Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
High Noon!
On May 30, 1806, the American lawyer and politician Andrew Jackson ...
... and the lawyer Charles Dickinson ...
... (not to be confused with the author Charles Dickens!) stand in Adairville, Kentucky, for a pistol duel opposite!
Both actually live in the neighboring state of Tennessee - but duels are forbidden there, so they now want to fight their cause in the small town just across the border.
Jackson, who will be elected President of the United States in 1829, has no experience of dueling!
His opponent is different: Dickinson is a regionally known "sniper" - and most of them will have bet on his victory.
Oh yes: the shooting was caused by offensive words that Dickinson is said to have uttered about Jackson's wife.
High Noon:
Dickinsons shoots first and his bullet hits Jackson in the chest ...:
... The projectile is so close to the heart that later no one dares to operate it out: Jackson will carry the bullet around in his body for his entire life ...
Even though he was badly wounded, Jackson was able to get up again ...:
According to the "rules" of a duel, Dickinson now has to stand still and wait for his opponent to shoot.
He does, Jackson in turn fires and deadly hits Dickinson!
Jackson's behavior in the duel outraged Tennessee viewers, who call it incomprehensible as "brutal, cold-blooded murder" and give Jackson the reputation of a violent, vengeful man.
He becomes a social outcast for a period of time, until people turn back to other things.
The pistols with which the two tried to kill each other have been preserved ...:
Later on, Jackson will duel again and be badly wounded again!
This time, too, the bullet (stomach shot) will be so unhappy that it cannot be removed.
The two projectiles will give Jackson (who was also known by the nickname "Old Hickory") severe lead poisoning, the effects of which will also be partly responsible for his death on June 8th, 1845 ...
As much as I hate to say that, for many people it would have been far better if Dickinson had killed Jackson in the duel!
For example for the Muskogee (Creek), which he destroyed as a general of the Tennessee Militia in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814) ...
... the Seminoles in Florida, which he fought ruthlessly in 1817/18 and had the survivors locked up in a reservation after he had stolen their land ...
... the thousands of dead of several tribes who perished during their forcible deportation to distant reservations during the death march there ("Trail of Tears") ...
... and many others.
I will come back to the hideous "Trail of Tears" in detail at this point ...
On May 30, 1806, the American lawyer and politician Andrew Jackson ...
... and the lawyer Charles Dickinson ...
... (not to be confused with the author Charles Dickens!) stand in Adairville, Kentucky, for a pistol duel opposite!
Both actually live in the neighboring state of Tennessee - but duels are forbidden there, so they now want to fight their cause in the small town just across the border.
Jackson, who will be elected President of the United States in 1829, has no experience of dueling!
His opponent is different: Dickinson is a regionally known "sniper" - and most of them will have bet on his victory.
Oh yes: the shooting was caused by offensive words that Dickinson is said to have uttered about Jackson's wife.
High Noon:
Dickinsons shoots first and his bullet hits Jackson in the chest ...:
... The projectile is so close to the heart that later no one dares to operate it out: Jackson will carry the bullet around in his body for his entire life ...
Even though he was badly wounded, Jackson was able to get up again ...:
According to the "rules" of a duel, Dickinson now has to stand still and wait for his opponent to shoot.
He does, Jackson in turn fires and deadly hits Dickinson!
Jackson's behavior in the duel outraged Tennessee viewers, who call it incomprehensible as "brutal, cold-blooded murder" and give Jackson the reputation of a violent, vengeful man.
He becomes a social outcast for a period of time, until people turn back to other things.
The pistols with which the two tried to kill each other have been preserved ...:
Later on, Jackson will duel again and be badly wounded again!
This time, too, the bullet (stomach shot) will be so unhappy that it cannot be removed.
The two projectiles will give Jackson (who was also known by the nickname "Old Hickory") severe lead poisoning, the effects of which will also be partly responsible for his death on June 8th, 1845 ...
As much as I hate to say that, for many people it would have been far better if Dickinson had killed Jackson in the duel!
For example for the Muskogee (Creek), which he destroyed as a general of the Tennessee Militia in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814) ...
... the Seminoles in Florida, which he fought ruthlessly in 1817/18 and had the survivors locked up in a reservation after he had stolen their land ...
... the thousands of dead of several tribes who perished during their forcible deportation to distant reservations during the death march there ("Trail of Tears") ...
... and many others.
I will come back to the hideous "Trail of Tears" in detail at this point ...
