Famous duels
Dueling was amazingly popular in the United States from the country’s birth until about the 1860s. Before taking office, Andrew Jackson is thought to have fought in more than one hundred duels, almost all with pistols, and lived to tell the tale. One book, British Dueling Pistols, by John Atkinson, details that only some 6% of pistol duels ended in fatalities. However, the practice of firing away was not universally accepted.National anthem composer Francis Scott Key, naval hero Steven Decatur, and the first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton all died from pistol shots received in duels. Hamilton, who had fought in 11 previous honor trials, fired first and into the air while then-Vice President Aaron Burr returned fire and mortally wounded the man who now graces the $10 bill. Celebrated Russian author Alexander Pushkin, survivor of 29 previous duels before being killed in his 30th, is another example of how the practice of ‘shooting away’ was not universally followed.
By the 1860s, dueling had largely been regulated away but this did not stop it from becoming a sport in the 1906 and 1912 Olympics—with the shooters firing at mannequins dressed in frock coats. In most cases, the ‘high-noon’ gunfights of the Wild West were more Hollywood than the real deal although notable exceptions would have absolutely shattered the gentlemen of the 1700s sensibilities.