Part 16 (1/2)

That was the end--for he died the next day after lingering agonies--of Alexander Hamilton, the greatest intellect and one of the greatest personalities a.s.sociated with the beginning of this Government. It was also the end of his successful antagonist, Aaron Burr, for thereafter he was a marked man, an avoided, a hated man. When abroad in 1808, he gave Jeremy Bentham an account of the duel, and said that he ”was sure of being able to kill him.” ”And so,” replied Bentham, ”I thought it little better than a murder.” ”Posterity,” the historian adds, ”will not be likely to disturb the judgment of the British philosopher.”

II. Andrew Jackson as a Duellist

Comparatively speaking, the next great duel on my list attracted little more than local attention at the time. Years after, when one of them who took part in it had risen to national fame, and was a candidate for the Presidency, it was revived and made much of. On Friday, the 30th of May, 1806, Charles d.i.c.kinson, a young man of brilliant abilities, born in Maryland and residing in Tennessee, met Andrew Jackson, of the {249} latter state, near the banks of a small stream called the Red River, in a sequestered woodland glade in Logan County, Ky., a day's ride from Nashville.

Unwittingly, and with entire innocence on the part of both parties, Andrew Jackson had placed his wife in an equivocal position by marrying her before a divorce had separated her from her husband[1]. Absolutely no blame, except, perhaps, a censure for carelessness, attaches to Jackson or his wife, and their whole life together was an example of conjugal affection. However, his enemies--and he had many--found it easy to strike at him through this unfortunate episode. There did not live a more implacable and unforgiving man, when his wife was slandered, than Andrew Jackson.

d.i.c.kinson, who was a political rival, spoke slurringly of Mrs. Jackson.

He apologized for it on the plea that he had been in his cups at the time, but Jackson never forgave him. A political difference as an ostensible cause of quarrel soon developed. d.i.c.kinson sent a challenge which was gladly accepted. The resulting duel was probably the most dramatic that ever occurred in the United States. d.i.c.kinson was a dead shot. So, for that matter, was Jackson, but d.i.c.kinson was remarkable for the quickness of his fire, while Jackson was slower. The arrangements stipulated that the combatants should be placed at the close distance of eight paces; that the word ”fire!” should be given, after which each was to fire one shot at will. Rather than be hurried and have his aim disturbed, Jackson determined to sustain d.i.c.kinson's fire and then return it at his leisure.

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”What if he kills you or disables you?” asked his second.

”Sir,” replied Jackson deliberately, ”I shall kill him though he should hit me in the brain!”

This is no gasconade or bravado, but simply an evidence of an intensity of purpose, of which no man ever had a greater supply than Andrew Jackson.

d.i.c.kinson fired instantly the word was given. A fleck of dust arose from the loose coat which covered the spare form of the General, but he stood apparently untouched. d.i.c.kinson, amazed, shrank back from the peg indicating his position. Old General Overton, Jackson's second, raised his pistol.

”Back to the mark, sir!” he thundered, as the unhappy young man exclaimed in dismay.

”Great G.o.d! Have I missed him?”

d.i.c.kinson recovered himself immediately, stepped back to the mark, and folded his arms to receive Jackson's fire. The hammer of the Tennesseean's pistol stopped at half-c.o.c.k. He deliberately re-c.o.c.ked his weapon, took careful aim again, and shot d.i.c.kinson through the body. Seeing his enemy fall, Jackson turned and walked away. It was not until he had gone one hundred yards from the duelling ground and was hidden by the thick poplar trees, that his second noticed that one of his shoes was filled with blood. d.i.c.kinson had hit the General in the breast, inflicting a severe wound, and might have killed him had not the bullet glanced on a rib. The iron-nerved Jackson declared that his reason for concealing his wound was that he did not intend to give d.i.c.kinson the satisfaction of knowing that he had hit his enemy before he died.

Twenty-two years after, as Jackson stood by his dead wife's body, he ”lifted his cane as if appealing to {251} heaven, and by a look commanding silence, said, slowly and painfully, and with a voice full of bitter tears:

”'In the presence of this dear saint I can and do forgive all my enemies. But those vile wretches who have slandered her must look to G.o.d for mercy!'”

III. The Killing of Stephen Decatur

The idol of the American Navy was Stephen Decatur. James Barron, a disgraced officer under suspension for his lack of conduct during the famous affair between the British s.h.i.+p _Leopard_ and the American s.h.i.+p _Chesapeake_, had taken no part in the war of 1812, for causes which afforded him sufficient excuse; but subsequently he sought re-employment in the navy. Decatur, who had been one of the court which tried and sentenced him before the war, and who was now a naval commissioner, opposed his plea. The situation brought forth a challenge from Barron. Decatur was under no necessity of meeting it.

As commissioner, he was in effect, Barron's superior, and Was.h.i.+ngton had laid down a rule for General Greene's guidance in a similar case that a superior officer is not amenable to challenge from a junior officer whom he has offended in course of duty. The principle is sound common sense, as everybody, even duellists, will admit. Nevertheless, such was the state of public opinion about questions of ”honor” that Decatur felt constrained to accept the challenge.

The two naval officers met on the duelling ground at Bladensburg, ”the c.o.c.kpit of Was.h.i.+ngton duellists,” on the 22nd of March, 1820. Barron was near-sighted, and insisted upon a closer distance than the usual ten paces. They were placed a scant eight {252} paces apart. Decatur, who was a dead shot, did not wish to kill Barron; at the same time he did not deem it safe to stand his adversary's fire without return.

Therefore he stated to his second that he would shoot Barron in the hip. Before the duel, Barron expressed the hope that if they met in another world they might be better friends. Decatur replied gravely that he had never been Barron's enemy. Under such circ.u.mstances it would appear that the quarrel might have been composed without the shedding of blood.

At the word ”two” the men fired together, Decatur's bullet struck Barron in the hip, inflicting a severe but not mortal wound. At the same instant Barron's bullet pa.s.sed through Decatur's abdomen, inflicting a wound necessarily fatal then, probably so, even now. As he lay on the ground the great commodore said faintly:

”I am mortally wounded--at least, I believe so--and I wish I had fallen in defence of my country.”

He died at ten o'clock that night, regretted by all who love brave men the world over.

IV. An Episode in the Life of James Bowie

Of a different character, but equally interesting, was an encounter in August, 1829, which has become famous because of one of the weapons used with deadly effect. On an island in the Mississippi River, opposite Natchez, which was nothing but a sand bar with some undergrowth upon it, a party of men met to witness and second a duel between a Dr. Maddox and one Samuel Wells. The spectators were all interested in one or the other combatant, and had taken part in a neighborhood feud which arose out of a speculation in land.

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