Dueling in Tallahassee: A Tale of Politics, Honor and Hubris in Tallahassee History
Between 1826 and 1839, several gun duels were fought just north of Tallahassee to settle insults and political arguments. Restricted by social convention to the landed gentry, they not only settled differences but shaped the city’s history. Duels eventually led to the establishment of the predecessor of the Tallahassee Police Department in 1841, when Francis Epps was appointed city intendent and appointed six officers to restore the peace.
Dueling Over Stolen Hogs
Most residents of Tallahassee have heard of Prince Murat, who is buried in a spectacular grave in the St. John’s Episcopal Cemetery and has Murat Street and Lipona Road named after him. However, few know that he had a finger blown off in a Tallahassee duel.
Charles Louis Napoleon Achille Murat, born on January 21, 1801, was the son of Joachim Murat, the brother-in-law of Napoleon. Joachim had been appointed King of Naples during the first French empire however he was deposed and executed by his own subjects. Afterwards, Achille fled to Austria eventually emigrating to St. Augustine, Florida becoming a naturalized citizen around 1828. Social connections resulted in Murat going to Washington D.C. where he met Richard Keith Call, the delegate of the Florida Territory’s at-large congressional district to the U.S. House of Representatives where he heard of opportunities in the Florida Territory. Around 1825, Murat bought the land he would call Lipona Plantation, located 15 miles east of Tallahassee, and became part of the newly established landed gentry in the Tallahassee area. Not without financial ups and downs, he died in 1847.
Originally from Detroit, David Betton Macomb, Sr. traveled to Tallahassee and purchased 500 acres close to Southwood Plantation. During the 1820s and early 1830s he was a planter, lawyer and judge which cast him into the Tallahassee social circle. McComb Street, the main street in Frenchtown, is named after him.
Local folklore has it that a feud between the two began when Murat’s slaves stole hogs from Macomb. Insults were exchanged which resulted in the challenge of a duel. The duel took place at Mannington in northern Leon County. The old Manning cemetery is located close to Lake Iamonia. Both men fired with Murat’s bullet piercing Macomb’s clothes and Macomb’s bullet blowing off Murat’s little finger. The honor of both men was restored.
Dueling Over a Disagreement
Thomas Baltzell was born in Kentucky on July 11, 1804, became a lawyer, and moved to Florida in 1825. He was the first popularly elected chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, a Florida Territory Senator and Florida Constitutional Convention delegate. Additionally, he was on the Tallahassee City Commission from 1840 to 1842.
James Diament Wescott, Jr. was born in Virginia on May 10, 1802. He was educated as a lawyer in New Jersey and practiced in the Consular Bureau in Washington, D.C. before moving to Tallahassee. He was appointed U.S. Attorney for the middle district of Florida, a member of the Territorial House of Representatives in 1832, a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention, and when Florida was admitted as a state, was elected to the U.S. Senate from 1845 to 1849. Afterwards, he lived in New York City, and Montreal, Canada. He is buried in the old city cemetery in Tallahassee.
In 1832, for reasons that have been lost to history, Baltzell and Westcott engaged in a duel in north Leon County, possibly in the Mannington area. Baltzell was not injured. Westcott was slightly injured. Honor was restored.
Dueling Over Family Honor
Augustus Alston was the son of Robert West Alston, a cotton planter and leader of the Florida Whig party. The Whig party was formally organized in 1834, bringing together a loose coalition of groups united in their opposition to what party members viewed as the executive tyranny of Andrew Jackson. They borrowed the name Whig from the British party opposed to royal ruling.
Alston had come to Florida around 1830 from Hancock County, Georgia with his family. They had been successful farmers in Georgia and were looking for richer farmland in Florida. They established a large plantation near Lake Miccosukee.
George Taliaferro Ward was born in Fayette County, Kentucky and moved to Tallahassee in 1825. He later became the Register of the Land Office.
There seems to be some disagreement about the actual date of the duel, but it would have been before 1839.
The duel was apparently fought regarding an event during the Second Seminole War. Augustus Alston was the Colonel of the Leon Volunteers. On January 31, 1836, Lt. William Ward, brother of George Taliaferro Ward, presented Alston with a petition created by soldiers in his unit. Other sources have identified William as George’s nephew. The petition referenced the fact that their six-month enlistment period was up and that the troops wished to return home. Alston, after hearing this, told his second-in-command to “shoot the damned dog.” William C. Parish, the second-in-command, obeyed the order and shot Lt. Ward.
After Alston returned to Tallahassee, George Ward confronted him at the Union Bank, slapping him across the face with a riding crop. This great insult resulted in a challenge to a duel to preserve Ward’s family honor.
The original location of the Union Bank was on the west side of Adams Street between Park Avenue and College Avenue. At one time, in the early 1900s, it housed Gramling’s Feed and Seed store. In 1971, it was moved to the corner of Apalachee Parkway and Calhoun Street. It is now a museum.
The duel took place at Houston Hill near Lake Lafayette. The Houston cemetery is located in the general area which seems apropos. Prince Achille Murat, who had a history of dueling, was Ward’s second with a Dr. Randolph being the attending physician. Alston shot twice, wounding Ward in the leg and arm. When he walked over to finish him off, he had no ammunition left. Ward fired, missed, and fainted. A challenge was made to continue the duel at a later date however Alston was later killed in another duel with General Leigh Read.
Thankfully, according to Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil, a former Tallahassee Police Chief, community expectations, the rule of law, and a system of courts have enabled law enforcement to resolve disputes.
Dueling Over Politics
Florida Militia Brigadier General Leigh Read was born in 1809 in Sumner County, Tennessee. He came to Florida in 1831, establishing a homestead in Centerville, north of Tallahassee. He began the practice of law in Richard Keith Call’s law office in Tallahassee and was admitted to the bar in April 1833. He set about marrying well. His first wife was the daughter of a wealthy planter.
After her death he married Eliza Branch, daughter of John Branch the former governor of North Carolina. Read was prone to violent behavior, and in 1833 he fought a bloody duel with Oscar White. The apparent cause involved a debate regarding White’s uncle, who was in the territorial delegate race against Richard Keith Call.
Later, Read joined Territorial Governor Call’s volunteers and fought in the Seminole War, where he was wounded. After recovering, he commanded a battalion of the Florida militia in 1836. Upon Governor Call’s recommendation to President Andrew Jackson, Read was promoted to brigadier general of the Florida militia. In 1838, he was elected to represent Leon County at the Florida Constitutional Convention.
The most critical issue at the convention was territorial banking policy with the anti-bank Democrats creating opposition with the pro-bank Whigs. In the Legislative Council election of 1839, the Leon County Democrats backed Leigh Read. Dr. William Tradewell represented the Whigs. The Democrats held the Whig banking policies responsible for Florida’s bad financial condition, saying the Whigs were a privileged aristocracy.
Augustus Alston (of a previous duel), a director of the Union Bank of Florida, was a Whig who spoke out against Read. Augustus and his brother Willis both served in the territorial militia. After 1835, Willis moved back and forth between Florida and Texas where he had acquired land holdings.
Before the 1839 election, insults were traded back and forth, and the stage was set. Augustus Alston challenged Read to a duel, but they were ignored. These insults reached a crescendo when Alston posted a public notice that Read had refused to apologize for an insult. By November, the heated campaign resulted in riots and armed confrontations between angry opposing groups.
To preserve his honor, and quell the miscreant behaviors, Read realized he would have to respond to the challenge of a duel. He and Alston agreed upon Yager rifles at fifteen paces. On December 12, 1839, Augustus Alston, along with Decimus A. Gaillard, his brother-in-law and second, and Dr. James Randolph, his surgeon, traveled to Mannington. When Florida was a territory, duels were fought outside of Tallahassee where legal jurisdictions were inconsistent. The rules were straight-forward. The fight was to continue until both parties were satisfied or disabled with the disability determined by a surgeon. Alston, possibly overconfident and arrogant, wheeled around and slipped with his shot going into the woods. Read faced him, took aim, and shot him in the chest killing him. However, it didn’t end there. Local folklore has it that Alston’s sisters cut the bullet out and sent it to their brother Willis in Texas to foster retribution.
Leigh Read became a hero within his political party. On January 1, 1840, he was selected chairman of Leon County’s Democratic Party. Meanwhile, Willis Alston returned from Texas with vengeance. Soon after, both Willis Alston and Read were in a Tallahassee hotel. Alston drew a pistol and fired, striking Read in the side. Read returned fire, wounding Alston in the hand, and Alston stabbed him and ran off. Read recovered from his wounds. Alston, sought by territorial law officials, fled. He remained in Tallahassee, evading attempts to arrest and prosecute him.
On May 22, 1840, President Martin Van Buren appointed Read U.S. Marshal for the Middle District of Florida. Tallahassee was in the Middle District of Florida at the time and in the Northern District now. At least one of his official acts was to order Willis Alston to post a bond swearing that he would not attempt to avenge his brother’s death.
Given time, Leigh Read was replaced as U.S. Marshal, leading inevitably to his murder by Willis Alston. Alston ambushed Read as he and Minor Walker, the new U.S. Marshal, walked down Monroe Street. After surrendering to the authorities and with the help of influential friends, he was released on bail and fled to Texas. In another act of vengeance, Dr. John McNeil Stewart, reportedly from Tallahassee, demanded his arrest. Alston confronted Stewart and killed him. After being taken into custody an angry mob broke Alston out of the Texas jail and killed him.
And with the citizens of Tallahassee thoroughly disgusted by the entire spectacle, the duels came to an end.
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