“The honor of a gentleman demands the inviolability of his word, and the incorruptibility of his principles. He is the descendent of the knight, the crusader; he is the defender of the defenseless and the champion of justice – or he is not a gentleman.” -Emily Post
This is the eighth in a series about Commodore Robert Stockton, the Founder of Sea Girt. Robert Field Stockton, born 1795 was a naval hero, US Senator, and the richest man in New Jersey. His summer home at the Jersey Shore established an estate he called Sea Girt.
How did Robert F. Stockton find himself in three duels in 3 years?
The English honor code practiced by gentlemen of the early 1800s was deeply ingrained from the Middle Ages. It helped to reinforce the family unit, the social order and the class system. It demanded integrity and afforded respect. A mark of a gentleman was that he would not engage in petty disputes, and look to resolve differences through logic and reason, rather than brawling.
The Navy was the ideal institution to perpetuate these codes. The complex coordination of sailing a huge vessel in wind and waves, and loading and firing guns called for strict discipline. Gentlemen (officers) would have distinct advantages over common men (sailors). Between fellow officers, rank would have privilege, but good form was still expected between gentlemen. In the crowded quarters of the ship’s hold and for months removed from family, small slights were often magnified, and morale often wavered.
Irreconcilable disputes were resolved man to man, originally with swords and later with dueling pistols.
1880s school history book on dueling in the early 1800s, Burr and Hamilton pictured
Robert would not attend the funeral of his younger brother. Horatio died as Decatur returned to the United States from the Second Barbary War. Robert stayed with the Mediterranean fleet and was moved from the Spitfire to the Erie where he was First Lieutenant.
The morale was low after Decatur left, but things exploded when two senior officers in the squadron let emotions get the best of them.
Captain Oliver Hazard Perry’s battle flag stated, “Don’t give up the ship”. He captured four British ships and won the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812. As the Second Barbary War ended he perceived his marines were losing discipline.
He had a dispute with Marine Captain John Heath. Heath’s answers to Perry’s inquiries were insolent. After ignoring Perry’s orders, Perry remanded Heath to his quarters. Heath penned a letter that Perry deemed disrespectful. They got in each other’s face and Perry slapped Heath, a clear break in protocol and a shock to the squadron.
It soured the mood with the Marines and the naval officers. The fallout was not resolved for over two years. Heath was court-martialed, Perry was reprimanded. They eventually fought a duel to a draw.
Stockton worked to avoid altercations, pressing his men on the Erie.
“Remember Gentlemen, there is always time enough to fight; keep cool; never get in a passion, even under the grossest provocation.”
“Dueling in the Old Navy” by Charles Oscar Paullin in the December 1909 Proceedings recorded details of 82 naval duels. Three of these were Stockton’s.
Stockton’s first duel was with a British officer. The versions of Stockton’s altercations come from Paulin’s research, the Niles Register and Stockton’s biography, by Samuel Bayard. They are all from Robert’s point of view.
In the port of Naples, in 1817 an American crew had given a boatman a letter of recommendation, to be shared with other US ships visiting the port. He had presented it to the English ship Albion and one of the officers wrote on it mockingly:
“Notwithstanding the recommendation of the Americans, the boatman was an extravagant knave; but it was supposed he charged the American officers less on account of their parsimony and the known poverty and meanness of the American government."
When the Erie sailed into the harbor, the boatman passed the letter to First Lieutenant Stockton. Insulted by the British addendum, he waited until the Erie moored, and sent a junior officer to the Albion demanding to know who had written it. When none confessed he sent a note back suggesting they all be blamed. When one stepped forward, Stockton issued him a challenge. The officer offered to apologize to Stockton verbally, but Stockton demanded it be in writing, to match the insult. The Englishman refused.
A duel proceeded a few days later and upon the second shot, the Englishman, wounded slightly in the leg asked for pardon. Stockton asked for the surrender in writing or he was not satisfied and they both should reload. The Englishman said he would not do either. This was a capitulation without honor, so Stockton called him a coward and indicated he would cane the man if they ever met again. This settled the affair.
There were 26 rules for Duello. Some of them allowed either party to escape the firing of pistols and retain their honor. Both parties were each entitled to a “second” who could allow for a face-saving reconciliation through mediation, or in some cases the second could step in. The seconds also negotiated terms, distances, rules for firing (such as the drop of a handkerchief at twenty paces).
The US and British Navies had long outlawed the practice as they lost more men to dueling than battle. Accuracy of the weaponry in the early morning or evening light kept death rates low enough for men to keep up the practice and the actions of seconds and cowards along with injury reduced deaths even further. A miss for each side might allow for the score to be considered settled with honor retained.
His second duel was with a member of his own crew in the same year. The sleeping quarters below deck afforded very little privacy aboard the Erie, and while Stockton was in his bunk, he heard two junior officers discussing Robert taking advantage of his superior rank in insulting the junior officers. He did not want to appear to be judging small talk in bunks, but he also was concerned about his ability to lead the men if the chatter spread. So he asked the marine officer when they went ashore to see if the midshipman truly had been insulted by Stockton. He asked him to let the junior officer know that “he would never let his rank stand between him and the just indignation of an honorable man”- Bayard
The midshipman took that as an opportunity to challenge the lieutenant. Once challenged, an honorable man could not refuse without apology, and Stockton met him on shore for the duel. The seconds decided that at eight paces firing could commence. After the last step, combatants were free to turn and fire their pistols, typically from the hip at the hip of the opponent. The midshipman missed, and his shot went off before Stockton had fired. Stockton asked the man if he wanted to reload. The midshipman declined and asked Stockton to freely take his first shot. Stockton fired into the air.
The midshipman called foul and demanded Stockton shoot at him before the second shot. The seconds, on witnessing the bravery at asking for an open shot for Stockton, suggested both sides could be satisfied and turned to Stockton. The tension was broken and both men enjoyed a close working relationship throughout their time on the Erie.
The third duel was the last for Stockton. Again it was the British, this time the Army garrison at Gibraltar in 1819. General harassment of several Americans at the Rock by the guards led to officers of the Erie challenging the entire garrison. They initially refused the challenge and the Americans wanted to post the cowardice at the port. Captain Ralph Johnson was the target of the American ire, as he had jailed and then insulted all American officers. After two duels on the Neutral Ground, the Army Commander ordered their men inside the fort and Captain Ballard of the Erie forbade their men from leaving the ship.
Robert had witnessed Captain Ralph Johnson at the last duel treat Lt. Bourne with scorn after shooting him. Johnson called him a Yankee in a derisive tone.
Given the Captain’s orders, and knowing all the other officers onboard were married, Stockton felt compelled to issue the challenge to Johnson for all the Yankees on his ship. He would risk the court-martial and meet Johnson on British soil. Two men accompanied him. Bourne acted as second and the ship’s Doctor acted as surgeon.
The opponents met at Saint Michael’s cave on the Rock, a huge limestone cavern created from millennia of water. There was a trap set. Stockton’s opponent and his second delayed arguing every nuance of the terms. He smelled a fix and he was right. He hurriedly conceded to all the terms to get on with it. There are several stories about the number of shots fired, but shortly after they paced off their steps, the guards showed up.
They had been lying in wait to get their Yankee prize. Stockton narrowly escaped, as arriving troops cut off his route through the rock tunnels. He was separated from his mates.
Gibraltar had 4,000 feet of tunnels with storage caves and troop galleries hollowed out of the solid rock. He raced back to the top. He was tackled and wrestled with a Limey. As he held the other man in a headlock, they both rolled over the edge. He hit the ground with the Englishman under him and he was able to get up as guards chased him in hot pursuit. He commandeered a horse, rode toward the docks, and collapsed into the jolly boat, as they all rowed away.
Lithograph of Saint Michael’s cave Gibraltar (public domain)
While the incident at Gibraltar might have convinced Robert to stop while his luck held, another incident a few months later may have also brought his dueling to an end.
Stockton’s former captain, the ambitious hero Stephen Decatur was killed in a duel over an old slight. Decatur had written up Commodore James Barron for his poor handling of the Chesapeake in 1804 against the French Leopard. It drove Barron from the Navy, and Decatur advised against his return.
Barron goaded the socially popular Decatur with a challenge 16 years after the incident. Given Decatur’s fame, he could not refuse without losing his honor, and he went to the Valley of Chance in Maryland reluctantly. None of his close friends including Stockton’s first Captain Rogers would risk violating naval rules to be his second. Commodore Bainbridge, an old nemesis of Decatur’s volunteered.
Bainbridge was the ill-fated captain of the USS Philadelphia, which ran aground and was taken by pirates. Decatur famously burned the ship in Tripoli’s harbor. Bainbridge and 304 men suffered 19 months as prisoners and young Decatur got the fame.
Then Bainbridge was assigned the Mediterranean Fleet Commander and was supposed to exact his revenge on the pirates in the Second Barbary War.
But Decatur and his squadron completed that mission in such a short time, that Bainbridge was still sailing to meet them. Decatur was a dashing hero. He and his beautiful wife Susan were at all the Washington parties, and the more experienced Bainbridge was merely respected for his career on the seas.
Barron’s second was Captain Jessie Elliott who also might have had reason to want Decatur dead. Captain O.H. Perry had given incriminating papers about Elliott to Decatur for safekeeping before his death. Eyebrows were raised when it was learned that the seconds agreed to an eight-pace gap and also permitted aiming before firing.
Just before the duel, Barron declared, “If we meet in another world, let us hope we shall be better friends,” to which Decatur replied: “I never was your enemy, sir.”
Effective seconds.would have encouraged both men to end it there as they admitted their desire for peace between them. But Bainbridge and Elliott were silent. Decatur and Barron aimed and waited for the drop of the handkerchief.
Both men were hit. Decatur’s hip was shattered “I’m a dead man” he declared, and he passed later that day. Barron would survive his injuries. “Hero killed in Duel” screamed the papers. Susan Decatur felt her husband was set up.
The reputation of Stockton was improved by the stories of these duels. He was deemed brave, a gentleman, and as important for a Naval Officer, lucky.
Dueling was still going to impact Robert’s life in a big way.
Next, Robert steps into the issues of slavery.
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/mourn-columbia-the-death-and-legacy-of-stephen-decatur
https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2005/june/perry-strikes-us-marine
https://historycamp.org/frederick-c-leiner-prisoners-of-the-bashaw-the-nineteen-month-captivity-of-american-sailors-in-tripoli-1803-1805/#:~:text=After%20hours%20under%20fire%2C%20the,Bashaw%20of%20Tripoli%2C%20Yusuf%20Karamanali.
https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/that-time-two-navy-legends-fought-a-duel-with-marines/