1813 Jackson–Benton brawl
American gun and knife fight
A gun fight and knife fight between several historically significant figures of the frontier-era U.S. South took place on September 4, 1813, at a tavern on the public square in Nashville, Tennessee. Future U.S. president Andrew Jackson and three of his Donelson kinsmen (John Coffee, Stockley D. Hays, and Sandy Donelson), fought future U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton and his brother Jesse Benton Jr. Horsewhipping was threatened. The parties variously stabbed, shot, and beat each another. Jesse Benton shot Jackson, leaving him with a serious shoulder injury. Jackson and T. H. Benton had previously been close, but were estranged as a result of the fight. They eventually reconciled, with Tom Benton acting as a crucial and insistent voice in defense of Jackson and Jacksonian policies in the U.S. Senate throughout the second quarter of the 19th century.
Prologue
To begin, Nashville merchant Jesse Benton Jr. had gotten involved in a duel with future Tennessee governor William Carroll that was, reportedly, several steps away from the original insult. Carroll slapped an officer who had insulted him in some way at a ball; according to historian Elbert B. Smith this was Littleton Johnson.
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