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The fatal duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr shocked the nation. But it was the identity of the man killed that produced such dismay. ... In America, duels were fought by men from all ...
Levy had previously participated in another quick-draw duel with gunfighter Michael Casey, who challenged him in an alleyway in Pioche, Nevada. March 22, 1882: Wyatt Earp killed an outlaw named Florentino "Indian Charlie" Cruz in a duel in the Dragoon Mountains of southeastern Arizona. Although the actual events are still debated by historians ...
- Jackson vs. Dickinson
- Benton vs. Lucas
- Decatur vs. Barron
- Graves vs. Cilley
- Lincoln vs. Shields
- Clay vs. Randolph
One of most famous duels involved Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickinson. In 1806, the two men met in combat after Dickinson insulted Jackson’s wife. Dickinson was regarded as one of the best duelers in America. Jackson was a fearless soldier. The future president survived Dickinson’s first shot but Jackson's pistol jammed. In a breach of the code du...
Another frequent dueler was Thomas Hart Benton, who fought with Jackson, and had two duels with a rival attorney, Charles Lucas. Benton killed Lucas in their second duel in 1817. As a senator, Benton became Jackson's right-hand man in Congress.
In 1820, a top Navy commander, Stephen Decatur, died in a duel with a former naval commander, James Barron. Barron apologized to Decatur as he fell wounded. Decatur accepted, saying it was an honorable duel.
Two members of the House of Representatives fought in a fatal 1838 duel, when Kentucky Representative William Jordan Graves killed Maine Representative Jonathan Cilley. Graves was sent to deliver a dueling invitation from New York newspaper editor James Webb, but he wound up fighting Cilley. The Supreme Court boycotted the funeral in protest.
Then, in 1842, an Illinois state legislator got in hot water after he allegedly published a letter insulting state auditor James Shields. Shields challenged the author of the letter to a duel. The alleged author: Abraham Lincoln. By the time the two men met for the duel, however, the duelers' seconds were able to convince them to settle on the grou...
Perhaps the oddest duel was between Secretary of State Henry Clay and Senator John Randolph in 1826. A known hothead, Randolph accused Clay of “crucifying the Constitution and cheating at cards” in a speech on the Senate floor. Randolph was a much better dueler and didn’t want to kill the secretary of state, so he worked with another chronic dueler...
- The Burr-Hamilton Duel. The most famous duel in American history is unquestionably that which occurred between Vice President Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, who greatly influenced the founding of America’s economy and was possibly on track to become President himself.
- The Jackson-Dickinson Duel. Prior to his presidential career, Andrew Jackson was known for his inclination to invoke violence in defense of his honor; he was the veteran of at least 13 duels.
- The Clay-Randolph Duel. John Randolph was quite a character. He fought his first duel at 18, seriously wounding a fellow student over his mispronunciation of a word.
- The Lincoln-Shields Duel. As an elected official in the Illinois State Legislature, future President Abraham Lincoln was sharply critical of James Shields’ performance as Illinois State Auditor.
May 24, 2016 · By the time Hamilton died in 1804, dueling had become a fixture in the United States. The bloody custom was brought over from Great Britain in 1621. The first two duelists were servants in ...
At a time in America when the code of the duel was becoming a law unto itself, such restraint was not always apparent. Alexander Hamilton was the most celebrated casualty of the dueling ethic ...
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Jul 31, 2012 · At a time when many duels were fought between men for a disputed lady’s favor, two young women—Isabella de Carazzi and Diambra de Pettinella—competed for Zeresola’s affection in a public ...
