Stonewall Jackson (@1776Stonewall)

History Nugget, 1806 - The Jackson-Dickinson duel:                             On May 30, 1806, In what remains one of the most famous and controversial encounters in American history, future President Andrew Jackson killed a man named Charles Dickinson in a duel. The conflict originated from a horse race bet gone wrong between Jackson and Dickinson's father-in-law, Joseph Erwin. The tension escalated when Dickinson accused Jackson of cheating on the race debt, and then Publicly insulted Jackson's wife, Rachel Jackson, by calling her a bigamist - a sensitive topic due to a legal misunderstanding regarding her first divorce. Dickinson first Published a statement in a Nashville newspaper calling Jackson a "worthless scoundrel," a "poltroon," and a "coward". Jackson then challenged Dickinson to a duel. Charles Dickinson wasn’t just anyone. Not only was he an accomplished attorney, he was also a renowned duelist, with 26 victories under his belt. Because dueling was illegal in Tennessee, the two met across the border at Harrison's Mills in Logan County, Kentucky. Knowing Dickinson was a superior marksman, Jackson deliberately decided to let Dickinson fire first, even wearing an oversized coat to disguise his body, hoping to take his time for a steady return shot if he survived. Dickinson fired quickly, striking Jackson in the chest, breaking several ribs. Despite the significant wound and blood filling his shoe, Jackson remained standing, allegedly stating he would have stayed up even if shot through the brain to return fire. When Jackson pulled his trigger, the hammer reportedly stopped at half-cock. In a move that many considered a breach of dueling etiquette, Jackson re-cocked his pistol and fired again, fatally wounding Dickinson in the abdomen. Because Jackson's pistol stopped at the first attempt, rules dictated that it should have counted as his shot. However, Jackson re-cocked it, leading some to argue he violated the “code duello”. Jackson’s wound was serious, but Surgeons deemed that the bullet was too close to Jackson's heart to remove. He lived with the bullet in his chest for the remaining 39 years of his life, suffering chronic pain and lead poisoning. The duel initially tarnished Jackson's reputation, with critics viewing the “second shot” as "cold-blooded murder". Most in the public saw it as a defense of honor, and while the killing of a popular man like Dickinson damaged Jackson's reputation in Tennessee for some time, it also solidified his image as a man of "iron will". Future political opponents attempted to weaponize the incident during later campaigns, but ultimately it did not prevent his election as the 7th U.S. President in 1828.