Look Back: Bloody Island's infamous legacy, Benton kills Lucas in duel in 1817 | Buy historic photos & newspaper pages

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Look Back: Bloody Island's infamous legacy, Benton kills Lucas in duel in 1817

Date: 9/24/2010 Album ID: 1082758

Photos by Missouri History Museum

In October 1816, Charles Lucas opposed fellow lawyer Thomas Hart Benton in a civil suit in St. Louis. They clashed in the courtroom, essentially calling each other liars. The contentious relationship lead them to Bloody Island for a duel. On Sept. 27, 1817 they met once again at Bloody Island for a second duel. Benton fired first, fatally wounding Lucas.

A portrait of Charles Lucas, probably painted in 1815. Lucas, the son of St. Louis Judge J.B.C. Lucas, was educated in Philadelphia and served in the frontier militia during the War of 1812 against England. He returned to St. Louis to become a lawyer and, at age 24, became U.S. attorney for the Missouri territory, a part-time but prominent job. In October 1816, he opposed fellow lawyer Thomas Hart Benton in a civil suit in St. Louis. They clashed in the courtroom, essentially calling each other liars. On Election Day on Aug. 4, 1817, Lucas encountered Benton at a polling place and challenged his right to vote, alleging that Benton hadn't paid taxes on three slaves. (Back then, payment of taxes was a requirement for voting,) Benton responded to all who could hear that he wouldn't answer charges made by any puppy who happens to run across my path. The offended Lucas challenged Benton to a duel, and they met twelve days later 16 on a sand bar in the Mississippi River known to history as Bloody Island because duels were held there. (Dueling was illegal but part of the 19th Century male culture, and the island was chosen on the theory that authorities in Missouri and Illinois would look the other way.) Lucas and Benton fired their muzzle-loading pistols at 30 paces and wounded each other. Benton demanded a retry, to which Lucas agreed, only the next time at 10 paces. Lucas later thought better of his challenge and let it drop, but Benton accused Lucas and his father of spreading rumors that Benton was afraid to duel at close range. Benton refused to accept Lucas' denials, and they met again on the island on Sept. 27, 1817. Benton fired first, fatally wounding Lucas. (Missouri History Museum)

Thomas Hart Benton in 1830, then a U.S. senator from Missouri. Benton was born in North Carolina and served during the War of 1812 as an aide to Gen. Andrew Jackson of Tennessee. During a tavern brawl in Nashville, Tenn., Benton wounded the general, who had fired first. Benton moved to St. Louis, where he established a law practice and became editor of the St. Louis Examiner, promoting statehood for Missouri. In 1820, the territorial legislature elected him and David Barton as Missouri's first two senators. (One of the other candidates was Judge J.B.C. Lucas, father of Charles Lucas). The judge frequently referred to Benton as a rascal for having killed his son in the duel on Sept. 27, 1817. Benton served in the senate for 30 years, but the Missouri Legislature retired him in 1850, largely over his insufficient sympathy to slavery. (Benton had been attacking the rising secessionist fervor of Sen. John C. Calhoun of South Carolina). Benton later returned to Washington as the congressman from the St. Louis area and died in 1858. (Missouri History Museum)

The small sandy island in the Mississippi River known to history as Bloody Island. The scene is from an 1818 watercolor by Anna Maria Von Phul, an artist from Baltimore who sketched and painted St. Louis scenes during extended visits to relatives here. The view is from old Big Mound, a Mississippian-era Indian mound that was near present-day North Broadway and Biddle Street, on the north end of Laclede's Landing. Duelists used the lonely island to settle grudges. In the years after Benton killed Lucas there, the river began building up the west side of the island with sand and silt, threatening to push the channel eastward and leave the St. Louis landing dry. A young Army engineer, Lt. Robert E. Lee, stationed here from 1837 to 1840, designed a series of dikes that shifted river current enough to scour away the buildup at Bloody Island and keep the main channel in front of the St. Louis riverboat landing. During the Civil War, Lee would become the leading general of the Confederacy and surrender to Union Gen. U.S. Grant in 1865. (Missouri History Museum)

Bloody Island seen in the bottom right of an 1853 map of St. Louis. It shows the island much larger than it was in 1817, but also snug to the Illinois riverbank. The island is just upriver from the St. Louis riverboat landing. Eventually, it would blend entirely into the Illinois mainland. (Missouri History Museum)

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