Editing Alexander Hamilton (section)

==Duel with Burr and death==
{{main|Burr–Hamilton duel}}
[[File:Duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton.jpg|thumb|A 1901 illustration of Burr fatally wounding Hamilton in [[Burr–Hamilton duel|their 1804 duel]] in [[Weehawken, New Jersey]]]]
[[File:Alexander Hamilton Grave.JPG |thumb|Hamilton's tomb in [[Trinity Church Cemetery]] in [[Lower Manhattan]]]]
Soon after Lewis' gubernatorial victory, the ''Albany Register'' published [[Charles D. Cooper]]'s letters, citing Hamilton's opposition to Burr and alleging that Hamilton had expressed "a still more despicable opinion" of the vice president at an [[Upstate New York]] dinner party.<ref name=jbf/><ref>Kennedy, ''Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson'', p. 72.</ref> Cooper claimed that the letter was intercepted after relaying the information, but stated he was "unusually cautious" in recollecting the information from the dinner.<ref name=chernow680-681>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n715 pp. 680–681].</ref>

Sensing an attack on his honor, and recovering from his defeat, Burr demanded an apology in the form of a letter. Hamilton wrote a letter in response and ultimately refused because he could not recall the instance of insulting Burr. Hamilton was also accused of recanting Cooper's letter out of cowardice.<ref name=schachner />{{rp|423–424}} After a series of attempts to reconcile differences between the two failed, a duel was arranged through liaisons on June 27, 1804.<ref name=schachner />{{rp|426}}

The concept of honor was fundamental to Hamilton's vision of himself and of the nation.<ref>{{cite book |first=Andrew S. |last=Trees |title=The Founding Fathers and the Politics of Character |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2004 |page=169}}</ref> As evidence of the importance that honor held in Hamilton's value system, historians observe that Hamilton previously was a party to seven "affairs of honor" as a principal, and to three as an advisor or second.<ref name=chernow-interview>{{Cite journal |title=An Interview with Ron Chernow |first1=Kenneth T. |last1=Jackson |first2=Virginia |last2=Paley |date=Spring 2004 |access-date=April 12, 2017 |url=http://www.alexanderhamiltonexhibition.org/about/Ron%20Chernow%20Interview.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.alexanderhamiltonexhibition.org/about/Ron%20Chernow%20Interview.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |journal=The New-York Journal of American History |pages=59–65}}</ref> Such affairs of honor were often concluded prior to reaching the final stage of a duel.<ref name=chernow-interview/>

Before the duel, Hamilton wrote an explanation of his decision to participate while at the same time intending to "[[Deloping|throw away]]" his shot.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hamilton |first1=Alexander |title=Statement on Impending Duel with Aaron Burr, (28 June – 10 July 1804) |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0241 |website=Founders Online |publisher=National Archives |access-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-date=February 8, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208033757/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0241 |url-status=live}}</ref> His desire to be available for future political matters also played a factor.<ref name=jbf>{{cite journal |last=Freeman |first=Joanne B. |title=Dueling as Politics: Reinterpreting the Burr–Hamilton Duel |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_william-and-mary-quarterly_1996-04_53_2/page/289 |journal=[[William and Mary Quarterly]] |series=Third Series |volume=53 |number=2 |date=April 1996 |pages=289–318 |type=subscription |jstor=2947402}}</ref> A week before the duel, Hamilton and Burr both attended an annual [[Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day]] dinner held by the [[Society of the Cincinnati]]. Separate accounts confirm that Hamilton was uncharacteristically effusive while Burr was, by contrast, uncharacteristically withdrawn. Accounts also agree that Burr became roused when Hamilton, again uncharacteristically, sang a favorite song, which recent scholarship indicates was "[[How Stands the Glass Around]]", an anthem sung by military troops about fighting and dying in war.<ref>{{citation |editor-surname1=Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture |periodical=The William and Mary Quarterly |title=What Was Hamilton's "Favorite Song"? |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=298–307 |date=April 1955 |publisher=Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture |language=de |jstor=1920510}}</ref>

The duel began at dawn on July 11, 1804, along the west bank of the [[Hudson River]] on a rocky ledge in [[Weehawken, New Jersey]].<ref>Adams, pp. 93–94.</ref> Both opponents were rowed over from [[Manhattan]] separately from different locations, since the location of the duel was not accessible from the west due to the steepness of the adjoining cliffs. Coincidentally, the duel took place relatively close to the location of the duel that had ended the life of Hamilton's eldest son, [[Philip Hamilton]], three years earlier.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Place In History: Albany In The Age Of Revolution |last=Roberts |first=Warren |publisher=Excelsior Editions/State University of New York Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4384-3329-5 |location=Albany, NY |page=135}}</ref> Lots were cast for the choice of position and which second should start the duel. Both were won by Hamilton's second, who chose the upper edge of the ledge for Hamilton facing the city and the rising sun to the east.<ref>Winfield, Charles H. (1874). ''History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time''. New York: Kennard and Hay. Chapter 8, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20070703220610/http://duel2004.weehawkenhistory.org/winfieldch8duels.pdf Duels]". pp.&nbsp;p.219</ref> After the seconds measured the paces, Hamilton, according to both [[William P. Van Ness]] and Burr, raised his pistol "as if to try the light" and had to wear his glasses to prevent his vision from being obscured.<ref>Fleming, p. 323</ref> Hamilton also refused the more sensitive [[Hair trigger|hairspring]] setting for the dueling pistols offered by [[Nathaniel Pendleton]], and Burr was unaware of the option.<ref name=Brookhiser212/>

Burr shot Hamilton, delivering what proved to be a fatal wound, while Hamilton apparently "[[Deloping|deloped]]", as he had indicated was his intention in his letter beforehand; and his shot went well above Burr's head, breaking a tree branch. The seconds, Pendleton and Van Ness,<ref>Fleming, p. 345</ref> disagreed on which man fired first in the duel.<ref name=Brookhiser212>{{cite book |last=Brookhiser |first=Richard |title=Alexander Hamilton, American |page=212 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-4391-3545-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KNqw3yCfG5YC&pg=PA212 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Soon after, they measured and triangulated the shooting, but could not determine from which angle Hamilton had fired. Biographer [[Ron Chernow]] contends that, after taking deliberate aim, Burr fired second.<ref name=chernow704>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n739 p. 704].</ref> Biographer James Earnest Cooke, however, believes that Burr took careful aim and shot first, and Hamilton fired while falling after being struck by Burr's bullet.<ref>Cooke, p. 242</ref>

The shot hit Hamilton in the lower abdomen above his right hip. The ball ricocheted off Hamilton's second or third [[false rib]], fracturing it and causing considerable damage to his internal organs, particularly his liver and diaphragm, before becoming lodged in his first or second [[lumbar vertebra]].<ref name=schachner />{{rp|429}}<ref>Emery, p. 243</ref>

The paralyzed Hamilton was immediately attended by [[David Hosack|the same surgeon]] who tended to Hamilton's son Philip. Hamilton was ferried to [[Greenwich Village]] and the boarding house of his friend [[William Bayard Jr.]], who was waiting on the dock.<ref name=chernow705>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n740 pp. 705–708].</ref> On his deathbed, Hamilton asked the [[Episcopal Bishop of New York]], [[Benjamin Moore (bishop)|Benjamin Moore]], to give him [[holy communion]].<ref name="papers-v26"/> Moore initially declined to do so on the grounds that participating in a duel was a [[mortal sin]] and that Hamilton, although undoubtedly sincere in his faith, was not a member of the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalian]] denomination.<ref name=fleming>{{cite book |last=Fleming |first=Thomas |title=Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and the Future of America |url=https://archive.org/details/duelalexanderham00flem |location=New York |publisher=Basic Books |year=1999 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/duelalexanderham00flem/page/328 328]–329 |isbn=978-0-465-01736-2}}</ref> After leaving, Moore was persuaded to return that afternoon by the urgent pleas of Hamilton's friends. After hearing Hamilton's solemn assurance that he repented his role in the duel, Moore gave him communion.<ref name=fleming/>

After final visits from his family, friends, and considerable suffering for at least 31 hours, Hamilton died at two o'clock the following afternoon, July 12, 1804,<ref name=chernow705/><ref name=jch836>{{cite book |first=John Church |last=Hamilton |title=Life of Alexander Hamilton: A History of the Republic of the United States of America, as Traced in His Writings and in Those of His Contemporaries, Volume VII |location=Boston |publisher=Houghton, Osgood and Company |year=1879 |page=836 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7lYSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA836 |quote=At two in the afternoon, my father died.}}</ref> at Bayard's home just below present-day [[Gansevoort Street]] in Greenwich Village, New York City.<ref name=Miller1990>{{cite book |first=Terry |last=Miller |title=Greenwich Village and How It Got That Way |page=164 |publisher=Crown Publishers |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-517-57322-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0sZ4AAAAMAAJ&q=%22present+Gansevoort%22&pg=PA164}} Cited in {{cite news |title=F.Y.I.: Answers to Questions About New York |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/nyregion/answers-to-questions-about-new-york.html |last=Pollak |first=Michael |date=July 8, 2011 |work=The New York Times |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719130201/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/nyregion/answers-to-questions-about-new-york.html |archive-date=July 19, 2017}}</ref> The city fathers halted all business at noon two days later for Hamilton's funeral. The procession route of about two miles organized by the [[Society of the Cincinnati]] had so many participants of every class of citizen that it took hours to complete and was widely reported nationwide by newspapers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0271 |title=Founders Online: The Funeral, [14 July 1804] |website=founders.archives.gov |access-date=July 3, 2021 |archive-date=July 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709181350/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0271 |url-status=live}}</ref> Moore conducted Hamilton's funeral service at [[Trinity Church (Manhattan)|Trinity Church]] at present-day 89 [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] in [[Manhattan]].<ref name="papers-v26" /> Gouverneur Morris gave the eulogy and secretly established a fund to support his widow and children.<ref name=chernow712-713-725>Chernow, pp. [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n747 712–713], [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n760 725].</ref> Hamilton was buried in the [[Trinity Church Cemetery|church's cemetery]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Doug |last=Keister |title=Stories in Stone New York: A Field Guide to New York City Area Cemeteries & Their Residents |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AkNldfGIyCcC&pg=PA127 |year=2011 |publisher=Gibbs Smith |page=127 |isbn=978-1-4236-2102-7}}</ref>