Posted on 02/14/2006 11:29:19 AM PST by clawrence3
Perhaps this duel is the most famous in history. Its results certainly meant the end of both Hamilton and Burr. They carried Hamilton from the field and the next day he died. Burr lived for years, but the shadow of his own doom was ever before him. It is reported that late in life he observed that, had he been wiser, he would have known that there was room enough in the world for both Hamilton and himself. Had Hamilton been equally wise, he would have known that calumnies and lies bring forth but bitter fruit.
When the news of Hamilton's death spread abroad, a thunderous hue and cry went up against Burr. He was a murderer, a criminal, in spite of the fact that all of the rules required under the duelling code had been observed. The Federalists set upon him. He was indicted forthwith for murder, both in New Jersey and New York, and, while he was never brought to trial, he had reason to fear facing a jury, so thoroughly had the public been prejudiced against him.
(Excerpt) Read more at odur.let.rug.nl ...
Only because Burr was shunned and excoriated, did he finally grow up and realize what a jerk he had been.
Right. Burr did something that was 30 years overdue. Burr should have received a medal instead. Hamilton's ideals bred Clay's American System. Clay's sycophant lackey (the 16th President) destroyed the ideal of the Republic the Framers envisioned. Hamilton envisioned a President and Senate for life, much as the British system of the time. Some genius...
Nope--lower abdomen.
Guess we will have to look for sources.
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. Both men's seconds were instructed to look away as the dueling began, lest they be charged as accomplices to the crime. Hamilton fired first and missed, most likely intentionally. Burr, possibly hoping to merely wound Hamilton in the leg, instead shot Hamilton in the lower abdomen above the right hip. The bullet ricocheted off Hamilton's rib and caused considerable damage to his internal organs, particularly his liver and spine.
Emphasis added.
There has always been a controversy over whether Alex's weapon discharged early because the trigger was set too lightly, or he intentionally discharged high, cracking a branch with the ball. We shall never know.
The devastating thing Alex was to have said is that Burr slept with his own beloved daughter.
Burr eventually came back to New York and lived in the Morris-Jumel Mansion in NYC.
I think she drowned crossing the Atlantic. He was certainly close to her, and it is said that he was never the same man again.
Yes--Theodosia met a tragic end in the Atlantic going from South Carolina to NY (from a geneology web site):
BURR, Theodosia [1783-1813]
Daughter of U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr. She is remembered for her devoted support of her father.
Hers is a tragic story: Following her 1801 marriage to Joseph Alston, scion of a prominent South Carolina family, Theodosia became chronically ill. She lost her 10-year-old son to malaria and was traveling to New York to visit her father when her ship was lost at sea. It is said that her ghost still walks their plantation.
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