PART ONE

THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS

(1807–1860)

USE YOUR UTMOST EFFORTS TO ALLAY ALL excitement which your principal may labor under; search diligently into the origin of the misunderstanding; for gentlemen seldom insult each other, unless they labor under some misapprehension or mistake; and when you have discovered the original ground or error, follow each movement to the time of sending the note, and harmony will be restored.

—JOHN LYDE WILSON, The Code of Honor or Rules

for the Government of Principals and Seconds in

Duelling, 1858, ALSO KNOWN AS The Code Duello