Qualla: Bladensburg Dueling Grounds

Bladensburg Dueling Grounds: Introduction

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Attributed to Joseph Wood, Public domain. The argument was about steamboat speed. In June 1836, twenty-two-year-old Daniel Key -- the son of Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star-Spangled Banner" -- met fellow Naval Academy midshipman John Sherbourne in a shaded grove along a creek just northeast of Washington, D.C. They faced each other with pistols drawn, following the formal rituals of the code duello. Key did not survive. His death was just one of roughly fifty duels fought at this small spit of land along what locals came to call "Blood Run" -- officially Dueling Creek, a tributary of the Anacostia River. Today the site sits within the town of Colmar Manor, Maryland, a fraction of its original size, quiet and unremarkable. But for six decades, this was the deadliest patch of ground in American politics.

Image: Attributed to Joseph Wood | Public domain

Bladensburg Dueling Grounds: An Affair of Honor

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ben Jacobson (Kranar Drogin), CC BY-SA 3.0. The Bladensburg Dueling Grounds opened for business, so to speak, in 1808, when U.S. Representative Barent Gardenier of New York challenged U.S. Representative George W. Campbell of Tennessee. The quarrel grew from Gardenier's opposition to President Thomas Jefferson's trade emba...

Image: Ben Jacobson (Kranar Drogin) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bladensburg Dueling Grounds: The Commodore Falls

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Alonzo Chappel, Public domain. The most famous duel at Bladensburg ended the life of one of America's greatest naval heroes. In 1820, Commodore Stephen Decatur -- celebrated for his daring exploits against the Barbary pirates and in the War of 1812 -- was mortally wounded by Commodore James Barron in a dispute...

Image: Alonzo Chappel | Public domain

Bladensburg Dueling Grounds: Death in Ninety Seconds

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ben Jacobson (Kranar Drogin), CC BY-SA 3.0. The duel that finally forced Congress to act was fought on February 24, 1838. Congressman Jonathan Cilley of Maine, a reluctant participant, faced Congressman William J. Graves of Kentucky. Graves was serving as a stand-in for New York newspaper editor James Webb, whom Cilley had...

Image: Ben Jacobson (Kranar Drogin) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bladensburg Dueling Grounds: The Last Shots on Blood Run

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain. Dueling's decline tracked the arc of the Civil War. The wholesale slaughter of organized battle made the ritualized killing of individuals seem less romantic and more absurd. The last recorded duel at Bladensburg was fought in 1868 between General A. Galletin Lawrence, the U.S. M...

Image: AnonymousUnknown author | Public domain