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Lot Number: 133
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“Boston Gazette” Newspaper Reports Alexander Hamilton’s Duel an “... unfortunate affair, which terminated his life. ...”

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December 7, 1801-Dated Federal Period, Newspaper titled, “Boston Gazette”, Reports the headline, “A Correct and Candid Statement of Facts, Relative to the Late Unfortunate Duel at New York” regarding Alexander Hamilton’s Duel and Death, Complete, Fine.

This contemporary 1801 Newspaper measures about 12.25” x 20”, with 4 pages, disbound, complete. Overall, even in tone with some scattered deeper humidity tone spotting. From page 2, column 1, this report from the New-York Evening Post running fully 1-1/2 columns under the headline: “A Correct and Candid Statement of Facts, Relative to the Late Unfortunate Duel at New York”. It reads, in small part:

“The friends of young Mr. Hamilton sincerely regret the unfortunate affair, which terminated his life. ...” The lengthy report takes the reader through the cause of the conflict, the tedious efforts to resolve the conflict with resolving Hamilton’s honor, and finally the duel itself. “Unhappily the first fire of Mr. Eacker took effect by mortally wounding Mr. Hamilton. In shock of the wound his pistol went off in the air. ... His confidential friends declare throughout the process ... his behavior was remarkable temperate ... His manner on the ground was calm and composed. ... He received his wound about three o’clock and languished till five the next morning in full possession of his faculties ... soothing occasionally his afflicted parents, and piously resigned to the event.”

Both Philip Hamilton and his friend Stephen Price went to the theater together and were critical of a speech made by George Eacker who was within earshot of Hamilton’s criticism. Hamilton believed Eacker had insulted his father in that speech. Eacker pulled Hamilton aside in the lobby calling them both rascals. Both Hamilton and Price challenged George Eacker to duels. Stephen Price faced the 27-year-old Eacker in a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey, on November 22. Four shots were exchanged, but neither party was injured. It was the following day that Philip Hamilton faced Eacker on the same grounds. The same grounds that 3 years later where Alexander Hamilton would lose his life in a duel to Aaron Burr.
On July 11, 1804, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr met on the dueling grounds at Weehawken, New Jersey, to fight the final skirmish of a long-lived political and personal battle. When the duel was over, Hamilton would be mortally wounded, and Burr would be wanted for murder.

The Burr-Hamilton duel in Weehawken, New Jersey, was between Aaron Burr, the Vice President of the United States, and Alexander Hamilton, the first and former Secretary of the Treasury, on the morning of July 11, 1804. The duel was the culmination of a bitter rivalry that had developed between both men who had become high-profile politicians in postcolonial America.

In the duel Burr fatally shot Hamilton, while Hamilton fired into a tree branch above and behind Burr's head. Hamilton was taken back across the Hudson River and died the following day in New York.

The death of Hamilton led to the permanent weakening of the Federalist Party and its demise in American domestic politics. It also effectively ended the political career of Burr, who was vilified for shooting Hamilton; he never held another high office after his tenure of Vice President ended in 1805.
Lot Number: 133
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Estimate Range: $1,000 - $1,200
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