Speaking of suspicious shootings . . .

[pegkerr]

A number of news reports have mentioned the only other occasion that a standing Vice President was involved in a scandalous firearms incident: the duel between Vice President Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, which resulted in Hamilton's death.

One point which has not been mentioned in any of the news reports I've heard is the later discovery about Hamilton's pistols. Hamilton wrote a letter the night before the duel saying: A letter that he wrote the night before the duel states, "I have resolved, if our interview [duel] 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." And indeed, Hamilton did seem to delope (fire his pistol in the air) whereas Burr fired on topic.

Or is that the whole story? The dueling pistols survive. One of them has a hair trigger, requiring only a two pound pull, whereas the other pistol required a ten pound pull. Was that pistol Hamilton's? Did he know?

Did he, perhaps, use the hair trigger pistol, intending to get a cheating advantage over Burr--and then lose his life because the touch on the pistol was too light and so he mistakenly fired too early?

Comments

[chazzbanner.livejournal.com]

I'm reading Chernow's wonderful biography of Hamilton right now.

p. 693 (I'm not nearly there yet!) "Hamilton devoted considerable time to arranging his affairs and drawing up farewell letters. The solemnity with which he performed these duties seesm to bespeak some premonition that he might die." Chernow includes Hamilton's letter to his wife, which was indeed heartfelt, painful even.

I suppose it could be a convoluted cover-up in case he killed Burr and was accused of murder, but I think in this case the simpler explanation is the more likely. (hello Mr. Occam)

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

If I remember correctly, Founding Brothers covers this topic in some detail. If you like early US History, you might want to look it up.

[joelrosenberg.livejournal.com]

I dunno, but it's more likely -- and more amusing, at least to me -- that he got the light trigger pistol to Burr, figuring that Burr'd light it off prematurely (anybody who has ever put his finger on a very light trigger and heard a surprising click or bang would know what I mean), and got nailed when Burr didn't play along, causing Hamilton to clench his hand and appear to intentionally fire into the air instead of bringing his pistol down for the intended final shot.

I do remember reading one almost contemporary take about dueling at the time, which suggested that pistols were selected when the aggrieved party really didn't want things to go very far, but went for blades when it was serious. ('Course, things did change with the introduction of epee -- not because of the technology, particularly [it was really just a development of the rapier] but because of how the technique was better aligned with the rules of a first-blood duel.)

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I agree. I don't think it's at all clear whether Hamilton deliberately fired into the air and was then shot by Burr, or whether Burr shot Hamilton, and Hamilton then reflexively fired without aiming and the shot went into the air. (Or, IIRC, into an overhead tree branch.)

Even more intriguing than the Burr-Hamilton duel, which I became slightly obsessed with in high school after reading Gore Vidal's Burr, is the question of what the hell was up with the conspiracy Burr was involved in.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I'd read that bit about the hair-triggers before, but thought both pistols were gimicked. Since the other party has the choice of _which_ pistol to use, that advantage could evaporate if only one of them was rigged.