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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
1776

Parker's nine warships bombard Fort Sullivan; Moultrie's palmetto walls swallow the cannonballs

Clinton's land assault stalls at an unwadeable channel, one British ship sits grounded on a sandbar, and the fleet withdraws up the coast.
1776

Washington's own bodyguard hangs before 20,000 in New York

Thomas Hickey, an Irish-born private in the Life Guards, was caught passing counterfeit money, then talked too freely in prison about a far larger plot against the Commander-in-Chief.
1776

Congress votes: these colonies are free and independent states

New York abstains, lacking instructions; twelve delegations say yes, and John Adams is certain the date will be remembered forever.
1776

Congress votes: these colonies are free and independent states

Jefferson's declaration passes without dissent; Dunlap's print shop runs off copies tonight for readings across the region.
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