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The circumstances
connected with the famous duel between Andrew Jackson of
Tennessee and Charles Dickinson of
Caroline county, Maryland, are herewith given as gleaned from several
apparently reliable sources.
Jackson who
had been retired from public life was then (1806) living on a farm along
the Cumberland River in Tennessee, about ten miles from Nashville. He
had a passion for fine horses and it became a principal branch of his
farming business, to raise them from the best stock imported from
Virginia and North Carolina. More for the purpose of exhibiting his
stock and recommending it to purchasers, than to indulge in the
practices common at such places, he brought out his favorite horses upon
the race-courses of the day and lost and won in many a well-contested
field.
Jackson owned
a favorite horse, named Truxton, which be was challenged to run against
a horse owned by a Mr. Erwin and his
son-in-law, Charles Dickinson. The stakes were to be
two thousand dollars on a side, in cash notes, with a forfeiture of
eight hundred dollars. The bet was accepted, and a list of notes made
out; but when the time for running arrived, Erwin and Dickinson chose
to pay the forfeit. Erwin offered sundry notes not due, withholding the
list which was in the hands of Dickinson. Jackson refused
to receive them, and demanded the list, claiming the right to select
from the notes described upon it. The list was produced, a selection
made, and the affair satisfactorily adjusted. Afterwards a rumor reached Dickinson,
that General Jackson charged Erwin with
producing a list of notes different from the true ones. In an interview
between Jackson and Dickinson,
the former denied the statement, and the latter gave his author. Jackson
instantly proposed to call him in; but Dickinson declined.
Meeting with the author shortly after, Jackson had
an altercation with him, which ended in blows. Here the affair ought to
have ended. But there were those who desired to produce a duel between Jackson and Dickinson.
The latter was brave and reckless, a trader in blacks and blooded
horses, and reputed to be the best shot in the country. Exasperation was
produced; publication followed publication: insults were given and
retorted; until, at length, General Jackson was
informed that a paper, more severe than its predecessors, was in the
bands of the printer, and that Dickinson was
about to leave the state. He flew to Nashville, and demanded a sight of
it in the printer's hands. It was insulting in the highest degree,
contained a direct imputation of cowardice, and concluded with a notice
that the author would leave for Maryland, within the coming week. A
stern challenge, demanding immediate satisfaction, was the consequence.
The challenge was given on the 23d of May, and Dickinson's publication
appeared the next morning. Jackson pressed for an instant meeting; but
it was postponed, at the request of the other party, until the 30th, at
which time it was to take place, at Harrison's Mills, on Red River,
within the limits of Kentucky. Dickinson occupied
the intermediate time in practicing. Jackson went
upon the ground firmly impressed with the conviction that his life was
eagerly sought, and in the expectation of losing it, but with a
determination which such a conviction naturally inspired in a bosom that
never knew fear. As Dickinson rode out
to the place with a party of friends, he fired at a string supporting an
apple and cut the cord in two. It had been agreed that the two men
should use pistols and stand eight paces apart facing the same direction
and that at the word they should turn towards each other and fire as
they chose.
Later, however Jackson and
his second Dr. Overton decided it best
and agreed that Dickinson shoot first.
When all was ready and Overton gave the
word, Dickinson fired and Jackson was
seen to press his hand lightly over his chest while the dust flew from
his clothes. Dickinson at first
thought he had missed his man and was seized with terror. Jackson now
had his adversary at his mercy and slowly pulled the trigger.
There was no explosion; the pistol stopped at half cock which by the
rules was not considered a shot. Again Jackson took
deliberate aim and fired; the ball severed an artery and Dickinson fell.
Jackson with his friend and surgeon, left the ground, and had traveled
about twenty miles towards home, when his attendant first discovered
that the general was wounded, by seeing the oozing through his clothes.
On examination, it was found that Dickinson's ball
had buried itself in his breast, and shattered two of his ribs near
their articulation with his breastbone. It was some weeks before
he was able to attend to business. Dickinson was
taken to a neighboring house, where he survived but a few hours.
The friends of Dickinson,
and the enemies of Jackson, circulated charges of
unfairness in the fight, but these were soon put down, in the estimation
of candid and impartial judges, by the certificates of the seconds, that
all had been done according to the previous understanding between the
parties, and proof that Dickinson himself,
though able to converse, never uttered a single word of complaint before
his death. The Secretary of the Tennessee Historical Society
furnishes the following:
“In regard to his (Charles
Dickinson) latter end will say that his remains were buried on
the farm of his father-in-law, Mr. Joseph Erwin,
then some distance west of Nashville. But the city has so grown in
the last fifty years that the grave is now within the bounds of the
western district of the city. Until a few years ago it was marked
by an old fashioned box tomb, although it had no inscription
whatever. Since the farm has become a part of the city, this tomb
has been removed and there is no mark of the grave except that we
know exactly its position and are trying to have it permanently
marked.
In regard to Mr.
Dickinson will say that it is now generally
admitted that the difficulty with General Jackson grew out of the
sporting life of both of them and is attributed largely to
differences growing out of a horse race.
I think the verdict of
history is that Mr. Dickinson was a
young man of promising abilities, but in keeping with the life of
the day was high strung, impetuous, and probably imprudent. There
is nothing, however, justified with reference to immoral character,
no more than was characteristic of life in the South at that time."
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