Existing comment:
July 11, 1804
Hamilton and Burr met at Weehawken, New Jersey, shortly after dawn. The pistols, which belonged to John Church, Elizabeth Hamilton's brother-in-law, had been used in Hamilton's son Philip's fatal duel three years earlier. Following protocol, the gentlemen stood twenty paces apart, and fired at the command, "Present." Hamilton's shot went high and wide. Burr's pierced Hamilton's abdomen and lodged in his spine. Hamilton was rowed to Greenwich Village, where he died the following day. |