Choose Your Weapon: The Duel in California, 1847-1861

Christopher Burchfield has been researching and writing about the Gold Rush Era of California for more than thirty years. Over this period he and his wife, Genendal, have traveled up and down the state, scouring its libraries and history centers, from Barstow to Yreka, often camping out under some very inclement weather conditions. He has had over 100 articles published in various magazines.

In Gold Rush-era California, gunfighters werent outlaws or desperadoes -- they were were prominent journalists, legislators, governors, and judges. This book brings to life a now-forgotten time, when California was a raw new state with politics as violent as any banana republic. This was the Golden Age of dueling, when prominent citizens would settle their political and personal disputes with gunfire, according to the venerable law of the code duello. The book documents every notable duel to have occurred in California, from the arrival of U.S. dueling culture with the first American settlers to the end of duelings popularity on the eve of the Civil War. In the heyday of dueling culture, men from all walks of life, from politicians to manual laborers, fought formal duels. Duels could be triggered by political battles to shape state government -- or they could be fought over a woman or a personal slight. Braggarts often proved to be cowards on the field of honor, and many a quiet and peaceable man could shoot with deadly accuracy when reputation was at stake. For the California gentlemen of the 1850s, honor or dishonor -- and life or death -- could be decided with a single shot.

I - GOLDEN ERA CALIFORNIAII - IN THE BEGINNINGIII - THE DUEL IN AMERICAIV - THE DUEL COMES TO CALIFORNIAV - THE YEAR 1850VI - THE KEYSTONE FIRE-EATERVII - THE DUEL AT COYOTE HILLVIII - MURDER AT INDUSTRY BARIX - JUDGE TERRY'S FIRST DUELX - SENATOR BRODERICK'S FIRST DUELXI - JUANITA AVENGEDXII - CALIFORNIA'S DUELING BARD OF AVONXIII - GENTLEMAN JOHNXIV - THE DUEL AT RANCHO DEL PASOXV - THE CAPTAIN AND THE AUCTIONEERXVI - THE LEGGETT-MORRISON DUELXVII - GROVELING IN LOS ANGELESXIII - HONORABLE MENTION: 1852XIX - THE SENATE CHALLENGES THE HOUSEXX - THE DENTIST AND THE GROCERXXI - THE SURPRISE ACCEPTANCEXXII - THE FATAL FRIENDSHIPXXIII - THE FOOL ALTERNATEand more....