In 1804, the Vice President shot Alexander Hamilton
Today in True Crime
by CaseBond · Source-backed daily true-crime history
July 11, 2026
In 1804, the Vice President shot Alexander Hamilton
On the morning of July 11, 1804, two of America's most prominent founders met at the dueling grounds in Weehawken, New Jersey, as the sun rose over the Hudson River. Vice President Aaron Burr raised his pistol and fired. Alexander Hamilton fell, struck in the abdomen, a pistol ball driving toward his spine. He would be carried across the river to New York City and would linger in agony through the following morning — but the shot that ended his life also ended the Federalist era of American politics.
The men who met that morning had been rivals for years, their enmity running deeper than personal dislike. Hamilton, born on the Caribbean island of Nevis around 1755, had risen from poverty to become the architect of America's financial system. As the first Secretary of the Treasury under George Washington — a general for whom Hamilton had served as aide-de-camp during the Revolution — he built the national bank, assumed the states' war debts, and laid the framework for a powerful commercial republic. Burr, born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1756, was his temperamental and ideological opposite: charming where Hamilton was abrasive, pragmatic where Hamilton was doctrinaire, and firmly aligned with the Democratic-Republicans where Hamilton led the Federalists.
Their rivalry crystallized into something lethal during the presidential election of 1800, when Jefferson and Burr tied in the electoral college, throwing the election into the House of Representatives. Hamilton, despite his reservations about Jefferson, viewed Burr as the greater threat to the republic. He reportedly described his opposition to Burr as "a religious duty" and lobbied members of Congress to choose Jefferson. The intervention worked: Jefferson became president, Burr became vice president, and Burr became a political outcast in the administration he was meant to serve.
The final provocation came in 1804, when Burr ran for governor of New York. Hamilton once again deployed his political influence against him. Burr lost the election and held Hamilton personally responsible. On June 27, 1804, Burr sent Hamilton a letter demanding an accounting for statements Hamilton had made about his character. Hamilton's response — acknowledging criticism without offering the full satisfaction Burr sought — was, to Burr, an insult compounded by evasion. A formal challenge followed.
The site chosen for the meeting carried its own grim resonance. The dueling grounds at Weehawken lay across the Hudson in New Jersey, where enforcement of anti-dueling laws was less aggressive than in New York. The location also carried personal weight: it was near the same grounds where Hamilton's own son Philip had been fatally wounded in a duel with George Eacker three years earlier. Whatever Hamilton felt as he stepped onto those grounds, he had already buried a child in their shadow.
At dawn, both men raised their pistols. The precise sequence of what happened next has been debated by historians ever since. What is certain is that Burr's shot struck Hamilton in the abdomen, the ball lodging near his spine. Hamilton's own pistol discharged as he fell — whether intentionally or as the involuntary spasm of a dying man, no one has ever settled with certainty. He was carried back across the river and died the following morning, July 12, 1804.
The condemnation was swift and thunderous. Here was one of the most consequential architects of the republic — co-author of the Federalist Papers, builder of the national financial system, Washington's trusted right hand — killed by the sitting Vice President in what many considered a barbaric throwback to aristocratic honor culture. Aaron Burr was indicted for murder in both New York and New Jersey, though the New Jersey charges were eventually dropped. In an extraordinary spectacle, he returned to Washington and completed his term as Vice President, presiding over the Senate while under indictment for murder.
But the duel destroyed Burr as surely as it killed Hamilton. Federalists who might have embraced him as an enemy of Jefferson recoiled from the man who had shot their great champion. Jeffersonians were wary of someone who had shown such disregard for the norms of political life. Burr drifted west, where an alleged scheme to carve territory from the United States led to his arrest and trial for treason in 1807. He was acquitted, but he never recovered his political standing.
Two men faced each other on the dueling ground at Weehawken on the morning of July 11, 1804, and both were destroyed before the day was out. One by a pistol ball. The other by the reputation that ball left behind.
Also on this day
-
Men's rights attorney Marc Angelucci shot and killed at home, July 11, 2020 · WikipediaCivil rights and men's rights attorney Marc Angelucci was found shot to death at his home in Cedarpines Park, California on July 11, 2020. Angelucci, 52, had represented fathers and men in custody and discrimination cases and appeared in the documentary The Red Pill.
-
Grand juror Jessica Leslie charged with criminal contempt for leaking sealed testimony, July 11, 2025 · Emily D Baker / InstagramJessica Leslie was charged in federal court in Massachusetts on July 11, 2025 with one count of criminal contempt for disclosing sealed grand jury information — including witness names and the substance of their testimony — to unauthorized individuals between August 2022 and March 2024.
-
Canadian teenager reveals months of exploitation by extremist online network 764, July 11, 2021 · CBC / The Fifth EstateOn July 11, 2021, a teenager in Red Deer, Alberta revealed to her parents the full extent of her exploitation by the violent extremist online network 764, which targets vulnerable minors and coerces them into self-harm. Despite reports to authorities, her exploitation had continued for months.
-
Cleveland Torso Murderer active in Kingsbury Run, July 11, 1936 · WikipediaAn unidentified serial killer known as the Cleveland Torso Murderer — or the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run — was active in Cleveland, Ohio during the 1930s, dismembering at least thirteen victims. The killer was never identified despite an investigation led by Eliot Ness.
-
FBI releases online investigative package for serial killer Israel Keyes, July 11, 2013 · ABC NewsThe FBI released a public online package — including hours of interrogation video, photographs, and an interactive victim timeline — for Alaska serial killer Israel Keyes, who confessed to multiple murders across the United States before dying by suicide in December 2012 while awaiting trial.
-
Texas grand jury issues no-bill in 1991 cold-case murder of Cynthia Gonzalez, July 11, 2025 · Dallas ExpressA Texas grand jury declined to indict Janie Perkins, 63, for the 1991 capital murder of Cynthia Gonzalez, issuing a no-bill despite alleged confessions and polygraph failures. Perkins had been arrested in November 2024 after the decades-old case was reinvestigated.
-
Montana serial killer David Meirhofer suspected in Jaeger family abduction, July 11, 1973 · WikipediaMontana serial killer David Meirhofer, who confessed to four murders between 1967 and 1974, was linked to the abduction of seven-year-old Sandra Jaeger and her father from a campsite. Meirhofer became the first serial killer actively investigated using FBI criminal profiling methods.
-
Eleven-year-old Charles Wilhelm murdered — case remains unsolved, July 11, 1976 · Project: Cold Case / FacebookCharles Wilhelm, eleven years old, was murdered on July 11, 1976, in a case that has never been solved. His name is preserved by cold-case advocates working to
-
Kristopher Henriqson convicted and sentenced for sexual abuse of juvenile family member, July 11, 2025 · Flagler County Sheriff's Office / FacebookKristopher Henriqson, arrested by the Flagler County Sheriff's Office in February 2025 following a Major Case Unit investigation, was convicted and sentenced for sexually abusing a juvenile family member.
-
Daughter of executed man Sedley Alley petitions for post-conviction DNA testing, July 11, 2019 · Innocence ProjectApril Alley petitioned a Tennessee court for post-conviction DNA testing in the murder case of her father Sedley Alley, who was executed in 2006 despite unresolved questions about his guilt. Alley maintained his innocence throughout and DNA testing that could have been exculpatory was never conducted before his death.
-
Gilgo Beach serial killing investigation reaches milestone days before Rex Heuermann arrest, July 11, 2023 · WikipediaThe investigation into the Long Island Serial Killer case — linked to at least ten victims found along Ocean Parkway in Suffolk County — advanced in July 2023, days before the July 14 arrest of architect Rex Heuermann, who later pleaded guilty to eight murders spanning a 17-year killing spree.
-
Golden State Killer Joseph DeAngelo faces proceedings in Sacramento murder case, July 11, 2020 · Tulare County District AttorneyJoseph James DeAngelo, the former police officer identified as the Golden State Killer and responsible for 13 murders and more than 50 sexual assaults across California between 1974 and 1986, faced court proceedings in 2020 as his case moved toward a sentence of 11 consecutive life terms without parole.
Just hit reply. Tell me what grabbed you, what you'd want more of, or a case you can't stop thinking about. I read everything.
Sources used/checked for this issue
- Burr–Hamilton duel, Wikipedia — "Burr–Hamilton duel," Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr%E2%80%93Hamilton_duel
- Alexander Hamilton — Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica — "Alexander Hamilton," Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-Hamilton
- Aaron Burr — Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica — "Aaron Burr," Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aaron-Burr
- Burr slays Hamilton in duel, History.com / A&E Networks — "Burr slays Hamilton in duel," History.com. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/july-11/burr-slays-hamilton-in-duel
- Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr's Duel, PBS / American Experience — "Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr's Duel," PBS American Experience. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/duel-alexander-hamilton-and-aaron-burrs-duel
Today in True Crime by CaseBond — 2026-07-11
