Chatterbox: Down to Earth

On July 11, 1804, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr rowed over to the New Jersey shore in separate boats. Burr, along with his second and another man, reached the site at 6:30 a.m. and began to clear the underbrush from the dueling ground. Hamilton, his second and a doctor got there a few minutes before seven. 

if I die, my daughter will have no one.

Burr had no idea, but the duel took place near the area where Phillip Hamilton had been killed three years ago.

If she loses me, she will be torn apart by pain. Hamilton will never know that pain.

Doubtless Hamilton knew this.

I will not let him make an orphan of my daughter.

The two men took their positions. The seconds, as well as the doctor, turned with their backs to the duelers. Burr, his face pale, noted that Hamilton was wearing his spectacles.

He could kill me.

Of the two, Hamilton was undoubtably the better marksman.

He will kill me.

They began their paces, and at the count of ten they turned.

CRACK

The sound of two pistols shooting echoed around the area. There came an agonized shout from Hamilton. Burr glinted through the smoke to see that Hamilton had crumpled to the ground. The dueling pistol lay near his hand. In shock, Aaron Burr took a few steps toward his fallen foe. 

What have I done?

Burr's second, William Van Ness grabbed him, and pulled him from the area. Over his shoulder, Burr saw Hamilton's friends and the doctor kneel beside him. As his friend hid him with an umbrella, Burr shut his eyes, and raised his face to the heavens. In doing so, when the lids opened, he saw a bullet lodged in a tree above his head.

He threw away his shot. 

Obviously, this version of the story is my own imagination, but Alexander Hamilton was shot by his rival Aaron Burr 213 years ago on this day. The death of Alexander Hamilton inspired anti-dueling movements, and Aaron Burr was later arrested and tried for treason. He later wrote that  "Had I read Sterne more and Voltaire less, I should have known the world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me". This inspired the song The World Was Wide Enough from HAMILTON the musical.

Let us have a moment of silence on the CB to remember this man who, definately not perfect, helped build what we know of America today.