Bladensburg Dueling Grounds

Bladensburg Dueling Grounds
Type County park and state historic site
Location Dueling Creek Natural Area, Colmar Manor Community Park, Colmar Manor, Maryland, United States (formerly, the Bladensburg Dueling Grounds, in Bladensburg, Maryland)
Created Known as, "Blood Run" and "The Dark and Bloody Grounds", it was used from 1808-1868, until the last duel occurred, ending the era, as the site of 50 known duels, to settle disputes, between the Washington DC and Maryland elites.
Owned by Prince George's County Department of Parks and Recreation
Notable Bladensburg duelists
Duration 1808-1868
Participants

Barent Gardenier vs. George W. Campbell (1808)

John Mason McCarty vs. Armistead Thomson Mason (1819)

Stephen Decatur vs. James Barron (1820)

Daniel Key vs. John Sherbourne (1836)

Jonathan Cilley vs. William J. Graves (1838)

A. Galletin Lawrence vs. Baron Kusserow (1868)
Casualties

Barent Gardenier, wounded

Armistead Thomson Mason, killed

Stephen Decatur, mortally wounded

Daniel Key, killed

Jonathan Cilley, mortally wounded

Bladensburg Dueling Grounds is a small spit of land, a fraction of its original size, along Dueling Creek, formerly in the town of Bladensburg, Maryland, and now within the town of Colmar Manor, just to the northeast of Washington, D.C., United States. Dueling Creek, formerly known as '"Blood Run" and the "The Dark and Bloody Grounds", is a tributary of the Anacostia River, which was formerly, called the East Branch Potomac River.

From 1808 the grove witnessed approximately fifty duels by gentlemen, military officers, and politicians, settling "affairs of honor". The exact number of duels and the names of all the participants who fought at Bladensburg may never be known because dueling was against the law, surviving records are obscure, and the events are not well documented. It is quite possible that more than fifty duels took place there. A formalized set of rules dealing with dueling etiquette referred to as a Code duello was usually enforced by the duelers and their seconds, even though dueling was illegal in the District of Columbia, and in most American states and territories.

Following the Civil War, dueling fell out of favor as a means of settling personal grievances and declined rapidly; the last known duel was fought here in 1868.

Notable duels

Commodore Stephen Decatur, the U.S. naval hero, was mortally wounded at Bladensburg and later died at his home in Washington DC.
Portrait of Francis Scott Key. Key's son, Daniel, was killed, at the dueling grounds, by a fellow midshipman from the U.S. Naval Academy, over steamboat speed.

References

External links

38°55′30.6″N 76°56′25.4″W / 38.925167°N 76.940389°W / 38.925167; -76.940389Coordinates: 38°55′30.6″N 76°56′25.4″W / 38.925167°N 76.940389°W / 38.925167; -76.940389

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, March 15, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.