Russell County AlArchives Photo Place.....Fort Mitchell Duel Fatal ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 May 21, 2007, 2:58 pm Source: Sesquicentennial Supplement IV, Columbus Ledger -Enquirer Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/russell/photos/fortmitc6516gph.jpg Image file size: 159.2 Kb Editorial Provoked Fatal Duel By Charles Tigner Guest Columnist There are many reasons why this particular duel deserves our attention at the time at hand. First, it coincides with the exact year of Columbus' founding and recently a monument was placed on the heretofore unmarked grave of the gentlemen who went down in the defense of honor, as was the custom of the day. The erection of the marker is largely the work of Clara Owens Mihalko, whose family roots go back to the founding of Russell County and some member of her family has always lived close to the dueling ground site. Then too, the story brings back that terrible time in our chronicles when it was expected of the gentry to defend one's honor with his very life, no matter how insignificant the cause. No affray of the type could have been more pointless and tragic than the Crawford-Burnside duel fought at Fort Mitchell on January 5, 1828. Not many Southern women amused themselves by writing editorials in that period of our history. Yet it was just such an incident that provoked the duel. Georgia at that time was ruled by political factions, the dominant of which was headed by its illustrous Crawford Family. The writer who until this day remains nameless, presented to the newspapers in the Augusta area a letter highly critical of the ageing Peter Crawford. As was the custom, Peter Crawford's young son, George elected to defend his father's honor. Upon confronting the editors in question they refused to give the source of the attack, because the writer was a woman, and Southern chivalry made no allowance for a woman to be identified in an improper situation. George Crawford continued his demands, however, and another politically ambitious young gentleman, Thomas Burnside - with no small amount of urging from the politically powerful newspapers - decided to defend the nameless writer of the article. It is especially tragic, and difficult for a civilized mind of the late 20th century to appreciate, that the two young men, on which customs placed such a burden, were good friends. Their mutual friends tried to make amends, but the times were such that failure to carry out the duel would have ruined both politically, to say nothing of what society of the day deemed honor. Thus it was that a time and place was set for a senseless and fatal confrontation of two of Georgia's finest young men. One to die and the other to go through life with his "victory" as a plague that would not leave him. Because Georgia had outlawed duelling, and because of Crawford's and Burnside's station in its governmental affairs. (Crawford was Attorney General for the state while Burnside served in the General Assembly), Fort Mitchell was chosen. Fort Mitchell was in the Creek Nation, yet to become a part of the new State of Alabama. In addition to the Fort, it was the site of the Federal Agency to the Indians. Although duelling was still common in Georgia,for such promment men to escape the penalties of the law, it was necessary to have the affair outside of the state. Fort Mitchell was erected in 1813, "to protect the frontier," a function it served until 1837. A stockade "mound," the fort was situated on the Federal Road. Therefore, many famous personages passed: such as Aaron Burr, Francis Scott Key and the Marquis de Lafayette on his post-Revolution - three years before Columbus was founded - parade through the United States. The former capital, of the Creek Confederacy, Coweta, was near by and it is here that General James Oglethorpe signed a peace treaty with the Indians in 1739. The two men left their grieving wives and children by separate coaches for the trip to Fort Mitchell. They met, however, at an inn en route and joined company in a single conveyance for the remainder of the trip. Here they talked together pleasantly, even affably, and other members of the party were heartened that their differences would be settled before they arrived at their chosen grounds. This was not to be, for on the night before the scheduled fight, Tom Burnside, thinking of his family, took out pen and started a note remarkable for its simplicity in a day of effusive letters. The finished note read as follows: "Dear wife and mother: Tomorrow I fight. I do it on principle. Whatever may be my fate. I believe I am right. On this ground I have acted and will act. I believe I shall succeed, but if I do not I am prepared for the consequences. Kiss the children and tell them if I fall that my last thought was of them." Early the next morning the two men faced each other in silence. A crowd of white men and Indians stood nearby. The rules were set. "The word rang out, two shots cracked and neither reached its target. Burnside's struck the earth just before Crawford, scattering dirt over him; politely he apologized," records one source. A friend of Burnside's who had recently survived a duel, walked between them filled with the hope that further action could be avoided. It was ascertained that if Burnside apologized, Crawford would accept. "Burnside shook his head, and again they fied and neither scored." "Once more the anxious friend intervened, more earnestly than ever, and again he failed." Again the parties took their place and fired the third time. As the noise lifted, Burnside "cried and fell back into his friend's arms. He died at once, and quietly Attorney General Crawford withdrew." Perplexity filled the air. They were six to seven days away from Augusta, so it was necessary to bury Thomas Burnside at Fort Mitchell, where, until just recently, the only marker for the period between was for some years a cedar tree. In due time his widow was notified and "she collapsed in hysteria." In later years in an effort to remove some of the grief, she moved away. George Crawford rose to be Governor of Georgia, then Secretary of War in the administration of President Zachary Taylor, congressman and presided over the Ga. Secession Convention in 1861. Yet he remembered always with grief what he had done to the Burnside family. "From a distance he inquired regularly about them, and employed friends to help them. They knew only that the assistance came from 'a friend of Tom's." "The lady editorialist? She confined herself to her sewing basket." This was not to be the last duel fought at Fort Mitchell, but as time moved on such a senseless activity subsided until it is almost unheard of amonst civilized people. As to Fort Mitchell and the duelling grounds, they no longer have the presence of the soldiers and the Indians. Yet the spots are known and more than one has felt the sublime stillness that pervades the air. Tom Burnside lies next to the final resting place of Colonel John Crowell. Alabama's first Congressman and Indian Agent. Col. Crowell was to join him at this spot some 18 years after he witnessed Burnside's death. Peter Brannon, a Seale native and Alabama historian, wrote it in 1932 after a visit there. "That site is sacred and beautifully lonesome, and I think, not now any place for a duel." Special Sesquicentennial Supplement IV Ledger-Enquirer, Sunday , May 7, 1978. Pg S-7. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/russell/photos/fortmitc6516gph.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 8.0 Kb