The Other Duel that Killed a Founding Father

Due in part to the wildly popular Broadway musical “Hamilton,” many people are aware of the infamous duel in which a founding father, Alexander Hamilton, met his premature demise.  But most people are not aware that there was another, earlier duel in which a prominent founding father took a deadly bullet; and this one happened in Georgia.  The party drawing the short end of the stick in this duel was a man whose last name is quite familiar to most Atlantans: Button Gwinnett, namesake of Gwinnett County.  And like Hamilton, Gwinnett was killed by a political rival. The backstory: Gwinnett emigrated to the American colonies in 1762, and after less than stellar careers as a merchant and subsequently a Savannah store owner, became a planter on St. Catherines island off the Georgia coast.  At about the same time as becoming a planter, Gwinnett entered politics, first as a justice of the peace of his parish and then as his parish’s elected representative to the Georgia colonial assembly at Savannah.  It was here, around 1771, that he first developed a rivalry with the Scotsman who would end his life six years later. Perhaps due to his close family ties still in England and the loyalist leanings of many Georgia colonists at that time, Gwinnett did not originally favor independence from Britain. But Gwinnett was good friends with Lyman Hall, after whom Hall county is named, and Hall was an ardent patriot.  It was Hall who likely changed Gwinnett’s mind. It was an 180 degree turn; Gwinnett became a full-fledged patriot.  So ardent was his support, that Gwinnett ran for and was elected to the Continental Congress the following February (1776).  A few months later, Gwinnett would be the second person to sign the Declaration of Independence. After signing the Declaration of Independence, Gwinnett returned to Georgia and was elected president of the Council of Safety in 1777.  The Council of Safety was a body created by the Georgia Provincial Congress (a separate government set up in Georgia in opposition to Royal authority.)  When the Provincial Congress was not in session, the Council of Safety operated as an executive committee with all the powers of the Provincial Congress.  So as president of the Council, Gwinnett was vested with considerable power.   Lachlan McIntosh was born in Scotland and was brought to Georgia as a young child. He pursued a career in the military and trained under Oglethorpe. A supporter of independence, he joined the revolutionary movement and organized the Georgia militia for the defense of Savannah.   One of his military accomplishments was defeating British troops coming up from Florida. Because of his experience and military success, the second Continental Congress promoted him to brigadier general in command over the Georgia militia, "instead of Button Gwinnett" according to one source (emphasis added). The initial impetus for the duel occurred when Gwinnett, as president of the Council of Safety, appointed himself to lead an assault on Saint Augustine in East Florida to secure Georgia’s southern border.  McIntosh heard about the plan and tried to convince Gwinnett that it was ill conceived and would not be successful.  Gwinnett should have listened.  Not only did Gwinnett reject McIntosh’s plea that he call it off, he ordered McIntosh to accompany him in the mission.  One source states that Gwinnett even ordered McIntosh to lead the invasion.  All accounts agree however that the mission was a disastrous failure and resulted in excessive loss of life and equipment. At the next meeting of the Council of Safety, Gwinnett was exonerated from wrongdoing in the fiasco but his blunder was not without consequences.  He had been lobbying to run for governor, a possibility now foreclosed out by the St. Augustine debacle.  Adding insult to injury, McIntosh openly criticized Gwinnett for the failure of the expedition, calling him a "scoundrel and lying rascal," fighting words in those days.  The next day, Gwinnett challenged McIntosh to the duel.  The fateful event took place on May 16, 1777, on the Georgia coast in the town of Thunderbolt outside of Savannah. In the duel, both men fired their weapons and both men were hit by the other’s bullet.  McIntosh’s wound was not life-threatening and he recovered shortly thereafter.  Gwinnett was not so lucky.  He suffered a mortal injury and died three days later. In an interesting coincidence of history, Georgia’s coast plays a small role in the story of the later, more famous due between Hamilton and Burr.  In that duel, Aaron Burr shoots and kills Alexander Hamilton, and immediately finds himself in hot water.  Dueling was illegal in New Jersey and Burr had to get out of Dodge.  Of all places, he fled to Georgia’s coast, landing on Saint Simons Island just 66 miles south of Thunderbolt where the fateful Gwinnett / McIntosh duel had taken place.  When charges were eventually dropped, he returned to New Jersey, but Burr spent nearly a month at the home of a prominent planter at the north end of Saint Simons Island an hour away from the site where Gwinnett was shot in the lesser known duel of early American history.