Alright, pay attention. I’ll keep it short and sweet. The actual duel. There are varying accounts, depending on what version of the duel you read. Both “seconds” had versions of what happened. It’s essential to keep in mind that not only did they want to let people know what happened, but they wanted to protect their people in the process. Burr was still alive, you see, so Van Ness wanted to guard his reputation.

Here are the agreed upon facts: each man fired a shot, Hamilton missing and Burr hitting. A delay between shots existed. Finally, after hitting Hamilton, Burr desired to speak with him. Van Ness wouldn’t let him in order to keep Burr out of legal trouble, but it is clear that Burr felt regret.

Here is the main question: who fired first? Each version differs to cover a political backside… if you know what I mean. If Hamilton doesn’t fire first, but holds his fire and gets shot, he is a hero. If Burr fires second after being missed by Hamilton, he is within his honor according to the Code Duello. Hamilton is the one that complicates things. First, he wrote the night before the duel that he would throw away his shot, another term for “miss.” Then Hamilton asks for time before the duel to practice his aim. This seems silly if you are planning on wasting your shot. Lastly, in the boat on the way back to New York, a hurtin’ Hamilton comes to and tells those around him to watch his pistol because it’s still loaded. We know it’s not loaded because there were definitely two shots, but Hamilton thought it was still loaded. Then there is that little thing about Burr’s regret. If you intend to shoot a man, do you show regret? Maybe. Or maybe he meant to only wound Hamilton. It was common in duels to shoot for hips in order to just cause a flesh wound. Remember that Burr just missed the hip. The shot ricocheted off Hamilton’s rib, causing the fatal wound.

So what happened on July 11, 1804? Did Burr hit Hamilton first causing Hamilton to squeeze his trigger and send a shot? Did Hamilton shoot first and miss on purpose or on accident? Due to political legacy and ongoing political ploys of the day, we will probably never know the full truth.