Code Duello: Duels and Deadly Affairs in Virginia

The term “Code Duello” refers to the formalized rules that once governed dueling, a practice considered a cornerstone of “gentlemanly” conduct in many societies.

Men fought over political disagreements, personal insults, romantic rivalries, and the honor of their families. Although Virginia passed an Anti-Dueling Act in 1810 in an attempt to curb the deadly custom, dueling and other affairs of honor continued for decades.

Some ended with both participants walking away. Others ended in death.

Armistead Mason and John McCarty — February 6, 1819

Armistead T. Mason and John M. McCarty met for a duel in Loudoun County after a political argument escalated into a personal dispute.

Mason reportedly attempted to avoid the confrontation, but his efforts failed. The two men met on a frigid winter morning on February 6, 1819.

Mason was shot through the heart and died.

Adding another tragic dimension to the affair, Mason and McCarty were cousins. Several later legends claimed that McCarty was driven insane by what had happened.

Stephen Decatur and James Barron — March 22, 1820

Commodore Stephen Decatur and Admiral James Barron met for their famous duel on March 22, 1820.

Their dispute stretched back years.

Barron had been court-martialed in 1807 after failing to prepare his ship for a British attack. Three crewmen were killed, several others severely wounded, and four prisoners aboard the vessel were freed.

Barron subsequently spent several years in Europe. After his return, tensions between him and Decatur continued until Barron finally issued a challenge.

Decatur had only recently settled with his wife in Washington, D.C.

Both men were wounded in the duel.

Only Decatur died.

Henry Clay’s Two Duels

Henry Clay participated in two unusual duels during his political career.

The first occurred in 1808 with Humphrey Marshall of the Kentucky Legislature. The two exchanged several shots, but neither man was killed.

Clay’s second duel came on April 8, 1826, following a dispute with Virginia Senator John Randolph.

Randolph had insulted Clay on the Senate floor, prompting a challenge. The two eventually met at Pimmit Run.

Despite all the ceremony surrounding the duel, neither man apparently intended to kill the other. The encounter ended without either participant suffering a fatal wound, and both men walked away.

Daniel Sickles and Barton Key — February 27, 1859

One of the era’s most sensational affairs of honor involved Representative Daniel Sickles and Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key.

Sickles already possessed a reputation for scandal. Earlier in his political career, the New York State Assembly censured him after he brought well-known courtesan Fanny White into its private chambers. He later traveled with White while his pregnant wife remained at home.

Barton Key served as District Attorney for the District of Columbia.

Sickles eventually became convinced that Key was having an affair with his wife. Despite Sickles’s own notorious extramarital behavior, he became enraged.

The confrontation ended with Sickles killing Key.

His subsequent murder trial became nearly as notorious as the killing itself.

Sickles’s defense portrayed his wife as responsible for provoking his actions through her alleged infidelity. Despite the humiliation she endured during the proceedings, she worked to help her husband escape punishment.

The defense successfully argued that Sickles had acted while temporarily insane, and he was acquitted.

The scandal continued afterward. Fanny White, whose real name was Jane Augusta Blankman, died in 1860, only a year after Key’s death. Rumors circulated that she had been poisoned.

Sickles, meanwhile, lived to the age of 94 and remained surrounded by controversy throughout much of his life.

The Meadowview Gunfight — September 11, 1902

By the beginning of the 20th century, formal dueling had largely disappeared, but the idea of answering an insult with gunfire had not.

On September 11, 1902, John Spriggs and William Prater confronted one another in Meadowview, Washington County, Virginia.

The two men met inside a storeroom, where Prater reportedly insulted Spriggs’s wife and immediately opened fire.

Spriggs returned fire.

The men continued shooting until their guns were empty.

Both suffered fatal wounds to the chest.

Nearly a century after Virginia attempted to suppress dueling, the Meadowview confrontation demonstrated how stubbornly the old idea of defending one’s honor could survive.

The elaborate rules of the Code Duello were disappearing, but in some places, an insult could still end with two men reaching for their guns.