Deringer, Henry

Henry Deringer, (born Oct. 26, 1786, Easton, Pa., U.S.—died 1868), American gunsmith who was the inventor of the Derringer pistol. He was the son of Henry Deringer, Sr., a colonial gunsmith who made Kentucky rifles.

The younger Deringer began his career as an apprentice to a firearms maker in Richmond, Va. In 1806 he settled in Philadelphia and began his own arms-manufacturing plant. He won contracts to supply various types of guns to the United States government. His early percussion-cap pistols were long-barreled weapons that were designed to fit a belt. After 1825 he concentrated on making single-shot pistols. His small caplock pocket pistol became his most famous product. This pistol was easy to handle and accurate at short ranges. It was less than six inches long and was bored in calibres from .36 to .45, with .41 being the most common. This model was copied by many other manufacturers and was quite popular between the 1840s and the American Civil War. It was manufactured and sold into the late 20th century by Colt and others, often in .22 calibre, and sometimes gold-plated.

John Wilkes Booth used a Deringer pocket pistol to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. A reporter assembling the details called the gun a “Derringer” pistol in his story, adding an extra “r.” This incorrect spelling was widely repeated, and the pistol became known as the derringer.