DERINGER

Today is Abraham Lincoln's birth date in 1809.  Henry Deringer from Pennsylvania was born in 1786.  Lincoln was our 16th president and Deringer was a gunsmith.

On Good Friday in 1865, Lincoln was attending a play in Washington, D.C. and a man named John Wilkes Booth was there carrying a gun made by Deringer.  Robert E. Lee, General of the South, had surrendered his army just five days before and effectively ended our Civil War, the bloodiest war in our country's history. 

That gun that Booth carried was a single shot .44 caliber manual pistol - yank the hammer back, pull the trigger, a large ball of lead at relatively low speed exits the barrel.  He had to have the gun within a foot or two of Lincoln's head to ensure he would hit him.  Unlike modern guns, this projectile does not blow out the brains.  It lodges there and, if it hasn't caused enough damage, lead poisoning sets in.  The President didn't die until the next day.

The little hand gun that Booth used became famous.  With it's small size, it was a natural for self-protection.  Many other gun shops started making them.  They all became known as derringers.  Notice that the original was made by Deringer (one r) and the name that stuck has two r's.

From now on, when you hear about a derringer, think about Abe Lincoln.