W. H. CALHOUN

#225 W. H. Calhoun was a fancy goods merchant in Nashville, Tennessee during and well before the Civil War. Fancy goods merchants sold jewelry, watches, and guns which sort of fitted together in those days and times. Calhoun never made guns himself as far as I know and was not a gunsmith. This is a genuine Henry Deringer gun surcharged or marked with the agent’s name on the barrel. This gun has typical Henry Deringer characteristics such as German silver furniture and a pineapple finial on the trigger plate. The stock is made without ramrod. The caliber is .370.

The barrel markings are in four lines on the top flat and appear to be marked each line individually as follows:

Man^d for
W. H. Calhoun
Agent,
Nashville, Tenn.

DANIEL L. SWETT & CO.

#282 L. Swett was a dealer of guns and general merchandise in Vicksburg, Mississippi and as far as I know never made guns himself. The guns that I have seen by this maker were all Henry Deringer agent marked guns. This speciment is very typical of a genuine Henry Deringer such as with ramrod, German silver furniture, and pineapple finial on the trigger plate.

The barrel markings are in three lines and it appears to be one stamp because each line is so perfect when compared with the other. The markings are as follows:

Made for
L. Swett & Co.
Vicksburg, Miss.

This name represents an agent primarily since no guns not of Henry Deringer manufacture are known. Newspaper advertisements of that period show he operated in the late 1850’s. It is interesting to notice that Mrs. Jefferson Davis carried a Swett derringer in her purse. The gun is now on display in the old capitol museum in Jackson, Mississippi.