Henry Deringer of the famed Philadelphia company believed that the
greatest part of his trade was in the southern states. It was only
proper that many independent makers of derringer type guns would spring
up throughout the area where they were so popular. The line from St.
Louis to New Orleans was the starting point for the westward trade and
many of these guns were carried as a hideout weapon to California during
the most popular period from 1845 through 1870. A casual study shows
great differences between the southern made derringers and those of
Philadelphia, each of which has its own peculiar and particular
characteristics.
In the court case of Henry Deringer vs. Plate, Deringer states that he
started producing his celebrated small gun in 1825. A careful study of
the southern manufactured derringers shows that all of them started
around 1855 or later with some of them continuing production until the
1870s.
There are two kinds of Southern Derringers; those that are made by Henry
Deringer with agent markings and those that are manufactured in the
South.
Henry Deringer pistols bearing agents names and marked with the legend
“MAN^d for” appear to date from the earlier period of his manufacture.
Later pistols omit this stamping and read, for example:
WOLF & DURRINGER LOUISE KY AGENTS
LULLMAN & VIENNA MEMPHIS, TENN.
Please note that the Calhoun, Hyde & Goodrich, J. B. Gilmore, Lullman &
Vienna and the two F. H. Clarks are marked with the earlier marking,
while the Swett, the one F. H. Clark and the two Lullman & Vienna’s are
marked with the later type of stamping. These are the only guns in my
collection that are genuine Henry Deringers.
Of those southern made derringers that are manufactured in that area,
only a few have the escutcheon plate underneath the forearm with a screw
through the plate holding the barrel. Most of this type did not use a
wedge but one did use a wedge and this screw. Many used a screw through
the trigger plate to the barrel.
A few of the southern made derringers had flat butts particularly those
of Nashville and Memphis.
About half of the southern manufactured guns had octagon barrels and the
other half had those of the Henry Derringer style with a round barrel
and a rib on top.
Never before have I observed a gun photograph using a mirror to show the
underside of a forearm and the guard. Although this innovation is about
1½ inches out of focus, because of the extra light travel, it does show
these features that are otherwise hidden and that are very important in
identification. All of this photography, and for our catalog, is done
with an ancient Polaroid with portrait lenses.
In 1957 I obtained my first specimen of a southern made derringer from
Nathan Swayze, author of “51 Colt Navies”, at the Jackson Mississippi
Gun Show. This was a Glassick Derringer as was my second gun obtained
later that year at another Jackson Mississippi Gun Show.
About one year later from Horace Tolliver of Manchester, Tennessee I
traded for two more derringers, one a Glassick and the other a Schneider
& Glassick.
By 1961 I had six or eight different guns and I cannot now remember in
what order they arrived and who I obtained them from. About 1962 I
stopped buying Yankee. Deringers and still have thirty odd such pieces.
They were too easy to get.
By this time I began to hear rumors of other makers that were not listed
in any of the gun books and I drifted along for a few years until about
1965 or 1966 gathering together perhaps a total of fifteen or eighteen
of the guns.
My appetite was whetted in 1963 when Theodore Dexter, a prominent gun
dealer of that time, offered for sale a pair of Louis Hoffman,
Vicksburg, Mississippi derringers in awfully nice condition. So, another
pair had turned up that I had never heard of nor had anyone ever seen
before. One of these guns is now in Mississippi near Vicksburg and the
other is in a prominent collection in California and someday I would
like to get these two back together and perhaps in my possession. All of
this information made me real warm towards expanding the collection of
Southern Derringers especially after I saw an O’Dell, a Linde and a
Merriman. Slowing somewhat in my collection of military long guns before
1890, my collection of Kentucky Rifles, Colt Pistols, Confederate
Revolvers, Confederate Veterans Reunion Badges and certain other items,
I began to concentrate more on the Southern Derringers until today I
have over fifty of these guns.
Five guns exist that I do not have. They are A. J. Millspaugh,
Shreveport, H. G. Newcomb, Natchez, J. A. Schaffer, Vicksburg, Louis
Hoffman, Vicksburg and Holyoake-Lownes & Co. One other, F. Schumann is
authenticated by newspaper accounts of that period as having made
derringers but not a single specimen has ever turned up according to my
collector friends. Of great importance though is a derringer barrel,
octagon in shape, marked “F. Schumann, Memphis, Tennessee” that has
never been assembled or made into a gun. This specimen is in Dixie’s
collection and was found 30 years ago in an old Memphis gun repair
store.
By no means have I completed my collection. I do look forward to years
of hunting for additional pieces, adding more information to my papers
and if enough of you good readers are interested in this book so that I
can dispose of the first 1000 copies, I will look forward to the time
when it can be reprinted with additional information.