Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1898-09-15
The Smith-HolmeS Duel.


the duel fought early in this century
at Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in
which young Smith, of Winchester,
Virginia, was killed, I will give you
such facts as l have learned from va
rious sources, including the old people
of the town who knew the principals
and were familiar with all the circum-
stances connected herewith.
The duel was fought in the year
1909. The parties to it were Peyton
Smith, son of Gen. John Smith, of
Hackwood Park, Frederick county,
Va, who at the time Of the sad event
was the representative in Congress
from the Winchester district, and
Joseph Holmes, brother of Judge
Holmes, Of Winchester, and the uncle
of the McGuires, Conrads, Boyds and
Faulkners of Frederick and Berkeley
counties. Holmes was young lawyer
Of promise, and Smith had Just gradu-
ated with high honors at William and
Mary College, preparatory to entering
the same profession, The two had
been intimate friends. My recollection
of the cause of the difficulty, as gath
cred from those contemporary with the
event, is that it began with trihing
disagreement which had been amicably
settled between the parties themselves,
but was afterwards reopened by the
interference Of others and magnifed
into a serious matter that finally ended
in the challenge. Young Smith was
a famous shot, and it was said could
hit silver half dollar when pitched
aloft. Holmes was no shot at all. The
fight occurred at daybreak on the
Maryland side of the Potomac oppo-
site ShepherdstOwn, and a short dis
tance from where the Maryland end OF
the bridge now stands. At the word
"fre" there was but one report. Smith
did not discharge his pistol, but
Holmes ball had inflicted a fatal in
Jury. Smith, unknown to his seconds,
had determined not to fire at Holmes,
because he did not wish to kill his
friend for what he considered an un-
necessary difficulty fomented by reck-
less advisers who were more eager than
they for "the fun. The wounded
young man was conveyed across the
river to the Entler Hotel, where he
died in a few hours.
You ask whether it is true that the
mother of young Smith reached him
before his death. She did not. Hear
ing very late the evening before of the
departure of the parties for Shepherds
town upon hostile mission, she start
ed instantly in her carriage, travelling
all night in order to overtake them
the distance being about thirty miles,
but she reached the field little too
late. The drama had been enacted
and the stricken son, unable to speak,
could only give look of afectionate
recognition to the mother who would
have given her life to have saved his.
He had fallen splendid and univer-
sally lamented victim to that "code OF
honor" by which many a brave and
honorable man for trivial cause was
forced to surrender, in obedience to
false pride and cruel custom, a noble
and useful life to satisfy an exacting
stan lard of reparation.
Both families mourned equally the
sad event, and none more than he who
had escaped harmless through the try
ing ordeal.
Ny father, Col. Augustine C. Smith,
then a young lawyer at the Winches-
ter bar, was the elder brother of Pey-
ton, and when be died l found among
his papers a kind and sympathetic let
ter from Mr.. Brown, of Shepherds
town, dated 1909, alluding to the sad
event which had just occurred and
stating that he had in his possession
the pair of spurs which his brother had
on when he was killed and which be
could get at any time. l think Mr.
Brown was jeweler or silversmith.
The following incident occurred in
Shepherdstown in the spring of 1850
the year before the civil war, to which
l was party. was visiting a friend
in shepherdstown whose dwelling was
almost opposite the Entler Hotel be-
fore alluded to. The military spirit
ran high in the Old Dominion at that
time, as an inheritance of the Henry
A Wise administration. he having