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18061776 Club

Jackson lets the best shot in Tennessee fire first; Dickinson is dead, the bullet still in Jackson's chest

Near Adairville, Dickinson's shot broke two ribs and stopped inches from Jackson's heart; bleeding inside a loose coat, Jackson drew the hammer a second time and fired.

Charles Dickinson was considered the best shot in Tennessee, which is precisely why Andrew Jackson let him fire first. Near Adairville, Kentucky, on May 30, 1806, Dickinson's bullet broke two of Jackson's ribs and came to rest inches from his heart. Jackson, bleeding inside his loose coat, raised his pistol, found it at half cock, drew the hammer back a second time, and killed Dickinson with the next shot. The bullet stayed in Jackson's chest for the remaining thirty-nine years of his life…

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More from May 30
1854

Pierce signs the Kansas-Nebraska Act; the Missouri Compromise's thirty-four-year line is gone

Douglas's "popular sovereignty" doctrine now lets settlers in both territories vote on slavery themselves, erasing the 36°30' ban that has held since 1820.
1868

Logan names May 30 a national day to decorate soldiers' graves; the order goes to every post in the Union

General Order No. 11 puts the commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic behind a practice Southern women began two years ago.
1958

Eisenhower buries two unknowns at Arlington; each man receives the Medal of Honor

Charette, the Navy's only active enlisted Medal of Honor holder, chose the World War II unknown; Lyle picked the Korean War soldier from four disinterred candidates.
18621776 Club
Beauregard ran empty trains through town all night, whistles shrieking and troops cheering, while his 45,000 men marched south toward Tupelo, leaving Halleck's 120,000 with a ghost town.
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More from Revolution & Founding
1790

Washington signs the Residence Act; the Potomac wins the capital over Philadelphia

A federal district up to ten miles square will rise near Georgetown, with Philadelphia holding the government as a ten-year stopgap while the new city is built.
1789

Washington signs the first agency of the new government into law

A department to handle foreign affairs becomes the executive branch's opening act under the Constitution.
1777

A nineteen-year-old Frenchman becomes a major general; Congress asks for no pay in return

Lafayette crossed an ocean against his king's wishes to join a war that was not his own.
1801

Enterprise fights a three-hour battle and dismasts the corsair Tripoli

Sterett's schooner takes twenty killed and thirty wounded from the enemy crew without losing a single American.
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