Andrew Jackson—The President Who Shot Second (And Won)

On this episode of Our American Stories, dueling was close to Andrew Jackson's heart. Here to tell us just how close is Keith Hardison, former director of Interpretation at The Hermitage in Nashville, TN - Jackson's home. Keith starts by explaining a code of honor that culminated from 1750 to 1850.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we returned to our American stories. Even today, officials
in Kentucky must swear under oath before taking office that
they have not participated, in any way, shape or form
in a societal relic commonly associated with our nation's seventh
president were, of course, talking about a duel. Here to

(00:32):
tell the story of Andrew Jackson and his dueling is
Keith Hartison, the former director of interpretation at the Hermitage
in Nashville, Tennessee. Take it away.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Keith Jackson was not born an aristocrat. In fact, was
born the child of Scotch Irish immigrants. He was orphaned
by fourteen and then became arguably, if not America's first
rags to riches story, America's best known early rags to

(01:04):
riches story. And those who were in the aristocratic class
understood and supported concept of dueling themselves. Dueling is an
interesting phenomena that sort of peaked in America between around
seventeen fifty and eighteen fifty. It came out of what's

(01:25):
called a code of honor that evolved in Europe. Some
people will trace this back to a document called the
Code Duello, which supposedly was put together by representatives from
several areas in Ireland. The fact of the matter is
there been some question as to whether that document is

(01:48):
as old as it was supposed to be. But what
we do know is that back as far as the
Middle Ages, there was a form of dueling practiced by
the upper classes in Great Britain, France, there was some
in Germany, and the thing that was most important was honor.

(02:10):
In fact, someone remarked that it was better to die
with honor than to live without it. Jackson was not
as big a dueler as many people think. In fact,
as far as a bona fide duel that went by
basically the code of honor were only two. And then

(02:33):
there were two others that basically end up in glorified brawls.
For instance, the first of those was with Tennessee Governor
John Severe, of whom he was a political opponent. This
occurred in eighteen oh three, and Jackson challenged Severe to
a duel, and they went back and forth, and finally

(02:55):
they were going to have one, and going to the
place of the duel, it became a fight on the road.
Severe claimed the horse ran off of his pistols and
so forth. So it ended up almost comical in a way.
An earlier one than that was in seventeen eighty eight.
That's Jackson's first duel with Avery Wastel. It was an

(03:18):
attorney in a court case, and he made remarks in
the course of this case that were very unkind of
unflattering to Jackson. Jackson took an insult. He was a
young lawyer. Challenged them then and there to a duel.
They went out just outside of town in Jonesboro, Tennessee.
Jackson's combatant fired his pistol into the air, and Jackson

(03:41):
chose not to press it, and so the duel was over.
Nobody was shot, and nobody was shot at, but everybody
had upheld their honor, and that was the big thing.
Has my honor been satisfied? Eighteen oh six is the
most famous duel, and that is the Dickinson duel. Started

(04:04):
initially over a horse race, and it didn't directly involve Dickinson,
except that Dickinson was Captain Irwin's son. Captain Irwin pulled
his horse from the race, and everybody had agreed, not
only that if either one of them pulled their horse
for any reason, then they had to pay a forfeiture fee.
Of eight hundred dollars, and at that time there was

(04:27):
a plethora of various bank notes that sort of thing,
and Jackson was very specific. There was an agreement on
what type of bank notes could and could not be
used in payment of a forfeiture fee. So the result
is that there was bickering over that payment, and eventually

(04:47):
it was paid, but not in notes. To Jackson's satisfaction.
He raised an issue about that, felt like Irwin was
not dealing with him in an upright manner, and so
his son in law, who was Charles Dickinson, got involved
on his father in law's side. And there's several things

(05:08):
that have been alleged, but what we do know for
sure is that both verbally and in writing in the
Nashville Paper, Dickinson called Jackson a poltroon in a coward.
Jackson took umbrage his honor had been challenged, because when
your honor is challenged and you do not respond, then

(05:29):
people assume one of two things in this code of
honor system, number one, that you're guilty as charged, or
number two, you don't have the intestinal fortitude to defend
your own honor, either of which is detrimental and so
Jackson challenges Dickinson to a duel. Dickinson readily accepts. Dickinson

(05:49):
is considered he's an up and coming attorney in Nashville,
got roots back in Maryland, and he is considered by
many to be the best shot in the state of Tennessee.
Was but Jackson feels like he really has no choice,
and the two are to go over just over the
Tennessee line in Kentucky on the appointed day. On the way,

(06:11):
Charles boasted that he was going to kill Jackson, and
even folks placed bess on it and on the field
of honor that day they met. The plan was this.
Jackson was to intentionally after the order of the fire

(06:31):
was given, was to hold his fire, thinking that Dickinson,
being younger and more brash, more confident, would take a
quick shot and perhaps miss. Now that's quite gambled. That's
what happened. Now. The bullet that went into Jackson shattered

(06:53):
two ribs and lodged near his heart. But Jackson doesn't
let own that he's hit. He just grits his teeth
and takes it. Now, Dickinson, when he fired and didn't
see Jackson fall, was totally confused. And he said, my God,
have I missed him? I don't miss I don't get this.

(07:13):
Then Jackson takes his time, aims, his pistol, fires and
as he pulls the trigger, it hangs on half cock,
so the hammer doesn't go all the way down. Jackson
pulls it back, aims again, and fires it in to Dickinson.

(07:35):
Dickinson bled out. By the end of the day. As
Jackson walks off the field, a surgeon that Jackson had
brought a law thoughtfully so noticed blood pulling in one
of Jackson's shoes and asks, have you been hit? Jackson

(07:56):
makes the comment I think I've been pinked. The I
nk ed. I think I've been pinked a little, and
the doctor then discovers for the first time that Jackson
really has been hit and it's a serious wound. Ultimately,
Jackson would survive. I would not say he recovered because
the wound never properly healed, and since the ball had

(08:18):
lodged about an inch from his heart, the doctors were
afraid to remove it because if they missed, they were
going to puncture his heart and he was going to
be dead for sure. And so the bullet never was removed.
In fact, it is in his body in the coffin
in the Presidential tomb here at the Hermitage.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Monty Montgomery and Caleb Robinson, and the
special thanks to Keith Hardison, former director of interpretation at
the Hermitage. And this of course happened this Dickinson duel
in eighteen oh six. In eighteen oh four, Alexander Hamilton
lost his life in Weehawk in New Jersey in a

(09:03):
duel with Aaron Burry. You would have thought that would
have ended the whole dueling thing. But this is how
deeply embedded into the honor culture our society was at
that time. The story of the president who shot second
and survived. We're talking about Andrew Jackson surviving that duel
bullet in his chest until the day he died. That

(09:25):
story here on our American Stories