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Infamous duel between Lewis & McHenry... Acts of Congress signed by Jefferson...
Infamous duel between Lewis & McHenry... Acts of Congress signed by Jefferson...
Item # 713235
June 13, 1808
SPOONER'S VERMONT JOURNAL, Windsor, June 13, 1808
* The 1808 Thomas Lewis-John McHenry duel
* Sunset Cemetery in Christiansburg, Virginia.
The front page has "AN ACT" of congress: "For the establishment of a turnpike company in the county of Alexandria in the district of Columbia" signed tintype: Th. Jefferson. The balance of the front page is "AN ACT Concerning Invalid Pensions" with a very lengthy list of recipients and their amounts, signed on page 2: Th. Jefferson.
Page 3 has: "Fatal Duel!" fought between Thomas Lewis and John McHenry. There is much on the internet concerning this infamous duel. It was the first duel with rifles known to have taken place in Virginia, resulting in the death of both men. Dr. John Floyd, later Governor of Virginia and member of Congress, was the attending surgeon. This affair contributed to the passage in 1810 of the Barbour Bill outlawing dueling in Virginia.
Four pages, never bound nor trimmed, nice condition.
background: The 1808 Lewis-McHenry duel remains one of Virginia’s most haunting "affairs of honor" because it ended in a rare and tragic double fatality that fundamentally changed state law. Triggered by a political grudge between merchant John McHenry and tavern owner Joseph King, the conflict escalated when 22-year-old Thomas Lewis stepped in to champion King’s honor, leading the two men to face off with rifles at a lethal range of just thirty paces. Both marksmen fired with devastating accuracy: Lewis was killed instantly by a shot to the heart, while McHenry succumbed to a liver wound the following day, allegedly expressing deep remorse as he watched his opponent’s funeral procession pass by his window. The public outcry over the loss of two prominent citizens was so intense that it prompted the Virginia General Assembly to pass the Barbour Bill in 1810, which not only outlawed dueling but also instituted a mandatory "anti-dueling oath" for all state officials that persisted for over a century.
Category: Pre-Civil War
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