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Alexander Hamilton
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Hamilton wrote his wife Eliza a devastating farewell letter exactly one week before his duel with Burr, signing off 'Adieu, best of wives and best of women.' The letter captures the impossible position Hamilton felt he was in — too honourable to back down, too loving to go willingly.
Hamilton was probably born in 1755 on the sugar island of Nevis — an illegitimate child abandoned by his father and orphaned in his early teens. The people of Nevis recognised his talent and sent him to New York, where he joined the revolution and caught George Washington's eye.
The clash between Hamilton's Federalists — who wanted a strong central government, a national bank, and close ties with Britain — and Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans, who championed agrarian states' rights, created the template for American party politics. The bitterness ran so deep it led to a duel.
In 1800, Jefferson and his running mate Burr tied at 73 Electoral College votes each, sending the decision to the Federalist-controlled House of Representatives. Burr saw his chance to grab the presidency — but Hamilton lobbied hard against him, calling Burr 'bankrupt beyond redemption except by the plunder of his country.'
In November 1801, Hamilton advised his son Philip to deliberately miss his opponent in a duel — the same strategy he himself would adopt against Burr. Philip followed the advice; Eacker shot him dead anyway. Hamilton's failure to learn the lesson is one of history's most tragic ironies.
When Pendleton called 'present,' two shots rang out within seconds. Hamilton fell, hit above the right hip; the ball tore through his diaphragm, liver, and lodged in his spine. But whether Hamilton fired first and deliberately missed, or Burr shot first without warning, remains genuinely contested — and the answer depends entirely on what you think of Burr.
As Hamilton was carried back across the Hudson, he told Doctor Hosack: 'Take care of that pistol, it is undischarged and still cocked.' This moment is central to the historical debate. Hamilton either didn't realize he had accidentally fired the gun in shock — or he genuinely never pulled the trigger at all.
After killing Hamilton, Burr fled New York, evaded murder charges, and then became embroiled in a plot to carve out his own country on America's southern border — possibly Florida, northern Mexico, or the Deep South. He was tried for treason, acquitted for lack of evidence, and then expelled from both Britain and France.
Eliza Hamilton never remarried and spent 50 years devoted to her husband's memory. Hamilton's friends bought the Grange and sold it back to her at half price. She co-founded the Orphan Asylum Society of New York and died aged 97 — having outlived Alexander by more than half a century.
Dueling in early America was far more ritualized than most people realise. The Code Duello demanded an exchange of letters, seconds, and formal challenge before any pistols were drawn — and roughly 9 out of 10 duels were settled before a shot was fired. Hamilton himself had six prior affairs of honor and none reached the trigger.
Near the end of his life, bedridden and re-reading Tristram Shandy, Burr finally admitted: 'If I had read Laurence Sterne more and Voltaire less, I should have known that the world was wide enough for Hamilton and me.' It is one of history's most eloquent expressions of too-late regret.
Hamilton was a brilliant writer, tireless worker, and visionary statesman — but he had a fatal flaw: he was constitutionally incapable of not alienating people. Yale historian Joanne Freeman said he was too extreme, too impulsive, too arrogant, and too suspicious of democracy to thrive in the politics of the 1790s.
Hamilton had seven children, a massive mortgage on his country house, debts his wife couldn't repay — and he personally opposed dueling on moral grounds. Yet he accepted Burr's challenge because he believed public opinion required it and he needed to preserve his political usefulness for the Republic's future crises.
Burr was orphaned at two, raised by an abusive uncle, and fought with great courage at Valley Forge — yet he stood for nothing but himself. He was progressive on slavery and women's rights, frequented New York's finest prostitutes, and was willing to switch political sides whenever it served his ambition.
At 6:30 AM on 11 July 1804, Burr arrived at a ledge twenty feet above the Hudson River at Weehawken, New Jersey — the same spot where Philip Hamilton had died. Hamilton followed at 7 AM, choosing the same pistols his son had likely used, with the oarsmen instructed to face away so they could deny all knowledge.
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