\nDid you know that a long time ago a Maine Congressman was ki lied in a duel?\u00a0Wei I, that is a fact and it created a sensation, not only in Maine, but al lover\u00a0the country.<\/p>\n
In 1837 Maine had eight members in the national House of Representatives,\u00a0showing how high we stood in population among the states at that time compared\u00a0with our position today, for now we have on,ly three. One of ~-‘laine’s representatives\u00a0in 1837 was Jonathan Ci I ley, a Thomaston lawyer.<\/p>\n
On February 2, 1838 Ci I ley made some remarks in the House of Representatives\u00a0which were uncomplimentary to Colonel J. W. Webb, editor of the New York\u00a0Courier and Enquirer. Representative Wi I liam Graves of Kentucky was a close\u00a0friend of Webb’s and took up his case. He tried to deliver to Ci I ley a note\u00a0from \\vebb – aski ng whether Ci I ley’s remarks about vJebb <\/em>had been correctly quoted\u00a0in the Congressional Globe. Ci I ley declined to receive the note, saying that\u00a0he could not consent to get himself into personal difficulties with conductors\u00a0of public journals for what he might think proper to say in debate upon the\u00a0floor of the House.<\/p>\n On February 20 Graves wrote a letter to Ci Iley, trying to get him either\u00a0to conf i rm or deny his a Ileged remarks about v\/ebb. On the next day Ci I ley re’.,…\u00a0plied: ~q declined to receive a note from Colonel Webb of the New York Courier\u00a0and Enquirer because I chose to be drawn into no controversy with him. I neither\u00a0affirmed nor denied anything in regard to his character. When you remarked that\u00a0this course on my part might place you in an unpleasant situation, I stated to\u00a0you that I intended by my ref usa r no di srespect to you.”<\/p>\n The next day, vJash i ngton ‘s birthday, Graves wrote to Ci I ley that he found\u00a0the laTter’s reply unsatisfactory because it sti I I did not admit that Colonel\u00a0Webb is a gent leman. tt I have therefore to i nqui re!’, wrote Graves, :’whether you\u00a0declined to receive his communication on the ground of any personal exception\u00a0to him as a gentleman or a man of honor.”<\/p>\n On the same day Cilley replied: ,., cannot admit your right to propound the\u00a0question to which you ask a categorical answer, and therefore I decline any further\u00a0response to it.!t<\/p>\n On the next day Graves wrote aga into Ci I ley: “As by your note of yesterday\u00a0you have refused to yield on grounds which would exonerate me from all responsibi\u00a0I ity growing out of the affair, am left no other alternative but to ask\u00a0that satisfaction which is recognized among gentlemen. My friend, Honorable\u00a0Henry Wise, is authori zed to make the arrangements sui tab Ie to the occas i on.!!\u00a0Ci I ley immediately accepted the challenge, and named his friend, David\u00a0Jones, to serve as his second to confer with Graves’ second, Henry Wise.<\/p>\n One hundred and twenty years after the event, when duel ling has disappeared\u00a0from the Ameri can scene, it i s d iff i cu It to unde rstand what drove Graves\u00a0to challenge Ci I ley to a duel. In fact Graves’ closest friends thought he was\u00a0committing suicide on a very questionable point of honor. If anyone was going\u00a0to challenge Cilley, it should be vJebb, <\/em>the offended editor. How Graves could \u00a0consider himself personally offended by the exchange of correspondence was hard\u00a0for his fr iends to see. Furthermore they cons i de red the cha Ilenge sui ci de, because\u00a0Graves was a very indifferent shot, although a pretty good swordsman,\u00a0whi Ie Ci Iley, as the challenged party having choice of weapons, would probably\u00a0choose pistols, in the use of which he was very ski Ilful.<\/p>\n To everyone’s surpri se Ci Iley chose ri f les, an unusua I weapon for a due I,\u00a0but one with whi ch Ci Iley was a crack shot. Ci Iley named the time as 12 noon\u00a0on the next day, February 24. Because due II i ng was forb i dden in the Di stri ct of\u00a0Columbia, the place was to be a field just across the Maryland line.<\/p>\n Ci I ley laid down the following specifications, as it was his right as the\u00a0cha I lenged party to do: HThe parti es sha II be p I aced at 80 yards from each\u00a0other and shall hold the rifles horizontally at arm’s length, downwards, the\u00a0rifles to be cocked and triggers set; the words to be ‘Gentlemen, are you\u00a0ready?’ AfTer which, neither answering ‘No’, The words shall be in regular\u00a0succession, ‘Fire — one, two, three, four’. The position of the parties at\u00a0each end of The 80 yard line shal I be determined by lot, and the second of the\u00a0party losing The choice of position shal I have The giving of the word. Dress\u00a0is to be ordinary winter clothing and subject to the examination of both parties.\u00a0Each party may have at hand, besi des his second, a surgeon and two other\u00a0friends. The seconds, for the execution of their respective trusts, are allowed\u00a0to have a pair of pistols each, but no other person shall have any weapon. TT<\/p>\n For some reason Graves had d iff i cu Ity procuri ng a r if Ie, and at 10 0′ clock\u00a0on the appoinTed morning, Ci I ley’s second, Jones, wrote to Graves’ second, Wise,\u00a0HI have in my possessi on an exce I lent ri f Ie, in good order, wh i ch is at the\u00a0servi ce of Mr. Graves. n At the same ti me Jones offered to postpone the due I\u00a0unti I 3 P.M. Half an hour before noon Wise notified Jones that Graves had procured\u00a0a rifle and would be ready at 3 o’clock.<\/p>\n It was agreed that the parties should meet at the Anacostia Bridge on the \u00a0road to Marborough in Maryland between 1:30 and 2:30, that if either got there\u00a0first, he would wait for the other, and they would proceed together out of the\u00a0District of Columbia. They met at the bridge about two o’clock <\/em>and all proceeded \u00a0to the duel ling place. Jones and Wise marked off the ground. Wise won\u00a0the position and Jones had the giving of the word. Jones was then told by\u00a0vii <\/em>se that two gent lemen of Kentucky, Ca Ihoun and Hawes, were sorre di stance off\u00a0as spectators)’ but would not approach upon the duelling ground. Wise also told\u00a0Jones that, contrary to the terms, he had brought two rifles, but would send one\u00a0of them away if Jones so demanded. When Jones learned that the second rifle\u00a0was unloaded, he consented to its remaining in one of the carriages.\u00a0Shortly after 3 o!clock the rifle for each contesTant was loaded in the\u00a0presence of the seconds. The parties were fully instructed by Jones.\u00a0Jones then\u00a0gave the word distincTly and the parties exchanged ShOTS. They both missed.\u00a0Jones then asked ~’Ji se whether Graves was sati sf i ed. \\~i se rep lied, i7Not un less\u00a0Ci Iley wi II make some di sclaimer regardi ng Co lone I ~’Jebb, whi ch wi II re I ieve\u00a0Graves from his posiTion.”<\/p>\n After consulting with Ci Iley, Jones said: !PI am authorized to say that,\u00a0in declining to receive from Graves the note from Colonel Webb, Ci I ley meant\u00a0no disrespect to Graves, because he entertained for him, as he does now, the\u00a0highest respect and the most kindly feelings. He declined to receive the note\u00a0because he chose not TO be drawn into any controversy wi th Co lone I ~Jebb.!l<\/p>\n Much conversation ensued between seconds and friends, but no nearer approach\u00a0was made to any reconci liation. Another shot was exchanged without effect.<\/p>\n Jones then addressed Wi se: HMr. Ci Iley, in comi ng to thi s ground and ex<\/em>changing\u00a0shots with Mr. Graves, has shown to the world That, in declining to\u00a0receive the note of Colonel Webb, he did not do so because he dreaded a controversy.\u00a0He has shown himself a brave man, disposed to render satisfaction to\u00a0Graves. th ink he has done so and that the matter shou I d end he re.”<\/p>\n Wise rep lied: HMr. Graves does not req ui re from r-.1r. Ci I ley any certi f i cate\u00a0of character for himself. He considers, however, that he must not be left in\u00a0the position of being charged with bearing the note of a man who is not a man\u00a0of honor and a gent leman.<\/p>\n Wise and Jones Then tried hard to reach some agreement, but fai led. A\u00a0th i rd shot was then ordered, before wh i ch Wi se sa i d to Jones, ‘i I f th is matter\u00a0is not termi nated by th is shot, I wi II propose to shorten the di stance. tI Jones\u00a0rep lied, n I have no objecti on.”<\/p>\n At the word l~Fi re i1, Ci Iley shot fi rst and agai n mi ssed. When Graves fi red\u00a0Ci Iley fell, mortally wounded, and died before he could be rerroved from the\u00a0fi e Id.<\/p>\n Ci I ley was no ordinary, hot-headed citizen. He was a Congressman of the\u00a0United States, and he had been shot down on the duel ling field by another Congressman,\u00a0just as Aaron Burr had shot down Alexander Hami Iton more than thirty\u00a0years earlier. Hami Iton’s death had caused wide public resentment against duelling,\u00a0and several states had outlawed it altogether. It made matters worse that\u00a0duel ling was banned in the national capital, where these two 1838 contestants\u00a0both represented their states.<\/p>\n For many years afterwards friends of Ci Iley contended that he had no intention\u00a0of ki I I ing or even wounding Graves, that he deliberately missed, because\u00a0he was too good a shot to fai I to hit such a target three times in succession.\u00a0They felt also that, after the first shot, Cilley seemed sure that\u00a0Graves also had no intention of hitting him. As for Graves, he said nothing,\u00a0but his friends contended that he was so poor a shot that his hitting Ci I ley\u00a0had been an unlucky accident, because indeed he had no desire to ki I I the man.<\/p>\n Newspaper controversy raged so violently that the two seconds, Jones and\u00a0Wise, felt compelled to issue a joint statement which said: ;~This statement\u00a0is made for the sole purpose of al laying excitement in the public mind and to\u00a0prevent any further controversy on the subject, which is already ful I of enough\u00a0woe. We fully agree to the fair and honorable manner in which the duel was conducted.\u00a0We endeavored to discharge our duties according to the code under\u00a0which the parties met, regulated by magnanimous principles and the laws of humanity.”<\/p>\n Comment in the New York Journal of Commerce was typical of that in many\u00a0newspapers. It ed i tori a I i zed:\u00a0perhaps a matter of acci dent.<\/p>\n “That the chance was Mr. Ci Iley’ s to di e was\u00a0It was apparent that Ci I ley, who was a crack\u00a0shot, did not intend to shoot Graves, and it is by no means clear that Graves\u00a0intentionally hit Cilley. For the tragedy the two seconds are to blame. Grant-\u00a0i ng that everything was conducted proper,ly , according to the laws of due II i ng?\u00a0up to the first fire, after that for the seconds to press for another fire was\u00a0murder, according to the code of honor. The circumstances demand an investigation\u00a0by Congress.”<\/p>\n The funeral of Representative Jonathan Ci I ley of Maine was held in the\u00a0capitol bui Iding at Washington on February 27, 1838. The hal I and the galleries\u00a0of the House of Representatives were crowded with both gentlemen and\u00a0ladies. IVbst members of both the Senat.e and the House attended. \\lJhy Ci Iley was\u00a0buried in Washington, rather than in Thomaston, Maine, is not clear, but a contemporary\u00a0newspaper account says, “The body was attended to the grave by both\u00a0houses of Congress, the Pres i dent of the Un i ted States, and the higher offi cers\u00a0of the Government.<\/p>\n What did Maine folk think of this duel? What they thought is probably wei I\u00a0ref lected by the Wa I do Patri ot, whi ch on March 16, 1838 pub I i shed the fo I lowi ng\u00a0ed i tori a I:<\/p>\n “When our last paper was put to press, the pub I i c mi nd was suffering the\u00a0most intense excitement; not only from the fact that one of our members of Congress\u00a0had been slain in mortal combat, but from the manner of its announcement\u00a0by many of the Tory papers, the distorted detai Is of the attending circumstances\u00a0and the reckless assertions that this bloody tragedy was only the consummation\u00a0of a diabolical conspiracy of the Bank party. That excitement is subsiding and\u00a0a calmer view is now being taken concerning al I the parties engaged. The unwritten\u00a0code of honor passes before the public mind with but slight examination,\u00a0when unmarked by blood. But when a victim is laid upon its hallowed altar, \u00a0scruti ny is more severe. The pol i ti ca I friends of the I ate Mr. Ci I fey award to\u00a0him the possess i on of high i nte Ilectua I powers, of wh i ch few can boast, and\u00a0though he has left no other chronicles to his fame, we would not abate one jot\u00a0from this reputation. We only hope it may fix upon al I who seek notoriety in\u00a0this savage field the intolerable stigma of public resentment.<\/p>\n “Yet we cannot admi t that Ci I ley was compe lied to accept Graves’ cha 1-\u00a0lenge. Charity requires us to believe that he broke away from the influence of\u00a0his northern friends and turned to hot-headed southern counsel. All he needed \u00a0was moral courage — the same courage which has distinguished other Maine citizens\u00a0— the courage to refuse the duelling field. The haste with which the\u00a0challenge was accepted, the bul lying offer of weapons, and the choice of the \u00a0dead I y ri fie, ca II for unm i ti gated condemnati on. The death of Mr. Ci I ley shou I d\u00a0call forth unanimous remonstrance against duel ling. Unhappi Iy, false notions\u00a0of honor are not confi ned to the South. They have some foothold even in Maine.<\/p>\n But we must erad i cate them. Whoever goes to Congress from th is state must understand\u00a0that he is not sent there to shoot or be shot by his fe I low man.<\/p>\n Less than four months before the Graves-Ci Iley due I, a young man from A 1-\u00a0bion, Maine, a graduate of what is now Colby College, had been ki lied by a mob\u00a0in Alton, I Ilinois, because he insisted upon freedom of the press. To this\u00a0heroic young man the Waldo Patriot referred as it closed its editorial on the\u00a0death of Congressman Ci Iley. The Patriot said: ”It is not long since Reverend\u00a0Eli jah Lovejoy was shot whi Ie defendi ng hi s press. He was a citi zen of Maine,\u00a0yet his high-handed murder attracted but little notice from a political party\u00a0some of whose leaders would now turn the death of Ci Iley to political account.\u00a0We wou I d not di stract pub I i c attenti on from the tragedy in Wash i ngton, but the\u00a0sti I I blacker and more nefari ous tragedy at A Iton demands greater condemnati on.<\/p>\n Year: 1957<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #343, Broadcast June 23, 1957<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[761,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7751"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}