Danish Cavalry Pistol
Danish produced in 1852
This pistol was manufactured in Denmark at the Kronborg Arms Factory in 1852. This pistol belonged to the 101st soldier, 1st Squadron, 2nd Dragoon regiment. It is not known if the pistol saw active combat, but it may have been used in the Second Danish-Prussian war.
Denmark first attempted to incorporate the duchy of Slesvig into the Danish kingdom in 1848. Because it was inhabited by both Danes and Germans, Denmark had thought of Slesvig as old Danish land. This belief led to the first Danish-Prussian war in 1848, which ended in a Danish victory in 1851. However, Slesvig, along with Holstein and Lauenborg, was a German duchy that King Christian IX owned separately from his title of king of Denmark. Prussia therefore treated the attempted incorporation of Slesvig as an effort to annex German lands. Denmark lost devastatingly and was forced to give up Slesvig, Holstein and Lauenborg. The border was moved up to just south of Ribe and followed Kongeåen up to just south of Kolding. Denmark would get some of Slesvig back after the 1920 election where Northern Slesvig voted for joining Denmark.
Danish Cavalry Pistol
Denmark
1852
Birch, Metal
Gift of Larry Gundersen
2019.045.003
Photograph
Photo shows Niels Peter Hoegh and his family. He emigrated from Als, a large island near the Danish German border, in 1868 to escape being drafted into the Prussian army. If he had been drafted, he could have ended up fighting in the Franco-Prussian war. Als kept their Danish traditions alive, and the 1920 reunification vote had over 75 percent in favor of becoming Danish.
