Dueling Grounds of Washington DC

Colmar Manor, Maryland

You think today's Washington politicians have anger management issues? They wouldn't stand a chance against the seriously PO'd bureaucrats of the 19th century. Rather than bruise each other's feelings with nasty Tweets, America's antebellum statesmen ironed out their differences with swords and pistols. Dueling was illegal in the District of Columbia, so the combatants found a spot just over the border in Maryland, along a creek that that became known as Blood Run. They called the little patch of grass the Bladensburg Dueling Grounds.

The Bladensburg Dueling Grounds were the busiest in America. Even after the laws were tightened in 1839, Washington politicians continued hacking and blasting away at each other at Bladensburg until 1868. Today a historical marker, an informative sign, and the little patch of grass are all that remain of the spot where America's leaders once maimed and killed each other.