One of the most famous duels in American History occurred on May 30, 1806.
Rachel Robards met Jackson at her father’s boarding house. When her husband left her to seek divorce, they got married. Two years later they found out he had not gotten a divorce, so technically she was committing adultery. The husband used that in his divorce decree. As soon as the actual divorce came through, they quickly remarried. The scandal deeply depressed his wife and Jackson was determined to duel anyone who made any comments about it. Because of the unfortunate fact that technically Rachel was married to two men at the same time, enemies of Jackson sometimes voiced their disapproval of the scandalous woman. Andrew was very protective of his wife’s reputation and challenged several men to duels over her honor. One of those men was Charles Dickinson. Dickinson and Jackson already were enemies. Dickinson had accused Jackson of not paying a horse race debt. He called Jackson a coward and poltroon and made cracks about Rachel being a bigamist. He knew this would lead to a challenge of a duel. Dickinson was a crack shot and had killed men in duels, so Jackson’s friends tried to dissuade him from challenging him. Jackson was determined to seek satisfaction. On the day of the duel, Jackson wore a loose coat. When the signal for the duel to commence was given, the overconfident Dickinson quickly fired, expecting that to be the end of it. He was shocked to see Jackson still standing. According to dueling rules, Jackson now had his chance and Dickinson had to stand and wait for it. Some might have purposely missed, but not Jackson. He took careful aim and pulled the trigger. The hammer went to half cock and stopped. Jackson pulled it back to start over. Keep in mind, Dickinson is standing there waiting. The second trigger pull worked and Dickinson was hit in the groin. It was a painful and mortal wound. At that point, Jackson collapsed. His friends, thinking he had fainted, ran up to find that he had been shot in the ribs. And yet, Old Hickory was able to stand and deliver the kill shot. Later, Jackson explained: “I intended to kill him. I would have stood up long enough to kill him even if he had put a bullet in my brain.” The bullet had lodged near his heart so doctors decided not to risk removing it. Old Hickory kept the bullet the rest of his life.
– maroon 20
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/andrew-jackson-kills-charles-dickinson-in-duel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickinson_(historical_figure)
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