Burr–Hamilton duel

A contemporary artistic rendering of the duel by J. Mund.

The Hamilton-Burr duel was a duel between two prominent United States politicians, former Treasury Secretary General Alexander Hamilton and sitting Vice President Aaron Burr, in Weehawken, New Jersey on July 11, 1804, in which Burr shot and mortally wounded Hamilton, who died the next day in Manhattan.

Background

The duel was the final skirmish of a long conflict between Democratic-Republicans and Federalists. The conflict began in 1791, when Burr captured a Senate seat from Philip Schuyler, Hamilton's father-in-law, who would have supported his federalist policies (Alexander Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury at the time). When the electoral college deadlocked in the election of 1800, Hamilton's maneuvering in the House of Representatives caused Thomas Jefferson to be named President and Burr Vice President. In 1800, Burr published "The Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq., President of the United States," a document highly critical of Adams, which had actually been authored by Hamilton but intended only for private circulation. When it became clear that Jefferson would drop Burr from his ticket in the 1804 election, the Vice President ran for the governorship of New York instead. Hamilton campaigned viciously against Burr, who was running as an independent, causing him to lose to Morgan Lewis, a Democratic-Republican endorsed by Hamilton.

Both men had been involved in duels in the past. Hamilton had been a principal in 10 shot-less duels prior to his fatal encounter with Burr, including duels with William Gordon (1779), Aedanus Burke (1790), John Francis Mercer (1792-1793), James Nicholson (1795), James Monroe (1797), John Adams (1800), Ebenezer Purdy/George Clinton (1804). He also served as a second to John Laurens in a 1779 duel with General Charles Lee and legal client John Auldjo in a 1787 duel with William Pierce. In addition, Hamilton claimed to have had one previous honor dispute with Burr; Burr claimed there were two.

Additionally, Hamilton's son, Philip, was killed in a November 23, 1801 duel with George I. Eacker initiated after Philip and his friend Richard Price partook in "hooliganish" behavior in Eacker's box at the Park Theatre. This was in response to a speech, critical of Hamilton, that Eacker had made on July 4, 1801. Philip and his friend both challenged Eacker to duels when he called them "damned rascals." After Price's duel (also at Weehawken) resulted in nothing more than four missed shots, Hamilton advised his son to delope, and throw away his fire. However, after both Philip and Eacker stood shotless for a minute after the command "present", Philip levelled his pistol, causing Eacker to fire, mortally wounding Philip and sending his shot awry. This duel is often cited as having a tremendous psychological impact on Hamilton in the context of the Hamilton-Burr duel.

Causes of the duel

On April 24, 1804, a vitriolic letter originally from Dr. Charles D. Cooper to Philip Schuyler, Hamilton's father-in-law was published in the Albany Register in the context of opposing Burr's candidacy. It claimed to describe "a still more despicable opinion which General Hamilton has expressed of Mr. Burr" at a political dinner. In a letter delivered by William P. Van Ness, Burr demanded "a prompt and unqualified acknowledgement or denial of the use of any expression which would warrant the assertion of Dr. Cooper". Hamilton's reply on June 20 indicated that he could not be held responsible for Cooper's interpretation of his words. Burr's reply on June 21, also delivered by Van Ness, stated that "political opposition can never absolve gentlemen from the necessity of a rigid adherence to the laws of honor and the rules of decorum". Hamilton replied that he had "no other answer to give than that which has already been given". This letter was delivered to Nathaniel Pendleton on June 22 but which did not reach Burr until June 25. The delay was due to negotiation between Pendleton and Van Ness in which Pendleton submitted the following paper:

"General Hamilton says he cannot imagine what Dr. Cooper may have alluded, unless it were to a conversation at Mr. Taylor's, in Albany, last winter (at which he and General Hamilton were present). General Hamilton cannot recollect distinctly the particulars of that conversation, so as to undertake to repeat them, without running the risk of varying or omitting what might be deemed important circumstances. The expressions are entirely forgotten, and the specific ideas imperfectly remembered; but to the best of his recollection it consisted of comments on the political principles and views of Colonel Burr, and the results that might be expected from them in the event of his election as Governor, without reference to any particular instance of past conduct or private character."

After the delivery of Hamilton's second letter, a second paper submitted by Pendleton further offered "in relation to any other language or conversation or language of General Hamilton which Colonel Burr will specify, a prompt or frank avowal or denial will be given." This offer was not accepted and a challenge was formally offered by Burr and accepted by Hamilton.

Many subsequent historians have considered the causes of the duel to be flimsy and have thus either characterized Hamilton as "suicidal", Burr as "malicious and murderous," or both.

The duel

The pistols used in the duel

Hamilton and Burr agreed to cross the Hudson River at dawn to take the duel to a rocky ledge in Weehawken, New Jersey, because dueling had been outlawed in New York. The same site had been used for 18 known duels between 1700 and 1845. In an attempt to prevent the participants from being prosecuted, procedures were implemented to give all witnesses plausible deniability. For example, the pistols were transported to the island in a portmanteau, enabling the rowers (who also stood with their backs to the duelists) to say under oath that they had not seen any pistols.

Burr, Van Ness (his second), Matthew L. Davis, and another (often identified as Swartwout) plus their rowers reached the site first at half past six, wherupon Burr and Van Ness started to clear the underbrush from the duelling ground. Hamilton, Judge Pendleton (his second), and Dr. Hosack arrived a few minutes before seven. Lots were cast for the choice of position and which second should start the duel, both of which were won by Hamilton's second who chose the upper edge of the ledge (which faced the city) for Hamilton.

All first-hand accounts of the duel agree that two shots were fired; however, Hamilton and Burr's seconds disagreed on the intervening time between the shots. Hamilton fired first without hitting Burr. Burr's shot hit Hamilton in the lower abdomen above the right hip. The bullet ricocheted off Hamilton's second or third false rib—fracturing it—and caused considerable damage to his internal organs, particularly his liver and diaphragm before becoming lodged in his first or second lumbar vertebra. According to Pendleton's account, Hamilton collapsed immediately, dropping the pistol involuntarily, and Burr moved toward Hamilton in a speechless manner (which Pendleton deemed to be indicative of regret) before being hustled away behind an umbrella by Van Ness because Hosack and the rowers were already approaching. Burr returned on his barge and had breakfast in the city.

Dr. Hosack, the physician, testified that he had only seen Hamilton and the two seconds disappear "into the wood", heard two shots, and rushed to find a wounded Hamilton when his name was called. Hosack also testified that he had not seen Burr, who had been hidden behind an umbrella by Van Ness, his second.

Hamilton's intentions

In Statement on Impending Duel with Aaron Burr, a letter that Hamilton wrote the night before the duel, Hamilton stated that he was "strongly opposed to the practice of dueling" for both religious and practical reasons and continues to state:

"I have resolved, if our interview is conducted in the usual manner, and it pleases God to give me the opportunity, to reserve and throw away my first fire, and I have thoughts even of reserving my second fire."

When Burr later learned of this, he responded: "Contemptible, if true."

Burr's intentions

Burr was reputed as a good shot. The afternoon after the duel, he was quoted as saying that had his vision not been impaired by the morning mist, he would have shot Hamilton in the heart. According to the account of Jeremy Bentham, who met with Burr in 1808 in England, Burr claimed to have been certain of his ability to kill Hamilton, and Bentham concluded that Burr was "little better than a murderer."

The Pistols

Others have attributed Hamilton's apparent misfire to the hair-triggered design of one of the Wogdon dueling pistols, both of which survive today. One of the pistols has a flint-lock firing mechanism and the other has been converted from the original flint to a percussion firing mechanism. When asked by Pendleton before the duel if he would have the "hair-spring" pistol, Hamilton reportedly replied "not this time."

The pistols belonged to Hamilton's brother-in-law, John Barker Church, who was a business partner of both Hamilton and Burr. He purchased the pistols in London in 1797. They had previously been used in a 1799 duel between Church and Burr, in which neither man was injured. In 1801, Hamilton's son, Philip, used them in a duel in which he died. In 1930 the pistols were sold to the Chase Manhattan Bank, now preserved by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Aftermath

A mortally wounded Hamilton died the following day and was buried in the Trinity Churchyard Cemetery in Manhattan (Hamilton was nominally Episcopalian). Gouverneur Morris, a political ally of Hamilton's, gave the eulogy at his funeral and secretly established a fund to support his widow and children.

Burr was charged with murder in New York and New Jersey, but neither charge reached trial. In Bergen County, New Jersey, a grand jury indicted Burr for murder in November 1804, but the New Jersey Supreme Court squelched the indictment on a motion from Colonel Ogden.

Burr fled to South Carolina, where his daughter lived with her family, but soon returned to Washington, D.C. to complete his term of service as Vice President. He presided over the Samuel Chase impeachment trial "with the dignity and impartiality of an angel and the rigor of a devil." Burr's heartfelt farewell speech in March 1805 moved some of his harshest critics in the Senate to tears.

File:Hamiltonmonumentmap.jpg

An 1841 map showing the location of a Hamilton Monument (Larger)

With his political career over, Burr went west, where he allegedly had plans to establish a new empire carved out of Louisiana territory. However, after General James Wilkinson suddenly refused to support Burr and instead informed President Jefferson of Burr's ambitions, Burr was charged with treason and then fled to Europe.

Years later, he returned to New York City to practice law and was tried and acquitted for his role in the duel. He died in 1836 in Staten Island, New York, having never apologized to Hamilton's family or shown any remorse for ending Hamilton's life, though he once remarked "Had I read Sterne more and Voltaire less, I should have known the world was wide enough for Hamilton and me."

Monuments

The first memorial to the duel was constructed in 1806 by the Saint Andrew Society, of which Hamilton was formerly a member. A 14 foot marble cenotaph, consisting of an obelisk topped by a flaming urn and a plaque with a quote from Horace surrounded by an iron fence, constructed approximately where Hamilton was believed to have fallen. Duels continued to be fought at the site and the marble was slowly vandalized and removed for souvenirs, leaving nothing left by 1820. The tablet itself did survive, turning up in a junk store and finding its way to the New York Historical Society in Manhattan, where it still resides.

From 1820 to 1857, the site was marked by two stones with the names Hamilton and Burr placed where they were thought to have stood during the duel. When a road from Hoboken to Fort Lee was built through the site in 1858, an inscription on a boulder where a mortally wounded Hamilton was thought to have rested—one of the many pieces of graffiti left by visitors—was all that remained. No primary accounts of the duel confirm the boulder anecdote. In 1870, railroad tracks were built directly through the site, and the boulder was hauled to the top of the Palisades, where it remains today. In 1894, an iron fence was built around the boulder, supplemented by a bust of Hamilton and a plaque. The bust was thrown over the cliff on October 14, 1934 by vandals and the head was never recovered; a new bust was installed on July 12, 1935.

The plaque was stolen by vandals in the 1980s and an abbreviated version of the text was inscribed on the indentation left in the boulder, which remained until the 1990s when a granite pedestal was added in front of the boulder and the bust was moved to the top of the pedestal. New markers were added on July 11, 2004, the 200th anniversary of the duel.

References

• Berg, Al and Sherman, Lauren. 2004. "Pistols at Weehawken." Weehawken Historical Commission.
• Coleman, William. 1804. A Collection of Facts and Documents, relative to the death of Major-General Alexander Hamilton. New York.
• Cooke, Syrett and Jean G, eds. 1960. Interview in Weehawken: The Burr-Hamilton Duel as Told in the Original Documents. Middletown, Connecticuit.
• Cooper, Charles D. April 24, 1804. Albany Register.
• Demontreux, Willie. 2004. "The Changing Face of the Hamilton Monument." Weehawken Historical Commission.
• Flagg, Thomas R. 2004. "An Investigation into the Location of the Weehawken Dueling Ground." Weehawken Historical Commission.
• Flemming, Thomas. 1999. The Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Future of America. New York: Perseus Books. ISBN 0-465-01736-3
• Frazier, Ian. February 16, 2004. "Route 3." The New Yorker.
• Freeman, Joanne B. 1996. "Deuling as Politics: Reinterpreting the Burr-Hamilton duel." The William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd series, 53 (2): 289-318.
• The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. Harold C. Syrett, ed. 27 vols. New York: 1961-1987
  • Hamilton, Alexander. "Statement on Impending Duel with Aaron Burr," [June 28-July 10], 26: 278.
  • Cooper to Philip Schuyler. April 23, 1804. 26: 246.
• Lindsay, Merrill. 1976. "Pistols Shed Light on Famed Duel." Smithsonian, VI (November): 94-98.
• McGrath, Ben. May 31, 2004. "Reënactment: Burr vs. Hamilton." The New Yorker.
• New-York Evening Post. July 17, 1804. "Funeral Obsequies." From the Collection of the New York Historical Society.
• PBS. 1996. American Experience: The Duel. Documentary transcript.
• Reid, John. 1898. "Where Hamilton Fell: The Exact Location of the Famous Duelling Ground." Weehawken Historical Commission.
• Rorabaugh, W.J. 1995. "The Political Duel in the Early Republic: Burr v. Hamilton." Journal of the Early Republic. 15:1-23.
• Sabine, Lorenzo. Notes on Duels and Duelling. Boston.
• Van Ness, William P. 1804. A Correct Statement of the Late Melancholy Affair of Honor, Between General Hamilton and Col. Burr. New York.
• William P. Ness vs. The People. January 1805. Duel papers, William P. Ness papers, New York Historical Society.
• Wilson, James Grant. 1869. "The Weehawken Dueling Ground." Literature, Science, and Art, 1 (11): 339-340.
• Winfield, Charles H. 1874. History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. New York: Kennard and Hay. Chapter 8, "Duels." p. 200-231.

External links

• American Experience - The Duel - Official PBS Hamilton-Burr Duel Documentary site
• Duel 2004 - A site dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the duel.