Today in History, July 11th
On July 11, 1804, Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel at Weehawken, New Jersey. Plus To Kill a Mockingbird and Skylab's fall.
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July 11 is best known for 1804, when Vice President Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton in a duel at Weehawken, New Jersey. The date also saw Harper Lee publish To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960 and the Skylab space station fall back to Earth in 1979.
The big story: Burr shoots Hamilton at Weehawken (1804)
Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton had been circling each other for more than a decade. Early in that stretch, Burr took a U.S. Senate seat away from Hamilton’s father-in-law, Philip Schuyler. In the deadlocked 1800 presidential race, Hamilton helped tip the House to Thomas Jefferson over Burr, whom he saw as the worse choice. In 1804 Hamilton campaigned hard against Burr’s run for governor of New York, and Burr lost. Burr, still the sitting vice president, demanded satisfaction. Early on July 11, 1804, the two men met at the dueling ground near Weehawken, the same spot where Hamilton’s son had died in a duel in 1801. Accounts of who fired how still clash: Hamilton’s second said he shot into the air on purpose, while Burr’s camp said he aimed and missed. Everyone agrees Burr’s bullet hit Hamilton in the stomach. Hamilton died the next afternoon in New York. Burr was charged with murder but never tried for it, and his career never recovered.
More events on July 11
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1302 | A Flemish militia beat a French army at the Battle of the Golden Spurs and checked French expansion into the region. |
| 1782 | British troops and officials evacuated Savannah, Georgia. |
| 1798 | The U.S. Marine Corps, first created in 1775, was formally reestablished. |
| 1897 | Salomon August Andrée set off from Svalbard in a hydrogen balloon, trying to reach the North Pole. He and his two companions were never seen alive again. |
| 1905 | The Niagara Movement, a group of Black scholars, lawyers and businessmen, held its first meeting. |
| 1914 | Babe Ruth made his Major League debut, pitching the Boston Red Sox to a 4-3 win over Cleveland. |
| 1936 | The Triborough Bridge opened in New York City. |
| 1955 | The U.S. Air Force Academy officially opened in temporary quarters at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver. |
| 1960 | Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird was published. |
| 1979 | Skylab, the first U.S. space station, fell out of orbit and scattered debris over the Indian Ocean and Western Australia. No one was hurt. |
| 1995 | President Bill Clinton established full diplomatic relations with Vietnam. |
| 2015 | Drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán escaped from a Mexican prison through a long tunnel. He was recaptured about six months later. |
Born on July 11
- 1274: Robert the Bruce, king of Scotland who led its fight for independence from England.
- 1767: John Quincy Adams, sixth U.S. president and son of John Adams, born in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts.
- 1899: E.B. White, essayist and author, born in Mount Vernon, New York.
Sources
- Burr slays Hamilton in duel, History.com
- This Day in History: July 11, History.com
- On This Day: July 11, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Robert the Bruce, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- John Quincy Adams, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- E.B. White, Encyclopaedia Britannica
