Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 519 f
article published, without signature, in one of the Augusta papers, I
criticizing Hon. Peter Crawford, a Whig. Peter Crawford was for :
years prominent in Georgia politics and was at this time in very poor
health. George W. Crawford, incensed at this attack upon his father -%\
by an unknown writer, demanded the authorship of this offensive card. if
But the editor declined to disclose the writer's name. Col. D. W. Lewis, .4
who was afterwards Governor Gilmer's private secretary, says that :K
the writer of the article in question was a lady and that it was for
this reason that Mr. Crawford's demand was refused. ?!
However, Thomas E. Burnside assumed responsibility for the article, :
whereupon he promptly received a challenge from George W. Craw
ford to mortal combat. He seems to have been reluctant to fight, but
at a time when, the Code Duello was in vogue, he well knew the conse
quences to himself and to his political fortunes, should he refuse to meet
his antagonist on the field. He, therefore, accepted the challenge and
repaired at once to the scene of combat. But, on the night before the
fatal meeting—perhaps with some premonition of the result in mind—
he dispatched the following note to Mrs. Burnside:
Port Mitchell, January 24, 1828.
Dear Wife and Mother:
Tomorrow I fight. I do it on principle. Whatever may be my fate,
I believe I am right. On this ground I have acted and will act. I be
lieve I shall succeed, but if I do not I am prepared for consequences.
Kiss the children and tell them that if I fall my last thought was of :
them. Yours most affectionately, ;
THOMAS E. BURNSIDE.
This pathetic fragment sounds not unlike the message which Alex
ander Hamilton, on the eve of his fatal meeting with Aaron Burr, ad
dressed to Mrs. Hamilton, on the subject of duelling. Nor was the !
fate of the two men dissimilar. Thomas E. Burnside fell mortally .
wounded in the encounter which followed. His body was interred, with II
every show of respect, in the private burial ground of Colonel Crowell,
whose residence was not far from the spot on which the unfortunate
man fell. More than two weeks elapsed before Burnside's family re- ;|
ceived the sad news, which, when it finally came, after so long a period
of suspense, almost cost Mrs. Burnside her life; but she rallied her ' |
strength for the sake of her children and afterwards removed to Dahlo- %>'
nega, Georgia, where she resided until her death. i:
Burnside was held in high esteem by his countless friends and col
leagues at the bar. He was a native of South Carolina, where he was
born in 1794, and after settling at Appling for the practice of law, he
represented Columbia County in the General Assembly of Georgia. The
late Judge W. A. Burnside, for years a trustee of the North Georgia
Agricultural College, was his son. 'Numerous tributes were paid to
Burnside's character, and from these honors it may be inferred that
he was a man of splendid parts. At Appling, a mass-meeting of his
personal and political friends was held, over which Turner Clanton pre- I
sided. There was also a meeting of the bar of his circuit at which reso- | :i
lutions were adopted and a movement launched for erecting a monu- If
ment.