Seth Kaller, Inc.

“the malignant shafts of your disappointed ambition fell perfectly harmless at my feet. I am incapable of any revenge towards you & let me assure you that my chivalry would not permit me to avenge any rongs which you could offer… But if you are serious make good your bost—throw the gantlett upon nutrill ground....”

Jacksonian Congressman Samuel P. Carson dares his recent opponent Dr. Robert B. Vance to challenge him to a duel. Carson had won Vance’s seat in 1825. In 1827, Vance tried to regain his old seat, in part by accusing Carson’s father of turning Tory during the Revolutionary War. Carson’s lopsided victory (by more than a two-to-one margin) apparently wasn’t enough. On November 5, 1827, the men met near Saluda Gap, perhaps just over the border into South Carolina, where dueling was legal until 1880. Vance withheld his shot. Carson did not. He seriously wounded Vance, who died the next day.

SAMUEL PRICE CARSON. Autograph Letter Signed. Daring Former North Carolina Congressmen Dr. Robert B. Vance to challenge him to a duel, September 12, 1827. 2 pp. Browned paper, stain on verso, some losses on the edges and minor tears, but unique.

Inventory #24222       Price: $2,500

Complete Transcript

Doctor Robert B Vance

My friend Capt. Burgin is instructed to know of you distinctly before he hands you this whether I was the ‘chivalrous son’ alluded to in your epistle to my father dated the 6th instant. If so this is my answer had you recollected my language to you at Morganton which was not equivocal & which gave you distinctly to understand what you are to expect at my hands you would have spared yourself the trouble of writing or alluding to me in any way. However sir the malignant shafts of your disappointed ambition fell perfectly harmless at my feet. I am incapable of any revenge towards you & let me assure you that my chivalry would not permit me to avenge any rongs which you could offer To say nothing of your want of those principles which would induce a man of chivalry to notice you.  You are exempt from responsibility by the misfortune (a calamity I would pity in any man) of the loss of almost the entire use one limb. I will do no act in violation of the laws of my state but as you have bosted that you had flung the gantlet before me which in point of fact is not true For in the language of  <2> chivalry to fling the gantlett is to challenge to throw down the Iron glove (an experiment your chivalry may not permit you to hazard) But if you are serious make good your bost—throw the gantlett upon nutrill ground then if not excepted bost your victory. You should not have bosted before for true chivalry never bosts much less bosts of victory without the risque & danger of wining it  You have been faithless to agreements sacred to honour  I will not therefore place my self in your power by violating the laws of my state  Not to be misunderstood you have received the votes of 2419 citizens of this district as a fit representative in congress this gives you a claim which individually you are not entitled to  On my way to Congress I will pass through Ashvill to meet sum friends in East Tennessee  your course is open I will spend a week at Jonesborough on my rought

I am &c  Sam P Carson

Plesent Garden

Septm^r 12^th 1827

Samuel Price Carson (1798-1838) from North Carolina served several terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming good friends with Davy Crockett. Ill health prompted him to settle in Mississippi, after which he moved to Texas. He was elected a delegate for the Convention of 1836 and signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. He lost by six votes to David G. Burnet for the position of president ad interim. Selected as secretary of state and sent to Washington, D.C. to negotiate Texas’ joining the United States, he was replaced after a few months. Carson retired to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he died two years later.

Robert B. Vance (1793-1827) was born near Ashville, North Carolina. Vance studied medicine, and began his practice in Ashville in 1818. He held some local offices before representing North Carolina in the U. S. Congress (1823-1825). He was the uncle of North Carolina Governor Zebulon B. Vance (1830-1894). The Congressman was killed in a duel by his successor, Samuel Price Carson.