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Description: Two Notable Duels - Clay and Randolph - Graves and Cilley - An Error Corrected
Date: September 9 1883Newspaper published in: Washington, DC
Page/Column: Page 6
Two Notable Duels - Clay and Randolph - Graves and Cilley - An Error Corrected
To the Editor of The Post: In the Weekly Post of the 8th ult, I read an article by Colonel John A. JOYCE containing short biographical notices of various distinguished persons whose monuments stand in the Congressional cemetery. He says of Mr. WIRT that "often in early life he could have heard the report of the dueling pistol where CLAY and RANDOLPH, GRAVES and CILLEY exchanged shots." This is an error. The parties named did not fight on the old Bladensburg dueling ground. CLAY and RANDOLPH met on the west side of the Potomac where the bridge crosses at the Little Falls, on the line of the District of Columbia, before that part of the District was retroceded to Virginia. I was a resident of Washington at that time and often attended the debates at the Capitol. Mr. RANDOLPH in a speech used the words: "An unholy alliance between the puritan of the East with the blackleg of the West." Every one knew the application and every one knew all the particulars of the ensuing duel a few hours after its occurrence.
The GRAVES and CILLEY duel took place on the eastern side of the Anacostia near the road leading from Washington to Upper Marlboro and on the District line in view of a house called RIDGWAY's tavern standing a mile or so beyond Uniontown. I was not then a resident of Washington, but happened to be there on a visit a short time after the duel and received a particular account of it from an intimate friend who was an eye witness of the event. I lived in Washington as a school boy in 1820 and 1822, was a frequent visitor there during the war, and again resided there from 1818 to 1830.
J. E. Sr.,
Hickory Grove
Prince William County, Va.
September 4.
(Transcriber's Note: Senator John Randolph gave voice to the idea of an 'unholy alliance' between John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay when he spoke of them as the "Puritan and the Black-leg" (referring to two characters from Henry Fielding's Tom Jones). One character, Blifil, was a hypocrite while the other, Black George, was a knave. Adams was a descendant of New England Puritans, and preserved some of their stiff social ideas. This made Clay the "blackleg" or crooked gambler. Clay challenged Randolph to a duel in which Randolph fired in the air, and Clay may or may not have tried to hit Randolph. They parted cordially, having played their roles as Southern "gentlemen.")