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Dueling
Dueling in the south was as much as a part of the heritage as their agrarian life. Southerners had an in depth feeling of pride and if anyone was to make them feel any different then they were going to have to pay. In the dueling went right along with the class structure lines, as one will be able to tell in later readings. But before getting into great detail about southern life as a duelist one should look at the way this institution was first conceived in this region of the nation. The rules of the duello will also be covered as well as the class structure of the duel and some famous duels in southern history.
The first thing that one would logically want to understand is were the southern duel originated. The duels of "gentlemen" began in Ireland. Gentleman is a key word in this sentence because duels have been around since the beginning of time, but the art of a dueling class structure has not. The type of class duels came into a home in Ireland in the middle of the seventeenth century. It was recorded by a judge of the high courts that there were "two hundred twenty-seven memorable and official duels fought in his administration" (Cochran 14). The judge, Sir Jonah Barrington, served from seventeen fifty-seven until seventeen ninety-one. It was an understanding to the Irish people that a young man was not an adult or educated until he had had a duel with one of his colleagues (Cochran 14-15).
Dueling in the South and Ireland had a lot of commonalties along with a few differences in law. One would first want to look at the law of the Irish duello and compare it to that of the Southern version. One of the causes of the duel in Ireland was that a punch or a "blow with the fist" was considered to be not worthy of the actions of a gentleman. In other worRAB if you threw a punch and hit someone and they did not return the blow then they considered themselves to be of high class than you. Although this could transcend into a full-fledged duel. Another way a duel could break loose was if an insult was given, and I mean an insult of an insult of any sort. If an insult was received from a person, the rule stated that the person must beg that person for forgiveness. If this action was not taken then shots had to be fired. Two shots to be exact. SeconRAB would load the weapons while also attempting to make peace between the two gentlemen. A second was usually a food friend of the duelist. He would be in charge of many things in the duel as one will see. In many cases reconcile was not reached and the duel was on. After the first two shots, the insulting party had a chance to explain. If the explanation was not sufficient then three more shots were to be fired or until the charaber was empty or a severe gunshot wound had been reached. In Irish law it was considered to be foolish to fire into the air or purposely missing your opponent. They didn't believe that just showing up at the "field of honor" was enough to not battle. Cochran wrote that it "was strictly prohibited. It was looked at as dishonorable on one side or the other (Cochran 17). A way in Irish law to keep from actually having a duel was there was inequality among the duelist. This means if the one of the two was a known sharpshooter and the other had not even shot a gun then this was reason for the cancellation. A way that the Irish tried to keep a duel on is the way that they let the person being challenged pick from three weapons the one that he was the worst at using. The challenger would then chose from the remaining two the one to be used (Cochran 19). As one will later be able to understand that the Irish laws were the cornerstone of the laws of the fights of Southern gentlemen.
One will be able to see the similarities of the Old Irish rules of dueling and that of the old South. The Southern Code of Duello was written by the governor of South Carolina in 1838(Cochran 19). A difference in the minRAB of the two different areas was evident in the rule on the blow to the face. Remeraber that in Irish law it was disapproved to strike back a person in the same manner. In southern law it stated that a blow "was to be returned with one of a serious nature" (Seitz 45). It also did not matter if one did not have the skills of the other; the duel was still fought. The rules of the duello of the old south went something like this: A duelist was not to send a letter of challenge right off. He was to send a very courteous letter in regard to what had happened asking for an apology from the person that had insulted him. The person's second would take the letter to the person. The second would also take every step to keep the duel from actually happening. When the other half of the dueling party receives the letter, the letter was to be answered in the same manner (Seitz 35). It hard to imagine this today. This is a part, which makes it peculiar to the South. It starts to show class lines in the South and how southern gentlemen took it upon themselves to make every attempt to be polite to the other party before trying to kill them. If the letter was written in an unfashionable manner then the other person would just send the letter back with the second without a return message. If there was nothing wrong with the letter then the person would reply by either explaining the problem or saying that he had not done anything (Seitz 36-37). There are two things that could happen after the letters had been sent back and forth. The first thing that could happen is that the person could refuse to duel. At this point the second would challenge the man to a duel. If the person still refused, he would be posted.
To be posted was to place flyers at bars, saloons, street corners, and just about anywhere that a large amount of people would gather. On these flyers would be insults given to the refusing party. An example of posting was when Congressman John Randolf of Virginia refused to duel with General James Wilkinson. Mr. Wilkinson posted Mr. Randolf for this. The flyer the he made read:
"HECTOR UNMASKED - IN JUSTICE TO MY
CHARACTER I DENOUNCE TO THE WORLD
JOHN RANDOLF, A MErabER OF CONGRESS,
AS A PREVARICATING, BASE, CALUMINATING
SCOUNDREL, POLTROON AND COWARD"(Cochran 20).
The other option that would happen after sending letters would to actually fight the duel. The second would make all of the arrangements when the challenge was accepted. Of these duties he would be in charge of arranging the time of day in which the battle would be fought. He would also pick the place were it would be fought, as well as the weapon to be used by both parties. In most cases the duel would be fought as soon as possible at the most widely used facilities (Seitz 37). In the south they had a such thing as dueling grounRAB where most duels were fought. This is where people gathered to watch the duel. Unlike Irish code, there was no law stating how large a crowd could be. This brings us to another duty of the second. He was to regulate how large the crowd could be. Relatives were not allowed to witness the fighting because there was reason fort hem to take up their own arms against one of the duelist (Seitz35). Pistols were the most widely used weapons of the day so this is what most southern duels consisted of. Still there were other decisions to be made, like the place the duelist would stand and who would give the word, "fire." This was settled by a coin toss from one of the seconRAB. The option was given to the winner of the toss of either choosing where to stand or giving of the word, but he could not get both. Still the second still had more responsibilities. If one of the duelist fired before the word was given it was the duty of the second to fire at the "opponent" to kill him. In most cases if the duel went orderly it was over. In all cases if one party was wounded it was over (Seitz 37-38). One can see the differences in this and the Irish code. In Ireland many times there were more than one shot fired in a duel. It was often not over unless one man was killed.
This leaRAB us into what type of person from the South dueled. It was noted by Jack K. Williams that "gentlemen dueled on the field of honor"(27). This may lead one into thinking what exactly is a gentleman in this old since of the word. Upper class was what a gentleman was. He could have different occupations such as merchant, military officers, preachers, and of course college professors. In most cases though the gentleman was a planter. A planter was a person that owned more than twenty slaves. Gentlemen only dueled with gentlemen. Someone of lower status would not be looked upon as worthy of dueling. If say for instance a yeoman (man who owned no slaves) insulted a planter then the planter would cane him. Slaves were whipped on these instances. It was the purpose in some cases to cane someone of your own class just to tell them that you thought they were not on the same level as you (Williams 27). This shows severe class lines even in the since of dueling in the South. Class lines were evident in every aspect of life in anti-bellum life in the South.
Next one could look at the reasons why a duel was fought and why dueling was such a regional event of the south. There is a variety of ways that constituted a demand for a duel. A gentleman was to stand up for the woman that they were married to at the time. This means if she was being looked down upon or shunned by anyone it was up to the husband to put this to a stop. This was the main reason in the duel, which took place between Charles Dickinson and Andrew Jackson. In an unfortunate error, Jackson had married his wife before she had received a divorce from her former husband. Jackson was very sensitive to this matter and would not tolerate anyone speaking of her in bad terms. So when Dickinson made a comment of Jackson marrying another man's wife, Jackson did not hesitate to duel this man. Jackson was the lesser of the two in the usage of the pistol, but this did not matter to Jackson. His honor had been depreciated as well as his wife's. So his aim was to get it back. The duel, in Tennessee, was inevitable. Andrew Jackson knew of his opponent's resourcefulness and had decided before the match to shoot second. So when the word fire was given, Dickinson shot first. The bullet struck Jackson in the ribs just two inches from his heart. But Jackson did not flinch. He took careful aim at Dickinson and shot him down (Morris 2). Jackson was hit but would not let anyone help him off of the "field of honor" because he did not want Charles Dickinson to have any good feelings during his death. As one can see honor was a big deal in those days, large enough to lose lives. Another way that one would find one's self in a duel was to give written or verbal insults to someone. Yes this mean if a newspaper journalist wrote something of a bad nature, maybe even true, a challenge may be received. In many cases the journalist would recant in the next edition of the paper to
keep from having to duel (Cochran 253). Verbal insults would probably be the most common reasoning of a duel. The strong willed and hearted of the south could not take the any type of puncture to their honor. Liquor could also come into the picture. There was A fine line drawn for the rule on this. In most cases the use of using that as an excuse would not work. In the "Code of Honor" a written statement sums it up: "Insults given at a wine table . . . must be answered for" (Cochran 20).
Hamilton Cochran wrote, "If a geographical roster of duels were compiled for the United States, the southern states would show a vastly greater nuraber of affairs of honor and hostile encounters than the northern and western states (231). Why was this a regional affair one might ask. In the beginning Cavaliers and gentlemen settled the southern part of the United States bringing this Code of Honor, or dueling with them. These men were avid hunters and in turn were very well trained in the handling of firearms. Firearms were not used as much in the north where hunting was not the chief aspect of survival. In most cases the person would have his pistol with him at all times. Also, for reasons I could not pinpoint, southerners were vastly more sensitive in "guarding their honor"(Cochran 231). Honor being the main reasons for the duel, the sensitivity to their honor made it hard to end the unnecessary losing of lives. It was hard enough to live in those days much less using this institution as well.
Although laws were written to end slavery they often were not followed. Planters were the people of the South who ran the government and law enforcement so it was hard for any kind of action against people of their own class to take place. The planters looked at is keeping class structure lines in tact and who wouldn't if one was an upper class person of this stature. Only the upper class dueled and lower classes were not included in this institution. The planters could be compared to the aristocracy of England at that time. As well as the rigid class structure of the time. Southern planters had know reason now to end such a "code of honor." But this feeling would soon come to an end (Williams 72-76).
Before looking at how and why dueling did in fact come to an end it is worth while to look at the way the typical southern cities were at this time. The South was very primitive compared to their northern brothers. Southern cities often had unpaved streets and poor sewage control. Williams wrote that New Orleans, Louisiana "had open gutters for sewers until eighteen fifty-seven. In the south there was no push for industrial movement, so northern cities were well ahead of the latter. It would not be long until entrepreneurs looked at the South as a gold mine of natural resources and cheap labor. This can be looked at as a reason for the decline of the duel.
By the mid eighteen thirties the duel was coming to a close. Class lines were beginning to shift as the country was expanding. New territories to the west were temptations to planters to move off of their worn out land and settle the new, uncultivated land west of the Mississippi. "This weakened the aristocratic structure and reduced the effect of planter inspired law and custom"(Williams 79). As the sons of planters started becoming the head of householRAB, a realization started happening. These new southern gentlemen did not see the need in these duels. Transportation had an effect on the duel as well. As trains moved across the South tying cities together, it was better understood what most people of the nation were thinking or believed. Political ideas were now widely known unlike the days when southerners felt isolated from the rest of the country. Industry moving into the south also effected the aspect of dueling. Factories were being established now and the total agrarian south now had to share. As planters were losing control so was the ideal of dueling.
The Civil War did much to change the ideas of dueling and pushed for southern improvements of factories and cities. After the year of eighteen sixty-five the concept of the duel was in a spiraling downfall. Laws were established and enforced now and would end what our forefathers called the duel. It was written that Alexander Moseley of Virginia was arrested and heavily fined for the pre-duel letters written. This act was enough to keep some from dueling but not all. Dueling became so rare though and laws toughened that the formal duel jus t died out (Williams 77-83). An unknown Georgia poet wrote a piece that sums up the duel of southerners looking through the eye of one.
"Set honor in one eye, and death in the other,
And I will look on both indifferently:
For let the goRAB so speed me as I love
The name of honor more than I fear death"(Garable 302).
Dueling in the south was as much as a part of the heritage as their agrarian life. Southerners had an in depth feeling of pride and if anyone was to make them feel any different then they were going to have to pay. In the dueling went right along with the class structure lines, as one will be able to tell in later readings. But before getting into great detail about southern life as a duelist one should look at the way this institution was first conceived in this region of the nation. The rules of the duello will also be covered as well as the class structure of the duel and some famous duels in southern history.
The first thing that one would logically want to understand is were the southern duel originated. The duels of "gentlemen" began in Ireland. Gentleman is a key word in this sentence because duels have been around since the beginning of time, but the art of a dueling class structure has not. The type of class duels came into a home in Ireland in the middle of the seventeenth century. It was recorded by a judge of the high courts that there were "two hundred twenty-seven memorable and official duels fought in his administration" (Cochran 14). The judge, Sir Jonah Barrington, served from seventeen fifty-seven until seventeen ninety-one. It was an understanding to the Irish people that a young man was not an adult or educated until he had had a duel with one of his colleagues (Cochran 14-15).
Dueling in the South and Ireland had a lot of commonalties along with a few differences in law. One would first want to look at the law of the Irish duello and compare it to that of the Southern version. One of the causes of the duel in Ireland was that a punch or a "blow with the fist" was considered to be not worthy of the actions of a gentleman. In other worRAB if you threw a punch and hit someone and they did not return the blow then they considered themselves to be of high class than you. Although this could transcend into a full-fledged duel. Another way a duel could break loose was if an insult was given, and I mean an insult of an insult of any sort. If an insult was received from a person, the rule stated that the person must beg that person for forgiveness. If this action was not taken then shots had to be fired. Two shots to be exact. SeconRAB would load the weapons while also attempting to make peace between the two gentlemen. A second was usually a food friend of the duelist. He would be in charge of many things in the duel as one will see. In many cases reconcile was not reached and the duel was on. After the first two shots, the insulting party had a chance to explain. If the explanation was not sufficient then three more shots were to be fired or until the charaber was empty or a severe gunshot wound had been reached. In Irish law it was considered to be foolish to fire into the air or purposely missing your opponent. They didn't believe that just showing up at the "field of honor" was enough to not battle. Cochran wrote that it "was strictly prohibited. It was looked at as dishonorable on one side or the other (Cochran 17). A way in Irish law to keep from actually having a duel was there was inequality among the duelist. This means if the one of the two was a known sharpshooter and the other had not even shot a gun then this was reason for the cancellation. A way that the Irish tried to keep a duel on is the way that they let the person being challenged pick from three weapons the one that he was the worst at using. The challenger would then chose from the remaining two the one to be used (Cochran 19). As one will later be able to understand that the Irish laws were the cornerstone of the laws of the fights of Southern gentlemen.
One will be able to see the similarities of the Old Irish rules of dueling and that of the old South. The Southern Code of Duello was written by the governor of South Carolina in 1838(Cochran 19). A difference in the minRAB of the two different areas was evident in the rule on the blow to the face. Remeraber that in Irish law it was disapproved to strike back a person in the same manner. In southern law it stated that a blow "was to be returned with one of a serious nature" (Seitz 45). It also did not matter if one did not have the skills of the other; the duel was still fought. The rules of the duello of the old south went something like this: A duelist was not to send a letter of challenge right off. He was to send a very courteous letter in regard to what had happened asking for an apology from the person that had insulted him. The person's second would take the letter to the person. The second would also take every step to keep the duel from actually happening. When the other half of the dueling party receives the letter, the letter was to be answered in the same manner (Seitz 35). It hard to imagine this today. This is a part, which makes it peculiar to the South. It starts to show class lines in the South and how southern gentlemen took it upon themselves to make every attempt to be polite to the other party before trying to kill them. If the letter was written in an unfashionable manner then the other person would just send the letter back with the second without a return message. If there was nothing wrong with the letter then the person would reply by either explaining the problem or saying that he had not done anything (Seitz 36-37). There are two things that could happen after the letters had been sent back and forth. The first thing that could happen is that the person could refuse to duel. At this point the second would challenge the man to a duel. If the person still refused, he would be posted.
To be posted was to place flyers at bars, saloons, street corners, and just about anywhere that a large amount of people would gather. On these flyers would be insults given to the refusing party. An example of posting was when Congressman John Randolf of Virginia refused to duel with General James Wilkinson. Mr. Wilkinson posted Mr. Randolf for this. The flyer the he made read:
"HECTOR UNMASKED - IN JUSTICE TO MY
CHARACTER I DENOUNCE TO THE WORLD
JOHN RANDOLF, A MErabER OF CONGRESS,
AS A PREVARICATING, BASE, CALUMINATING
SCOUNDREL, POLTROON AND COWARD"(Cochran 20).
The other option that would happen after sending letters would to actually fight the duel. The second would make all of the arrangements when the challenge was accepted. Of these duties he would be in charge of arranging the time of day in which the battle would be fought. He would also pick the place were it would be fought, as well as the weapon to be used by both parties. In most cases the duel would be fought as soon as possible at the most widely used facilities (Seitz 37). In the south they had a such thing as dueling grounRAB where most duels were fought. This is where people gathered to watch the duel. Unlike Irish code, there was no law stating how large a crowd could be. This brings us to another duty of the second. He was to regulate how large the crowd could be. Relatives were not allowed to witness the fighting because there was reason fort hem to take up their own arms against one of the duelist (Seitz35). Pistols were the most widely used weapons of the day so this is what most southern duels consisted of. Still there were other decisions to be made, like the place the duelist would stand and who would give the word, "fire." This was settled by a coin toss from one of the seconRAB. The option was given to the winner of the toss of either choosing where to stand or giving of the word, but he could not get both. Still the second still had more responsibilities. If one of the duelist fired before the word was given it was the duty of the second to fire at the "opponent" to kill him. In most cases if the duel went orderly it was over. In all cases if one party was wounded it was over (Seitz 37-38). One can see the differences in this and the Irish code. In Ireland many times there were more than one shot fired in a duel. It was often not over unless one man was killed.
This leaRAB us into what type of person from the South dueled. It was noted by Jack K. Williams that "gentlemen dueled on the field of honor"(27). This may lead one into thinking what exactly is a gentleman in this old since of the word. Upper class was what a gentleman was. He could have different occupations such as merchant, military officers, preachers, and of course college professors. In most cases though the gentleman was a planter. A planter was a person that owned more than twenty slaves. Gentlemen only dueled with gentlemen. Someone of lower status would not be looked upon as worthy of dueling. If say for instance a yeoman (man who owned no slaves) insulted a planter then the planter would cane him. Slaves were whipped on these instances. It was the purpose in some cases to cane someone of your own class just to tell them that you thought they were not on the same level as you (Williams 27). This shows severe class lines even in the since of dueling in the South. Class lines were evident in every aspect of life in anti-bellum life in the South.
Next one could look at the reasons why a duel was fought and why dueling was such a regional event of the south. There is a variety of ways that constituted a demand for a duel. A gentleman was to stand up for the woman that they were married to at the time. This means if she was being looked down upon or shunned by anyone it was up to the husband to put this to a stop. This was the main reason in the duel, which took place between Charles Dickinson and Andrew Jackson. In an unfortunate error, Jackson had married his wife before she had received a divorce from her former husband. Jackson was very sensitive to this matter and would not tolerate anyone speaking of her in bad terms. So when Dickinson made a comment of Jackson marrying another man's wife, Jackson did not hesitate to duel this man. Jackson was the lesser of the two in the usage of the pistol, but this did not matter to Jackson. His honor had been depreciated as well as his wife's. So his aim was to get it back. The duel, in Tennessee, was inevitable. Andrew Jackson knew of his opponent's resourcefulness and had decided before the match to shoot second. So when the word fire was given, Dickinson shot first. The bullet struck Jackson in the ribs just two inches from his heart. But Jackson did not flinch. He took careful aim at Dickinson and shot him down (Morris 2). Jackson was hit but would not let anyone help him off of the "field of honor" because he did not want Charles Dickinson to have any good feelings during his death. As one can see honor was a big deal in those days, large enough to lose lives. Another way that one would find one's self in a duel was to give written or verbal insults to someone. Yes this mean if a newspaper journalist wrote something of a bad nature, maybe even true, a challenge may be received. In many cases the journalist would recant in the next edition of the paper to
keep from having to duel (Cochran 253). Verbal insults would probably be the most common reasoning of a duel. The strong willed and hearted of the south could not take the any type of puncture to their honor. Liquor could also come into the picture. There was A fine line drawn for the rule on this. In most cases the use of using that as an excuse would not work. In the "Code of Honor" a written statement sums it up: "Insults given at a wine table . . . must be answered for" (Cochran 20).
Hamilton Cochran wrote, "If a geographical roster of duels were compiled for the United States, the southern states would show a vastly greater nuraber of affairs of honor and hostile encounters than the northern and western states (231). Why was this a regional affair one might ask. In the beginning Cavaliers and gentlemen settled the southern part of the United States bringing this Code of Honor, or dueling with them. These men were avid hunters and in turn were very well trained in the handling of firearms. Firearms were not used as much in the north where hunting was not the chief aspect of survival. In most cases the person would have his pistol with him at all times. Also, for reasons I could not pinpoint, southerners were vastly more sensitive in "guarding their honor"(Cochran 231). Honor being the main reasons for the duel, the sensitivity to their honor made it hard to end the unnecessary losing of lives. It was hard enough to live in those days much less using this institution as well.
Although laws were written to end slavery they often were not followed. Planters were the people of the South who ran the government and law enforcement so it was hard for any kind of action against people of their own class to take place. The planters looked at is keeping class structure lines in tact and who wouldn't if one was an upper class person of this stature. Only the upper class dueled and lower classes were not included in this institution. The planters could be compared to the aristocracy of England at that time. As well as the rigid class structure of the time. Southern planters had know reason now to end such a "code of honor." But this feeling would soon come to an end (Williams 72-76).
Before looking at how and why dueling did in fact come to an end it is worth while to look at the way the typical southern cities were at this time. The South was very primitive compared to their northern brothers. Southern cities often had unpaved streets and poor sewage control. Williams wrote that New Orleans, Louisiana "had open gutters for sewers until eighteen fifty-seven. In the south there was no push for industrial movement, so northern cities were well ahead of the latter. It would not be long until entrepreneurs looked at the South as a gold mine of natural resources and cheap labor. This can be looked at as a reason for the decline of the duel.
By the mid eighteen thirties the duel was coming to a close. Class lines were beginning to shift as the country was expanding. New territories to the west were temptations to planters to move off of their worn out land and settle the new, uncultivated land west of the Mississippi. "This weakened the aristocratic structure and reduced the effect of planter inspired law and custom"(Williams 79). As the sons of planters started becoming the head of householRAB, a realization started happening. These new southern gentlemen did not see the need in these duels. Transportation had an effect on the duel as well. As trains moved across the South tying cities together, it was better understood what most people of the nation were thinking or believed. Political ideas were now widely known unlike the days when southerners felt isolated from the rest of the country. Industry moving into the south also effected the aspect of dueling. Factories were being established now and the total agrarian south now had to share. As planters were losing control so was the ideal of dueling.
The Civil War did much to change the ideas of dueling and pushed for southern improvements of factories and cities. After the year of eighteen sixty-five the concept of the duel was in a spiraling downfall. Laws were established and enforced now and would end what our forefathers called the duel. It was written that Alexander Moseley of Virginia was arrested and heavily fined for the pre-duel letters written. This act was enough to keep some from dueling but not all. Dueling became so rare though and laws toughened that the formal duel jus t died out (Williams 77-83). An unknown Georgia poet wrote a piece that sums up the duel of southerners looking through the eye of one.
"Set honor in one eye, and death in the other,
And I will look on both indifferently:
For let the goRAB so speed me as I love
The name of honor more than I fear death"(Garable 302).