Dueling Creek

Dueling Creek is a tributary of the Anacostia River in southern Maryland in the United States.

Dueling Creek is located in what is now Colmar Manor, Maryland.^[1]

Notorious as a favorite spot for duelers in the 19th Century, the most infamous of these duels was between Stephen Decatur and James Barron.

History of the Dark and Bloody Grounds

Dueling Creek, formerly known as Blood Run, was the site of the Bladensburg Dueling Grounds, Bladensburg, Maryland, now called Eastern Branch because, it is a tributary of the Anacostia River in southern Maryland in the United States. Dueling Creek is located in what is now Colmar Manor, Maryland.[1] As a place of infamy, beginning in 1808, the grove witnessed, approximately, fifty duels in its fifty years of continuous use by gentlemen, military and naval officers, and politicians, who performed dramatically, violent, public displays, in settling affairs of personal reputation and honor. A formalized set of rules dealing with dueling etiquette referred to as a Code duello was usually enforced by the duelers and their seconds, even though dueling was illegal in the District of Columbia and in most U.S. states and territories.

In 1819, Colonel John McCarty killed his cousin, General Armistead Mason. McCarty was haunted for years by his experience after surviving the twelve-pace musket duel. On the national scene, after the duellist's death of Alexander Hamilton at the hands of Aaron Burr, America's second most shocking dueling death was of, naval hero, Stephen Decatur, mortally wounded, here in 1820, by James Barron. These mortally wounded, national figures were the major celebrities of their time.

In June, 1836, 22-year-old Daniel Key, a son of Francis Scott Key, was killed in a senseless duel with a fellow Midshipman cadet, of the United States Naval Academy, John Sherbourne, over a question regarding steamboat speed.

Jonathan Cilley, a Representative from Maine, was a reluctant participant in another duel here. In February 1838, Cilley was killed by Congressman William J. Graves of Kentucky. Graves was a stand-in for New York newspaper editor James Webb, whom Cilley had called corrupt. Cilley was inexperienced with guns, and Graves was allowed to use a powerful rifle. A shot to an artery in Cilley's leg caused him to bleed to death in ninety seconds. This duel prompted passage of a congressional act of February 20, 1839, prohibiting the giving or accepting, within the District of Columbia, of challenges to a duel. Following the bloody U.S. Civil War, duelling fell out of favor as a means of settling personal grievances and declined rapidly; the last known duel was fought here in 1868.

See also

• List of rivers of Maryland

References

1. ^ http://www.pgparks.com/places/nature/dueling.html

• Haunted Places, The National Directory by Dennis William Hauck
• Gentlemen's blood: a history of dueling from swords at dawn to pistols at dusk by Barbara Holland
• The Bladensburg dueling ground by Armistead Thompson Mason, Harper's Magazine

Potomac River system Cities and towns | Bridges | Islands | Tributaries | Variant names District of Columbia | Maryland | Pennsylvania | Virginia | West Virginia Streams shown as: Major tributaries • subtributaries • (subsubtributaries) • (subsubsubtributaries)

Tidal Potomac River Gulf Branch | Donaldson Run | Maddox Branch | Windy Run | Spout Run | Foundry Branch | Rock Creek | Boundary Channel | Tiber Creek | Rocky Run | Washington Channel | Anacostia River • Pope Branch • Watts Branch • Hickey Run • Northwest Branch • (Sligo Creek) • Northeast Branch • (Paint Branch) | Four Mile Run | Oxon Creek | Hunting Creek • Cameron Run | Broad Creek | Henson Creek | Swan Creek | Piscataway Creek | Little Hunting Creek | Dogue Creek | Accotink Creek • Daniels Run | Pohick Creek | Pomonkey Creek | Occoquan River • Bull Run • Broad Run • Cedar Run | Neabsco Creek | Powells Creek | Mattawoman Creek | Chicamuxen Creek | Quantico Creek | Little Creek | Chopawamsic Creek | Tank Creek | Aquia Creek | Potomac Creek • Accokeek Creek | Nanjemoy Creek | Port Tobacco River | Popes Creek (Maryland) | Gambo Creek | Piccowaxen Creek | Upper Machodoc Creek | Cuckold Creek | Wicomico River | Monroe Creek | Mattox Creek | Popes Creek (Virginia) | St. Marys River | Yeocomico River | Coan River | Hull Creek Upper Potomac River North Branch Potomac River | South Branch Potomac River | Town Creek | Little Cacapon River • North Fork Little Cacapon River • South Fork Little Cacapon River | Fifteenmile Creek | Sideling Hill Creek | Cacapon River • Lost River • Trout Run • Capon Springs Run • Dillons Run • Edwards Run • Mill Branch • North River • (Grassy Lick Run) • (Tearcoat Creek) • (Bearwallow Creek) | Sir Johns Run | Warm Spring Run | Tonoloway Creek • Little Tonoloway Creek | Sleepy Creek • Meadow Branch | Licking Creek | Cherry Run | Back Creek • Hogue Creek • Isaacs Creek • Tilhance Creek | Little Conococheague Creek | Conococheague Creek • Back Creek | Opequon Creek • Abrams Creek • Mill Creek • Middle Creek • Tuscarora Creek (West Virginia) | Antietam Creek | Shenandoah River | Little Catoctin Creek | Catoctin Creek (Virginia) | Catoctin Creek (Maryland) | Tuscarora Creek (Maryland) | Monocacy River • Rock Creek • Marsh Creek • Alloway Creek • Toms Creek • (Middle Creek) • Double Pipe Creek • (Big Pipe Creek) • (Little Pipe Creek) • Owens Creek • Tuscarora Creek • Carroll Creek • Linganore Creek • Israel Creek • Double Pipe Creek • Bush Creek • Ballenger Creek • Bennett Creek | Little Monocacy River | Goose Creek • Little River | Broad Run (Virginia) | Sugarland Run | Broad Run (Maryland) | Seneca Creek • Dry Seneca Creek • Little Seneca Creek • Great Seneca Creek | Difficult Run | Cabin John Creek | Dead Run | Little Falls Branch | Pimmit Run | Rock Run | Watts Branch | Muddy Branch Shenandoah River North Fork Shenandoah River • Cedar Creek • Smith Creek | South Fork Shenandoah River • North River • (Middle River) • South River North Branch Potomac River Stony River | Abram Creek | Savage River | Georges Creek • Laurel Run | New Creek | Limestone Run | Warrior Run | Wills Creek • Brush Creek • Little Wills Creek | Evitts Creek | Patterson Creek • Mill Creek | Dans Run | Green Spring Run South Branch Potomac River North Fork South Branch Potomac River • Mill Creek • Seneca Creek | South Fork South Branch Potomac River • Kettle Creek | Lunice Creek | Mill Run | Mill Creek | Big Run | Buffalo Creek Lakes and reservoirs Lake Accotink | Lake Anne | Lake Artemesia | Lake Bernard Frank | Lake Braddock | Breckenridge Reservoir | Brushy Fork Lake | Burke Lake | Dalecarlia Reservoir | Georgetown Reservoir | Jennings Randolph Lake | Kingman Lake | Little Seneca Lake | McMillan Reservoir | Mount Storm Lake | Lake Needwood | Sleepy Creek Lake | Stony River Reservoir | Tidal Basin | Trout Pond | Warden Lake

External links

• Dueling Creek Natural Area, Colmar Manor Community Park
• "Colmar Manor: Deadly dueling ground now a neighborly community," by J.J. Smith, Washington Examiner, May 13, 2010
• Dueling Creek and Town of Colmar Manor History, Dueling Creek Academy of Leadership in Environmental Science & Fine Arts
• Haunted Maryland, Bladensburg Dueling Grounds
• The Shadowlands, Famous Hauntings, Bladensburg Dueling Grounds
• Ghost Stories: The Bladensburg Dueling Grounds
• Bladensburg Dueling Grounds, Paranormal Studies, EastGhost.com
• Duels and the Bladensburg Dueling Grounds
• Dueling Grounds Historical Marker, The Maryland Historical Marker Database

Coordinates: 38°55′43″N 76°56′35″W / 38.92861°N 76.94306°W / 38.92861; -76.94306