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The Bladensburg Dueling Ground

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We have previously written about the practice of dueling among members of Congress prior to the Civil War. We also discussed a book in the Library of Congress Special Collections Division that prescribes the rules governing a duel with pistols. Today, we visit the spot where many of those infamous duels took place – the Bladensburg Dueling Ground. Bladensburg was a popular spot for duels, since Congress outlawed dueling in the District of Columbia in 1839, and Bladensburg is located just outside of the boundaries of the District in Maryland. It was on this “dark and bloody ground” that naval hero Commodore Stephen Decatur, Congressman Jonathan Cilley, and Francis Scott Key’s son, Daniel Key, were among those who met early deaths by losing a duel.

The general reason for dueling was almost always the same–a man in public life felt that his honor and ability to command respect in public life had been impugned, leading him to believe that the only way to defend this reputation was to challenge his antagonist to a duel. The particular insults ranged from the mundane to the ridiculous: Stephen Decatur was challenged to a duel by James Barron after he helped court-martial Barron and later opposed Barron’s reinstatement, while Daniel Key was killed by fellow midshipman John Sherborne after a dispute over the speed of a steamboat. Today, the dueling ground, or at least a portion of it, is a park that is located within the boundaries of Colmar Manor, Maryland. The infamy of the dueling ground led to it becoming a tourist attraction, and several historical photos of Bladensburg appear in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Catalog. I recently visited the site and took several photographs.

Underwood and Underwood. Ravine at Bladensburg, Md., famed for fatal duels. 1904. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s12975
Ravine at Bladensburg, Md., famed for fatal duels. Underwood and Underwood. 1904. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s12975

 

National Photo Company. Old dueling ground, Bladensburg, Md. Photographed between 1910 and 1926. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/npcc.32177
Old dueling ground, Bladensburg, Md. National Photo Company. Photographed between 1910 and 1926. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/npcc.32177

The Bladensburg Dueling Grounds in March of 2020. Photograph by Robert Brammer.
The Bladensburg Dueling Grounds in March 2020. Photograph by Robert Brammer.
The Bladensburg Dueling Grounds in March of 2020. Photograph by Robert Brammer.
The Bladensburg Dueling Grounds in March 2020. Photograph by Robert Brammer.
The Bladensburg Dueling Grounds in March of 2020. Photograph by Robert Brammer.
The Bladensburg Dueling Grounds in March 2020. Photograph by Robert Brammer.
The Bladensburg Dueling Grounds in March of 2020. Photograph by Robert Brammer.
The Bladensburg Dueling Grounds in March 2020. Photograph by Robert Brammer.

 

Comments (3)

  1. Great pictures and interesting history. Thanks!

  2. Sherbornes 2nd, in a letter news article interview, said they met up at the Good Hope Tavern and proceeded to a nearby field. The Good Hope Tavern is located across the Navy Yard Bridge past Uniontown/Anacostia and up Good Hope Road at the fork with Naylar and Alabama Roads. Whether in that article or elsewhere, I believe I found it to be on land of Rezin Arnold. My relatives very well may have witnessed it as my 3rd great grandfather and his 2nd wife’s family lived up on Good Hope Hill catty corner to the Tavern. The Tavern would come into the family hands in 1839 when Tom Anderson’s 2nd wife’s mother had her husband buy it. It thus stayed in family hands of one sort or another into the early 1900s.

    Rezin Arnold would also cross paths with the Key family later when Philip Barton Key was gunned down by Sickels. Rezin Arnold was the foreman of the jury. The court case which helped Sickels to be found not guilty on temporary insanity was based on an earlier trial from a murder that happened between blacksmiths at the Navy Yard.

    • Very interesting. Thank you, James!

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