Punishment for Dueling

[tony_gunter]

Confederate Secretary of War ordered Alfred Rhett to be punished under articles of war 25 and 26 for killing his commanding officer, the nephew of John C Calhoun, in a duel.

What was the punishment? Apparently a slap on the wrist, because Rhett assumed the command for which he himself had created the vacancy.

 

[Cavalier]

It is my impression that the code of honor that existed in the 18th. and 19th. centuries was not limited to American southerners. The Code Duello seems to have been written in Ireland in the 18th.century. I believe dueling was rather common among the French and British of that era.

As the child of a WWI era northern blue collar family I think there was a code of honor. It was somewhat less punctilious then the Code Duello though. He insulted you, so you invited him out in the alley and knocked him on his a--. Of course things didn't always go as intended, and you could have ended up on your posterior rather than your insult spewing opponent. Don't know of course, but I would imagine your average civil war era blue collar northerner would have felt right at home with that.

John

 

[Cavalier]

@Library Lady In my opinion thats the rub. We are not going to get our heads around our ancestors attitudes. I would imagine our great great great grandchildren will not be able to get their heads around ours either.

John

 

[tony_gunter]

Yeah, it is hard for the modern mind to grasp it. It was indeed a different time, and a suffocating world at that.

I don't know, one can only guess at these things… but history has indeed left some clues.

The antebellum South, as everyone knows, was an hierarchical society. The duel quo duel, then, was a reserve of the elite. They saw themselves as somehow inhabiting a higher level of civilization, having a more refined and delicate sense of honor than lower levels of society.

But more importantly, "honor" was reputation. Period. It was also a world associated with shame rather than guilt. The code of honor defined who they were and where they belonged in the ordered ranks of society. And it was the opinion of others that determined that rank. Thus, for example, they feared being perceived as weak or inferior, which was a deadly combination in a stratified society based on slavery.

Again, the main goal was to avoid shame. How others saw them was more important than how they felt about themselves privately. It was really that simple— what drove them to dueling fields. Their delicate sense of honor was so fragile that they truly felt they could be wronged by mere words and acts, and that written laws could never remedy such things because they were mere categories that could never take cognition of honor and dignity. This forced them into ritual acts.

So, it didn't really matter whether one was right or the other person wrong in terms of libel or slander. Being successful or unsuccessful in a duel did not settle that issue. What was settled was your reputation in the eyes of others and thus your rank in society.

Again, avoiding shame from your peers— and that mindset went beyond dueling.

Recall Mary Chestnut description of a conversation that is typical of this mindset. She noted this exchange toward the end of the war:

"Are you like Aunt Mary? Would you be happier if all the men in the family were killed?' To our amazement, quiet Miss C took up the cudgels-nobly. 'Yes, if their life disgraced them. There are worse things in life than death."

There's a story in the Raymond newspaper of a fellow journalist who offered insult to a guy who met him in the lobby of the telegraph office and attacked the journalist from behind with a strop. Here's a fellow journalist deriding a man who was blindsided by an armed assailant because he fled rather than defending himself.

Like, what???

 

[alan polk]

There's a story in the Raymond newspaper of a fellow journalist who offered insult to a guy who met him in the lobby of the telegraph office and attacked the journalist from behind with a strop. Here's a fellow journalist deriding a man who was blindsided by an armed assailant because he fled rather than defending himself.

Like, what???

That happened quite often. I once came across an editorial in a Yazoo City newspaper from the 1850s where the editors berated a local official for allowing his son, who had been assaulted by someone, to take his assailant to court, saying the more honorable solution would've been for him to encourage his son to personally retaliate. Because the father sought legal recourse for his son instead of encouraging personal retaliation, the editors encouraged their readers to vote the official out of office!

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

But more importantly, "honor" was reputation. Period. It was also a world associated with shame rather than guilt. The code of honor defined who they were and where they belonged in the ordered ranks of society. And it was the opinion of others that determined that rank. Thus, for example, they feared being perceived as weak or inferior, which was a deadly combination in a stratified society based on slavery.

And consider how this mindset played into causing the war. We might make the argument in a general way, that the punishment for dueling was the civil war.

The South was losing prestige and being shamed by the criticisms of slavery and this was culturally intolerable to the proud elite who controlled Southern politics.

 

[huskerblitz]

@huskerblitz Thank you. I'll try to see if I can find that.

John

Here is the earliest version of an Americanized set of rules.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6085/6085-h/6085-h.htm

 

[tony_gunter]

Here is the earliest version of an Americanized set of rules.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6085/6085-h/6085-h.htm

For those interested, I'm reading a really good book on both sides bumbling into war called The Demon of Unrest. Each chapter is preceded by a relevant quote from Code Duello.

 

[huskerblitz]

For those interested, I'm reading a really good book on both sides bumbling into war called The Demon of Unrest. Each chapter is preceded by a relevant quote from Code Duello.

Ah. I just listened to that on Audible. I didn't know the quotes were from Code Duello.

 

[Cavalier]

@huskerblitz Thanks for the Americanized version of those.

John

 

[TnFed]

I suspect there were a couple of duels in the Union Army. Though the only one I can think of offhand is the one between Captain James L. J. Pearson and Lt. James Madison Giles, both of the 3rd TN Mounted Infantry USA. Giles was shot in the leg. Pearson was killed. Giles promptly deserted but when caught and put on trial, he was acquitted..clear case of self defense.