This is a list of duels in the United States:
A code duello is a set of rules for a one-on-one combat, or duel. Codes duello regulate dueling and thus help prevent vendettas between families and other social factions. They ensure that non-violent means of reaching agreement are exhausted and that harm is reduced, both by limiting the terms of engagement and by providing medical care. Finally, they ensure that the proceedings have a number of witnesses. The witnesses could assure grieving members of factions of the fairness of the duel, and could help provide testimony if legal authorities become involved.
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons.
Thomas Hart Benton, nicknamed "Old Bullion", was an American politician, attorney, soldier, and longtime United States Senator from Missouri. A member of the Democratic Party, he was an architect and champion of westward expansion by the United States, a cause that became known as manifest destiny. Benton served in the Senate from 1821 to 1851, becoming the first member of that body to serve five terms. He was born in North Carolina.
James Butler Hickok, better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his life on the frontier as a soldier, scout, lawman, cattle rustler, gunslinger, gambler, showman, and actor, and for his involvement in many famous gunfights. He earned a great deal of notoriety in his own time, much of it bolstered by the many outlandish and often fabricated tales he told about himself. Some contemporaneous reports of his exploits are known to be fictitious, but they remain the basis of much of his fame and reputation.
Gunfighters, also called gunslingers or in the late 19th and early 20th century gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in shootouts. Today, the term "gunslinger" is more or less used to denote someone who is quick on the draw with a handgun, but this can also refer to those armed with rifles and shotguns. The gunfighter is also one of the most popular characters in the Western genre and has appeared in associated films, television shows, video games, and literature.
Edward Hempstead was an American lawyer, pioneer, and one of the early settlers in the new Louisiana Purchase in 1805. Born in New London, Connecticut, Hempstead was the delegate in the U.S. House for the Missouri Territory from 1812 to 1814. He served as territorial attorney general in Upper Louisiana and in the Missouri Territorial Legislature. He is the older brother of Charles S. Hempstead, the first Mayor of Galena, Illinois.
William Brocius, better known as Curly Bill Brocius, was an American gunslinger, rustler and an outlaw Cowboy in the Cochise County area of the Arizona Territory during the late 1870s and early 1880s. His name is likely an alias or nickname, and some evidence links him to another outlaw named William "Curly Bill" Bresnaham, who was convicted of an 1878 attempted robbery and murder in El Paso, Texas.
Fast draw, also known as quick draw, is the ability to quickly draw a handgun and accurately fire it upon a target in the process. This skill was made popular by romanticized depictions of gunslingers in the Western genre, which in turn were inspired by famous historical gunfights in the American Old West.
Spencer Darwin Pettis was a U.S. Representative from Missouri, serving from 1828 until his death in 1831. He was also the fourth Missouri Secretary of State. Pettis is best known for being a participant in a fatal duel with Major Thomas Biddle. Pettis County, Missouri, is named in his honor.
John "Turkey Creek Jack" Johnson was an American bookkeeper, lawyer, cattle handler and lawman. He rode with Wyatt Earp as a member of the posse during the Earp Vendetta Ride.
Bloody Island was a sandbar or "towhead" in the Mississippi River, opposite St. Louis, Missouri, which became densely wooded and a rendezvous for duelists because it was considered "neutral" and not under Missouri or Illinois control.
Ben Thompson was a gunman, gambler, and sometimes lawman of the Old West. He was a contemporary of "Buffalo" Bill Cody, Bat Masterson, John Wesley Hardin, and "Wild Bill" Hickok, some of whom considered him a friend, others an enemy. Thompson fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, and later for Emperor Maximilian in Mexico. After he was hired in 1881 as marshal in Austin, Texas, the crime rate reportedly dropped sharply. Thompson was murdered at the age of 40 in San Antonio, Texas, in the "Vaudeville Theater Ambush."
The Gunfight at Hide Park, or the Newton Massacre, was the name given to an Old West gunfight that occurred on August 19, 1871, in Newton, Kansas, United States. While well publicized at the time, the shootout has received little historical attention despite resulting in a higher body count than the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and the Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight of 1881. Unlike most other well-known gunfights of the Old West, it involved no notable or well-known gunfighters, nor did it propel any of its participants into any degree of fame. The story has transformed into legend due to reports that one of the participants, James Riley, walked away from the scene and was never seen again.
The Hickok–Tutt shootout was a gunfight that occurred on July 21, 1865, in the town square of Springfield, Missouri between Wild Bill Hickok and gambler Davis Tutt. It is one of the few recorded instances in the Old West of a one-on-one pistol quick-draw duel in a public place, in the manner later made iconic by countless dime novels, radio dramas, and Western films such as High Noon. The first story of the shootout was detailed in an article in Harper's Magazine in 1867, making Hickok a household name and folk hero.
Charles Lucas was an entrepreneur and legislator in Missouri Territory who was killed in a duel with U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton.
Thomas Biddle was an American military hero during the War of 1812. Biddle is better known though for having been killed in a duel with Missouri Congressman Spencer Pettis.
Joshua Barton was the first Missouri Secretary of State. He was involved in three duels with prominent Missouri politicians before being killed in a duel.
John Bull was a little-known English gunman of the American Old West. He is featured in the book "Deadly Dozen", written by author Robert K. DeArment as one of the twelve most underrated gunmen of the 19th century west.
Richard Gentry was an American politician, slave owner, and soldier from Missouri. Gentry was killed in Florida during the Seminole Wars. The Missouri county of Gentry is named for him. He was the first mayor and founder of Columbia, Missouri.
James H. Leavy was an Irish gunfighter in the Old West. He is remembered today by Western historians for participating in at least two instances of a quick draw duel. In his time, Leavy was one of the most notorious gunmen in the Old West known for challenging other gunmen to a duel. He is featured in the book Deadly Dozen, written by author Robert K. DeArment as one of the twelve most underrated gunmen of the 19th century West.