From the time it was founded in 1796, Tennessee’s legal code forbade the gentlemanly “art” of dueling. This is why so many famous duels in the state’s history (Jackson-Dickinson, Coffee-McNairy) were started in Nashville and finished elsewhere. The favored dueling ground was the strip of land in Adair County, KY, just across the state line.

However, not so in every case. Early Nashville did see its share of formal duels – usually when two gentlemen were so peeved at each other they decided they couldn’t wait for “satisfaction” and risked the consequences under the law.

The first known fatal duel to take place in the city occurred at sunrise on March 18, 1800. As is so often the case the cause is lost to history. All that is known is that two doctors had a falling out for some reason or other, enough so that Dr. Francis May challenged Dr. Frank Brown Sappington to meet him with pistols  in a cedar thicket just south of town (guesstimation puts the spot at approximately where the Music City Center now stands).

Before dawn on the day of the duel, Sappington composed a poignant letter to his brother explaining his actions. It remains a rare look into the mind of a duelist:

                                                                                                                                                Nashville, 18th March 1800.

Dr. Roger,

                Ere the Sun Arrives at its Maridean [sic] height to day my Existance [sic] in this World may be Terminated I am Engaged In a Disagreeable Business and Which you are and Always must be a Stranger To, Circumstances, Prevents one from Detailling [sic] this to you, however you may be Assured it is with Reluctance I am Draged [sic] into this Affair, And Nothing but Defending my Reputation, Which no man Shall Assail, with Impunity, Could Induce me to it — My Worldly Affairs I Commit in your Charge Should my Death be the Consequence of this Act, After the Settlement of all Demands Against the firm of A. Foster & Co. I am Intitled [sic] to one third the Profits of said house which I Wish my Father you and my own Brothers and Sisters to Enjoy Refering [sic] you however to my Letter of this Date to William Lytle my ever Dear friend and Assistant in this Affair — It gives me the Greatest Satisfaction even [in] this trying moment to think I have Never Intentionally and Knowingly Stained the Reputation of my self and Relations – Which I hope and Trust no Person Can Justly Asperse, May heaven Continue This Blessing to you all unimpaired is the Prayer of your Sincere Brother

                                                                                                                                                Francis B. Sappington

This letter he tucked into his pocketbook before setting out for the field. The combatants met at dawn and one fire was exchanged. Sappington’s shot missed; May’s struck his opponent in the forehead inflicting a wound “of the depth of four inches and of the breadth of one fourth of an inch.” He died instantly.

Indicted for murder, May immediately lit out for the town of Knoxville where he was given shelter by friends. Indeed, he was able to practice medicine openly without fear of arrest and even married Polly, the daughter of Knoxville’s founder Gen. James White. In May of 1802 he returned to Nashville where he stood trial for murder. To nobody’s surprise, he was found not guilty – gentlemen rarely convicted other gentlemen of behaving like gentlemen.

May went on to act as a surgeon during an even more famous duel four years later involving this guy.