the Civil War was ending is thought by many |
| capitalization) had been around many years in | | | | to have fueled the fires of a vindictive and overly |
| America but was perfected by Philadelphia arms | | | | harsh federal policy toward the Southern states in |
| maker Henry Deringer in the mid-1800s. Deringer | | | | the decade following the War. |
| manufactured a wide variety of weapons that | | | | (The Reconstruction Period, starting when the |
| fed the needs and wants of Westerners and | | | | war ended and ending with the presidency of |
| Western expansion in the early 19th Century. But | | | | Rutherford B. Hayes, is a subject best left to |
| his name and reputation was notably associated | | | | another day.) |
| with this small gun. | | | | Such rigid, even vindictive, and oppressive policies |
| Philadelphia Deringers were among the finest of | | | | literally prompted many Southern veterans and |
| these small guns, setting a high standard with | | | | their families to join the westward migration, |
| actual rifling in their tiny iron barrels. As a | | | | shaping the culture and politics of that entire |
| defensive weapon of choice, Spangenberger said | | | | region of America. |
| the easily carried and easily concealed one-shot | | | | Amazing that such a small firearm could have |
| miniatures were found extensively throughout the | | | | such a major impact on our history and on our |
| California gold fields of the 1850s and, he says in a | | | | present national culture! |