Avery’s favorite authority was “Bacon’s Abridgment.” This he carried with him from court to court, and from the tavern to the court house and back. It was always in his “green bag,” and the latter, when not in his saddle-bags, was in his hand or swinging from his arm. The book was carefully wrapped up in a piece of buckskin, to preserve it from wear. Avery quoted from and referred to “Bacon’s Abridgment” in every case and on all occasions, and of course had done so on the trial of the case out of which grew the duel; and Jackson had ridiculed Avery’s pet authority, but had not said anything derogatory to his opponent as a lawyer or a gentleman. Avery, in his retort, grew sarcastic; he not only criticised legal positions taken by Jackson, but intimated pretty strongly that he did not know anything about the law of that case or of any other, and that he had much to learn before he would be justified in criticising a law book written by anyone. This was enough to inflame Jackson, and it did. Jumping to his feet, he exclaimed: “I may not know as much law as there is in Bacon’s Abridgment, but I know enough not to take illegal fees!” Avery at once turned on Jackson, and demanded fiercely to know whether he meant to charge him with taking illegal fees. Jackson answered, “I do, sir,” and started to say more; but Avery, pointing and shaking his finger at his adversary, hissed through his teeth, “It’s as false as hell!” whereupon Jackson immediately sat down, picked up a law book, tore a blank leaf from it, wrote a challenge, delivered it to Avery, bowed to him ceremoniously, and walked out of the court house. Avery seated himself, wrote an acceptance of the challenge, walked out of the court house and, meeting John Adair, requested him to act as his second, and to deliver his note to Jackson. The latter, in the mean time, had met a friend, whom he asked to act as his second, and to whom he said that he did not wish to kill Avery; that Avery had interrupted him without hearing all that he had intended to say, which was that he (Avery) had taken illegal fees because of his ignorance of the latest law fixing a schedule of fees,[O] and not that he had done so corruptly; but that Avery’s manner and language were such as to prevent this intended explanation, which he could not afford to make afterward without the probability of being suspected of fearing Avery, and that he would rather be killed by his antagonist than suspected of cowardice. Jackson’s second (whose name I was never able to ascertain) unquestionably communicated to Adair, during the subsequent negotiations between them as to weapons, etc., the substance of what Jackson had said; and the two seconds determined that there should be no duel in earnest, or “shooting to kill,” as one of my informants expressed it. This agreement must have been communicated to both principals, before they left the town for the “field of honor,” as subsequent events clearly indicate.

Difficulties that led to a challenge and its acceptance, in the olden times, were rarely ever adjusted before the combatants arrived on the field. The distinguished duellists followed the custom on this occasion; and, with their seconds and others who knew of the affair, went to the ground selected—the hill on the south side of Jonesboro, and not “the hollow” north of town. The distance was measured off, the principals stationed and the word given—and Jackson and Avery both fired in the air, to the great gratification of their friends.

The two principals approached each other with extended hands. While holding his recent antagonist by the hand, Jackson said: “Col. Avery, I knew that, if I hit you and did not kill you immediately, the greatest comfort you could have in your last moments would be to have ‘Bacon’s Abridgment’ near you; and so I had my friend bring it to the ground.” Thereupon, Jackson’s second unrolled the package in his hand, which was about the size of a law book, and out fell a piece of old, well-cured bacon!

Parton, in a note appended to his account of the duel, says that there was a comic incident connected with it, which Jackson would not tell and Adair did not. The version here given was told me by three different old men, in Washington county, years ago. They were Abram Gregg, Micajah (or Michael) Hodges and John Fullmer, each of whom had been a soldier in the war of 1812, Gregg having been, I believe, a captain. The last time that I talked with Fullmer and Hodges on this subject was in 1879, and they were both clear in their recollection, without any consultation with each other, residing in different parts of the county, Fullmer on the Watauga river and Hodges on the Holston, eight miles distant.[P]

The foregoing version of this duel is supported by the old court records at Jonesboro. Years ago I read and copied therefrom the following entry: “Waightsell Avery having for want of Acts of Assembly Crept into an Error in Taking Two pounds instead of One pound Six Shillings and Eight pence Was by the Court freely Pardoned at his Own Request.” It is also borne out by the fact that, when Jackson was President, this duel was mentioned to him by Samuel P. Carron, then a member of Congress from the district in North Carolina in which Col. Avery died, whereupon the President, according to Parton, asked Carron, “Who told you about it?” “Gen. Adair,” was the answer. “Did he tell you what happened on the ground?” “No.” “Well, then, I sha’n’t,” said Jackson, laughing. This would indicate that the duel had had some comic ending, and not a comical beginning.

The other version of the duel, which I never heard in upper East Tennessee, agrees with the one before given, except in the following particulars. It was said that, in the course of the trial, Jackson was rather getting the best of Avery, and as it was near adjourning time, and Col. Avery, strange to say, had forgotten his green bag with “Bacon’s Abridgment” in it, when returning from dinner, he said to the court that he would produce next morning the authority in support of his position; that Bacon’s Abridgment would show how little the opposing counsel knew about the law in the case, etc. Next morning, Jackson went into Avery’s room during the latter’s absence, took the “Abridgment” out of the green bag, and substituted a piece of bacon about the size of the book, wrapped first in paper and then in the buckskin which Avery used as a wrapper for his precious volume. When Avery came into court with his green bag, and proceeded to produce his authority, out tumbled the piece of bacon, in the presence of the court and the lawyers, as well as the spectators who had been invited to witness the fun. This practical joke so incensed Avery that he challenged Jackson on the spot; the challenge was accepted, and the combatants immediately proceeded to the duelling ground, fired at each other, both missing, whereupon each expressed himself satisfied, and the affair ended. This latter version does not accord with what Jackson said to Carron about the comic incident, when he asked if Adair had told him what happened on the ground—not at the court house or before the duel.

I gathered from the old men alluded to above that public sentiment, as they understood, was rather with Avery at the time of the duel, as the people had more confidence in his law knowledge than that of “young Jackson;” but they all believed both of them to be brave and honest, although Jackson was “a little too fractious.”

Did Jackson fight another duel at Jonesboro? I do not know; but it is certain that the three old gentlemen whom I have named, as well as others, asserted most positively that he did. When asked whom the duel was fought with, when it occurred, what caused it, etc., they could not remember; but they all agreed that the affair took place in the “long meadow,” as it was then called (formerly the “hollow”), on the north side of town, and they all asserted that the duel with Avery was fought on the hill on the south side. Capt. Abram Gregg was of the opinion that the duel occurred in the year after Jackson came to Jonesboro, which would fix it in 1789. He said that Jackson hit his man, but he was not seriously wounded, and soon recovered and left the community; that Jackson was not touched. It can be seen from this statement how the facts of the duel might have been forgotten, if it took place, as the other party to it left the country soon afterward, whereas Col. Avery continued to attend the courts of the county for years after his duel with Jackson. This would naturally keep the matter fresh in the minds of the people, although Jackson left the county permanently about October or November, 1790.

FOOTNOTES:

[M] History of North Carolina, part ii, page 56.