Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-02-24


" 10 Andre,g Jackson:
Think not that am TO be intimi-
dated by your threats. No power ter
restrial shall prevent the settled pur-
pose of my soul. The statement that
/ have made is substantially correct.
The torrent of abusive language with
which you have assailed me is such as
every gentleman should blush to hear;
your menaees / set at defiance, and
now demand of you that reparation
which one gentleman is entitled to re-
ceive of another. My friend, the
bearer of this, is authorized to make
complete arrangements for the field of
honor"
Gen. jackson kept his word, and on
receipt of this message, politely
leaned" Mr.. Swami.
From the beginning Jackson had
suspected that Dickinson was at the
bottom of his trouble with Swami, and
he did not hesitate to say so. In the
course Of his correspondence with the
latter he denounced a certain base
poltroon and cowardly tale-bearer who
always acts in the dark" and added
You can apply the latter to Mr.. Dick
inson. Mr.. Dickinson has
given you the information the subject
Of your letter. In return and in JUS
tice to him | request you to show him
this. / set out in the morning for
South West Point. Should anything
herein contained give Mr. Dickinson
the spleen, | will furnish him with an
anOdyne as soon as | return.
This was shown Dickinson. He was
on the eve of starting to New Orleans
on fiat-boat; but he addressed the
General a letter. las to being a poll
troon," he wrote, II think that term is
as applicable to you as any one know
and [ shall be very glad when an op-
portunity serves to know in what man
ner you give your anodynes, ard hope
you will take payment in one of my
most moderate cathartics." Before
jackson could respond to this def,
Dickinson was on his way to the lower
country. 1t is said that during his trip
he necessarily practiced with his pIs-
tolls, we'll aware of the inevitable COM
bat which awaited his return.
Both parties, with their respective
cavalcades, reached the vicinity of the
ground appointed for the duel late in
| the afternoon. They secured accom-
modations at couple of neighboring
/ taverns. 1t is related that Jackson ate
/ heartily at supper that night, conyers-
ing in lively, pleasant manner. and
smoked his evening pipe as usual. He
retired early, and by daylight next
morning the whole party was up in the
saddle. A gallop of mile and the
fording of stream, which, owing to its
swollen state, it was found necessary
to swim, brought them to the ground.
| Dickinson aud party had already ar
rived. The business at once proceed
| ed. Dickinson's second won the choice
of position and Jaekson's the office of
giving the word. Both were perfect
" collected, says Parton" All the
politeuess OF such occasions was very
strictly and elegantly performed. Jack
son was dressed in a loose frock coat
buttoned carelessly over his chest and
concealing in some degree the extreme
slenderness of his figure. Dickinson
was the younger and handsomer man
of the two, but Jackson's tall, erect
figure, and the still intensity of his
demeanor, it is said, gave him most
superior and commanding air, as he
stood under the tall pOplars on this
bright May morning, silently awaiting
the moment of doom.
"'Are you ready ?" said Overton.
lam ready, said Dickinson.
az am ready, said jackson"
The word was given.
Dickinson raised his pistol quickly
and fired. Overtou, was looking with
anxiety and dread at jackson, saw a
puff of dust fly from the breast of his
coat, and saw him raise his left arm
and place it tightly across his his breast.
He is surely hit, thought, Overton, and
[ in bad place, too, but no; he does
not fall. Erect and aud grim as Fate
/ he stood, his teeth clenched, raising
| his pistol. Overton glanced at Dick
/ inson. Annoyed at the unwonted fail
ure of his aim, and apparently appalled,
( at the awful figure and face before
him, Dickinson had recoiled pace or
/ two.
- Great God he faltered, have
missed him?'
Back to the mark, sir! shrieked
I Overton, with his hand upon his pistol.
Dickinson recovered his compos-
ure, stepped forward to the peg and
stood with eyes averted from his an
tagonist.'
General jackson took deliberate
aim and pulled the trigger. The PTS
tol neither snapped nor went off. He
looked at the trigger and discovered
that it had stopped at half-cock. He
drew it back to it's place and took aim
a second time. He fired Dickinson
face blanched; he reeled; friends
rushed toward him, caught him in
their arms and gently seated him on
the ground, leaning against bush
His trousers Redeemed. They strip
ped off his clothes. The blood was
gushing from his side in torrents. The
ball had passed through the body be-
low the ribs. Such a wound could not
but be fatal. -
Jackson and his friends Immediately
left the field. It was found upon ex-
animation, on reaching the tavern,
that he was wounded. Dickinson
aim, says Parton, had been perfect
He had sent the ball precisely where
he supposed jackson s heart was beat
ing, but the thinness of his body and
the looseneSs OF his coat combining
to deceive him, the ball had only
broken a rib or two, and raked the
breast-bone. 1t was a somewhat pain.
full, bad-lOOking wound, but neither
severe nor dangerous.
Dickinson died that night.
In this duel it is plain to be seen,
from a careful consideration of the
circumstances above narrated, though
the truth does not appear to have
reached the apprehension OF Gen,
Jackson's biographer, that Dickinson
was outwittcd by his older and more
experienced antagonist. Advantage
was taken of the very fact of his be
ing a dead shot" and of his perfect
confidence IN his skill with the pistol.
His avoWed purpose was to shoot
jackson through the heart, and he
felt absolutely sure of doing this. In
what manner his object was defeated
Mr.. Parton uncOnsciOuSly discloses.
He aimed precisely where he sup
/ posed Jackson heart was beating, but
the th;nness of his body and the loose
ness Of his eGGt' combined Ito de-
ceive" him. Admitting the morality
of private combat as of public war,
such strategy, under the circumstances,
can not be regarded as uniustifable
The late Gen. Sam. Dale, who was i'm
innate with jackson, has been fire.
Il I