If rivals couldn’t hash out their differences through a second, or mediator, they’d meet for satisfaction, most often with pistols.īecause weapons often misfired and because accepted rules meant duelists had to aim quickly-often in less than three seconds-deaths weren’t all that common. (In this case it was a sword fight, and no mortal wounds were suffered.) In 1838, duels even received a formal code of conduct written by South Carolina governor John Lyde Wilson. The practice of resolving issues via combat was imported to America from Europe during the colonial period, with the first recorded duel on American soil credited to Massachusetts colonists Edward Doty and Edward Lester in 1621. Real dueling had very little to do with recognition of one’s skills and a lot to do with meting out justice among parties who felt wronged. Duelists fire wax bullets at one another in New York City in 1909.
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