Andrew Jackson's Duel
Picture courtesy of HistoryCollection.org
In former times, duels were the means used to end an argument. In the old days, people were known to have carried grudges for years. Kentucky was the familiar scene of fist fights inside taverns, duels, and feuds that penetrated the family fabric for generations. Good reading about pioneer communities describes the fist fights as “everyone having a good time.” Indeed, the typical saloon fistfight featured in Hollywood movies promotes that theme.
Irrespective of the fight, however, it was the duel that settled matters.
The famous fuel between General Lachlan McIntosh settled a political dispute concerning who would govern the Southern Continental Army, which was held with Governor Gwinnett on the streets of Savannah.
There were well-known dueling areas between Georgia and South Carolina along the Savannah River.
A famous duel was fought on the Red River in Logan County, Kentucky, on May 30, 1806, between Major General Andrew Jackson (later President of the United States), and Charles Dickinson, an attorney-at-law of Nashville, Tennessee.
Trouble between the men had been brewing for years. General Jackson, known to be high-tempered, overbearing, and determined, had incurred the ill-will and hatred of several prominent people. His friends declared that Jackson’s enemies were plotting to get Dickinson to kill him or drive him out of that section of the country.
It was claimed that Dickinson was the best shot in the United States. The duel was to be fought and many bets, with the odds always against Jackson. Dickinson had a bet of five hundred dollars that he would “get Jackson” at his first fire.
About 1790, while General Jackson was boarding with the widow of John Donelson, her daughter Rachel had married a man by the name of Lewis Roberts, who was later known as Lewis Robards. In that year, Robards petitioned the Legislature of Virginia to divorce him from his wife, Rachel, and in his petition, he filed an affidavit setting out the fact that his wife had deserted him and that she was living in adultery with General Jackson.
On December 20, 1790, the Legislature passed an act granting Robards the right “to sue out of the office of the Supreme Court of the district of Kentucky a writ against Rachel Robards, etc.” Its effect essentially was that had the plaintiff lived in adultery, the marriage could have been dissolved. Roberts took no action for two years. Meanwhile, General Jackson and Mrs. Roberts or Robards were married in July 1791.
In September 1793, the Supreme Court of the district of Kentucky, at Harrodsburg, granted the divorce, and in January 1794, the second marriage ceremony was performed.
These circumstances caused a great deal of scandalous talk. Jackson’s enemies soon found that reflections upon his marriage's regularity or disparaging remarks about his wife would incense him more than anything else. He was ready to challenge any man!
When Jackson heard Dickinson’s remarks regarding Mrs. Jackson, he called upon Dickinson and asked if he had used the language attributed to him. Dickinson replied that if he had, it must have been while drunk. This statement was accepted, and the two men separated in a friendly manner.
A second time, Dickinson uttered offensive words, respecting Mrs. Jackson in a tavern in Nashville, duly conveyed to General Jackson, who visited Capt. Ervine, Dickinson's father-in-law, advised him to exert his influence over his son-in-law and induce him to restrain his tongue and comport himself like a gentleman in his cups.
By January of 1806, however, the most deadly hostility existed between the two men. The least trivial event would bring them into collision.
In autumn, when the race of 1805 was held, it included a race arranged between General Jackson’s racehorse Truxton and Capt. Joseph Ervine’s horse Plowboy. The stakes were two thousand dollars, payable on the race day. The forfeit was eight hundred dollars payable in notes. Before the day for that race arrived, Ervine and Dickinson decided to pay the forfeit and withdraw their horse, which was amicably done, and the affair was supposed to end.
Then, a young Nashville lawyer named Swan, misled by false information, circulated a report that General Jackson had accused the owners of Plowboy of paying their forfeit in notes other than those agreed upon — notes less valuable because they were not due on the date of settling. Following this report, several open letters were published in the newspapers, one of which General Jackson said that Dickinson was “A base poltroon and cowardly tale-bearer.”
Indeed, in one of Dickinson’s publications, he stated: “ I declare him, notwithstanding he is a Major General of the militia of mero district, to be a worthless scoundrel, a poltroon and a coward,” etc. This letter was published in the Impartial Review.
General Thomas Overton rode out to General Jackson‘s store at Clover Bottom with the information that Dickinson had written this scurrilous attack upon General Jackson, and within a few hours after that, General Overton placed in Dickinson's hands the following letter :
“Sir: Your conduct and expressions relative to me of late have been of such a nature and so insulting that it requires and shall have my notice. You have disturbed my quiet and industriously incited Thomas Swan to quarrel with me, which involved the peace and harmony of society for a while. You, on the 10th of January, wrote me a very insulting letter, left this country, caused this letter to be delivered after you had been gone some days, and viewing yourself in safety from the contempt I held you, have now in the press a piece more replete with blackguard abuse than any of your other productions. You are pleased to state that you would have noticed me differently, but my cowardice would have found a pretense to evade that satisfaction if it had been called for, etc. Andrew Jackson.”
During the same day, a reply to the challenge was delivered through Doctor Hanson Catlett and was as follows:
“ Your note of this morning has been received, and your request will be gratified. My friend who hands you this will make the necessary arrangements.”
The seconds immediately conferred, and they agreed upon the time and place; this agreement was in writing as follows:
“On Friday, the 30th instant, we agree to meet at Harrison’s Mills, on Red River, in Logan Co., State of Kentucky, to settle an affair of honor between General Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickinson. Further arrangements are to be made. It is understood that the meeting will be at seven in the morning.”
General Jackson was not pleased with the arrangement, which postponed the meeting for a week. He insisted on an earlier date, but Doctor Catlet would not agree to a change.
Later in the day, this further agreement was made: ‘’ It is agreed that the distance shall be twenty-four feet; the parties to stand facing, each with his pistol down perpendicularly. When they are ready, the word, fire, is to be given, and they are to fire as soon as they please. If we fire before the word is given, we pledge to shoot him down instantly. The person to provide the word to be determined by lot also has the choice of position. We mutually agree that the above regulations shall be observed in the affair of honor pending between General Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickinson, Esq.”
To be on the battlefield at the appointed hour, leaving Nashville early on the day preceding was necessary. A considerable company of friends went with each of the principals, all on horseback.
In his “Life of Jackson,” Parton says of Dickinson: “He mounted his horse and repaired to the rendezvous, where his second and half a dozen of the gay blades of Nashville were waiting to escort him on his journey. They rode in the highest spirits as though they were upon a party of pleasure. Indeed, they made a party of pleasure of it.”
When they stopped for rest or refreshment, Dickinson is said to have amused the company by displaying his remarkable skill with the pistol. Once at a distance of twenty-four feet, he fired four balls, each at the word of command, into a space that a silver dollar could cover. Several times, he cut a string with his bullet from the same distance. It is said that he left a severed string hanging near a tavern and said to the landlord as he rode away: “ If General Jackson comes along this road, show him that.”
General Jackson fully realized the gravity of the situation and decided to kill Dickinson, if possible. He was to meet the best shot in the United States and perhaps the best in the world. It was a fight to the death. He knew that Dickinson would use his utmost skill, not merely to disable him by shooting him through the hips, which was the usual way of the professional duelist of that day, but the life of one and perhaps of both was to be the forfeit of the meeting. His great question was whether he should try to get the first shot or permit Dickinson to have it. He knew that Dickinson was an expert and that it was scarcely possible for anyone to be quicker in movement; he required no time to aim and that he would have a better chance in a quick shot, and any precautions which Jackson might take could not prevent Dickinson from getting the first fire after a lengthy consultation with his friend and second, Major General Overton agreed that letting Dickinson have the first fire would be better. Each of the parties, with their attendants, found lodging in the neighborhood of the battlefield, and before breakfast on the morning of May 30, 1806, they repaired to the designated spot.
“ How do you feel about it now, General? “ asked one of the party as Jackson turned to go. “
Oh, all right,” replied Jackson, gaily, “I shall wing him, never fear.”
Dickinson’s second won the choice of position and Jackson’s the office of giving the word. (Under the agreement referred to above, “ the person to give the word, to be determined by lot, has also the choice of position.”) The astute Overton considered the giving of the word a matter of great importance, and he had already determined how he would give it, if the lot fell to him. The eight paces were measured off, and the men placed. Both were perfectly collected. All the politeness of such occasions were very strictly and elegantly performed. Jackson was dressed in a loose frock coat, buttoned carelessly over his chest and concealing the extreme slenderness of his figure in some degree. Dickinson was the younger and handsome man of the two. But Jackson’s tall, erect figure and the still intensity of his demeanor, it is said, gave him a most superior and commanding air as he stood under the tall poplars on this bright May morning, silently awaiting the moment of doom.
“Are you ready,” said Overton.
“ I am ready,” replied Dickinson.
“ I am ready,” said Jackson.
The words were not sooner pronounced than Overton, who, with a sudden shout and cry, used his old country pronunciation of “ Fere.”
Dickinson raised his pistol quickly and fired; Overton, who was looking with anxiety and dread, saw a puff of dust fly from the breast of his coat and saw him raise his left arm and place it tightly across his chest. He is surely hit, thought Overton, and in the wrong place too, but no, he does not fall. Erect and grim as fate, he stood, his teeth clenched, raising his pistol. Overton glanced at Dickinson, amazed at the unusual failure of his aim and appalled at the awful figure and face before him; Dickinson had unconsciously recoiled a pace or two. “ Great God,” he faltered, “ Have I missed him? “
“ Back to your mark, sir,” shrieked Overton, with his hand upon his pistol.
Dickinson recovered his composure, stepped forward to the peg, and stood with eyes averted from his antagonist. All this was the work of a moment, though it requires many words to tell it.
General Jackson took deliberate aim and pulled the trigger. The pistol neither snapped nor went off. He looked at the trigger and discovered that it had stopped at half cock. He drew it back to its place and aimed a second time. He fired. Dickinson’s face blanched; he reeled; his friends rushed towards him, caught him in their arms, and gently seated him on the ground, leaning against a bush. His trousers reddened. They stripped off his clothes. The blood was gushing from his side in a torrent. And alas, the ball is not near the wound but above the opposite hip, just under the skin. The ball had passed through the body below the ribs. Such a wound could not but be fatal.
Overton went forward and learned the condition of the wounded man. Rejoining his principal, he said, “ He won’t want anything more of you, General,” and conducted him from the field. They had gone a hundred yards, Overton walking on one side of Jackson, the surgeon on the other and neither speaking a word, when the surgeon observed that one of Jackson’s shoes was full of blood.
“My God! General Jackson, are you hit? “ he exclaimed, pointing to the blood.
“Oh, I believe,” replied Jackson, “ That he has pricked me a little; let’s look at it, but say nothing about it there,” pointing to the house. He opened his coat. Dickinson’s aim had been perfect. He had sent the ball precisely where he supposed Jackson’s heart was beating. But the thinness of his body and the looseness of his coat combined to deceive Dickinson; the ball had only broken a rib or two and raked the breast bone. It was a somewhat painful, bad-looking wound but neither severe nor dangerous, and he could ride to the tavern without much inconvenience. Upon approaching the house, he went up to one of the negro women who was churning and asked her if the butter had come. She said it was just coming. He asked her for some buttermilk; while she got it, she observed him furtively open his coat and look within it. She saw that his shirt was soaked with blood, and she stood gazing in blank horror at the sight, dipper in hand. He caught her eye and hastily buttoned his coat again. She dipped out a quart of buttermilk and gave it to him. He drank it off at a draught, then went in, took off his coat, and had his wound dressed. That done, he despatched one of his entourages to Doctor Catlet to inquire about Dickinson’s condition and to say that the surgeon attending himself would be glad to contribute his aid towards Mr. Dickinson’s relief. A polite reply was reverted, saying Mr. Dickinson’s case was past surgery. On that day, General Jackson sent a bottle of wine to Dr. Catlet for his patient’s use. But there was one gratification that Jackson could not, even in such circumstances, grant him. A very old friend of General Jackson writes me thus:
“Although the General had been wounded, he did not desire that it should be known until he left the neighborhood and had therefore concealed it at first from his friends. His reason for this, as he once stated to me, was that as Dickinson considered himself the best shot in the world and was certain of killing him at the first fire, he did not want him to have the gratification of even knowing that he had touched him.” Poor Dickinson bled to death.
The flow of blood could not be stopped. He was conveyed to the house in which he had passed the night and placed upon a mattress, which was soon drenched with blood. He suffered extreme agony and uttered horrible cries all that long day. At nine o’clock in the evening, he suddenly asked why they had put out the lights. The doctor knew that the end was at hand, that the wife, who had been sent for in the morning, would not arrive in time to close her husband’s eyes. He died five minutes after, cursing, it is said, with his last breath, the ball that had entered his body.
The Impartial Review of Nashville, in commenting on the tragedy, said: “On Tuesday evening last, the remains of Mr. Charles Dickinson were committed to the grave, at the residence of Mr. Joseph Ervine, attended by a large number of citizens of Nashville and its neighborhood, etc.”
Source: Famous Kentucky Tragedies and Trials (a collection of important and interesting tragedies and criminal trials that have taken place in Kentucky ) by L. F. Johnson of the Frankfort, Kentucky Bar (Author of' A History of Franklin County, Kentucky’ ), 1916.