Choose Your Weapon: The Duel in California, 1847 to 1861

Choose Your Weapon: The Duel in California, 1847-1861 describes in graphic detail the major figures, causes and means by which the 75 "affairs of honor" were fought in the Golden State during this time frame. The number of shootouts between these "gentleman" was greater than that of any other state during those pre-civil war years.     Because so many were fought over politics, the book reveals much about the major politicians and newspaper editors of that era. In addition, there is a great deal of irony. For example, in 1850 Assemblyman George Penn Johnston crafted a bill that provided severe penalties for anyone convicted of dueling. Still, it remained impossible to empanel a jury that would convict a duelist. Eight years later this same legislator sent a challenge to a member of the State Senate, and in the shootout that followed, killed him. Though found not guilty, he was the first duelist to be tried under the very statute he had authored.    New evidence also reveals there was far more paradox than previously imagined regarding the infamous duel between U.S. Senator David C. Broderick and State Supreme Court Justice David Terry.     Perhaps the most grueling duel ever to take place on America's frontier was the 1853 faceoff between U.S. Senator William Gwin and Congressman Joseph W. McCorckle. Fought in the hills above bucolic San Mateo with 54 caliber Mississippi Yagers at forty paces, by dint of a miracle neither was killed.     In summary "Choose Your Weapon" provides readers with an invaluable historical primer on California's Golden Era, as well as the tumultuous temperament of its pioneer politicians and newspaper editors.