Cobblestones Home :    Colonial Lives :   Diary of Aaron Burr

Home
 
Colonial Lives
Pre-colonial - 1674
1675 - 1769
1770 - 1775
1776 - 1787
1788 - 1820
 
Portland Trail
Abyssinian Church
Asa Clapp House
Cleeves and Tucker
Deering Oaks Park
Eastern Cemetary
First Parish Church
Fort Loyall
Longfellow House
Monument Square
Munjoy Hill
Portland Observatory
Portland High School
Portland Waterfront
Samuel Butt's House
Tate House
Tukey's Bridge
 
Index by Author
King

Diary of Aaron Burr

by Elizabeth

    July 11, 1804
    It is almost dawn, just two hours before I have to be at the duel site.  I need to write one more time in this diary because of the chance that I could depart this world forever.  To my Theodosia, I love you.  Aaron even though I have only seen you a couple times,  I love you like I have known you my whole life.  Joseph Alston, will you please take care of Theo and Aaron?  All three of you mean the world to me.  Goodbye.

Click play to hear my story
May 8, 1802
    I just got a letter from Theodosia.  She told me that I now have a grandson.  It is the most wonderful news this year with all the duties of being Vice President and having to listen to Alexander Hamilton go on and on about nonsense things.  He says that I am a dangerous man who should not be trusted.  How can he say that I should not be trusted when he is the one who is telling untrue things about me.  Hamilton is the man who should not be trusted.

June 12, 1804
    I am going to demand satisfaction from Alexander Hamilton for the attacks on my honor. We shall have a duel.  If he does not want to apologize for what he has said about me, then so be it, I will not let him ruin my reputation by saying these things.  He says that I am unprincipled and that it is a religious duty to oppose my career.  Excuse me I have to go.  My candle is going to burn out soon and I still have to write my letter of challenge to Alexander. 

June 20,1804
    Alexander Hamilton said that he does not want to face me in a duel because his son Philip died in a duel two years ago.  I think that he is a coward.  After going on and on about how much he disagrees with the whole idea of dueling to settle matters between us, he finally, at the end of the letter, agreed to meet me.  Why must he recount his whole life story before he informs me that he will agree to duel.  All I wanted to know is that he would agree.  As I write about this it makes me afraid.  But I must do what I must do to avenge these slurs on my character.

July 10, 1804
    Tomorrow is the duel between Alexander Hamilton and I.  I do not think that I want to face him any more.  With all the letters that Alexander and I have been writing to each other about the duel, I am beginning to think that our differences are not worth dying for.  But then again who does want to die?

July 11, 1804
    It is almost dawn, just two hours before I have to be at the duel site.  I need to write one more time in this diary because of the chance that I could depart this world forever.  To my Theodosia, I love you.  Aaron, even though I have only seen you a couple times,  I love you like I have known you my whole life.  Joseph Alston, will you please take care of Theo and Aaron?  All three of you mean the world to me.  Goodbye.  
 
July 11, 1804
    I survived the duel but Alexander Hamilton may not be so fortunate.  We both shot at  around the same time.  His shot missed me by at least a foot.  I, on the other hand shot him in the right side above his hip. The doctor says that the ball hit some vital organs. If he lives or if he dies I will be the villain of history.

 July 12, 1804
    Alexander died today because of the wounds that I gave him.  Once the country finds out what I have done I will probably have to step down from the Vice President spot.  I am already having to deal with the guilt of being a murderer.  His wife said that I should be put in to jail for the rest of my life.  Dueling is not a crime.  Why should I have to go to jail for the rest of my life?  We both agreed to the duel knowing that there was a chance that one of us could have died.

March 4, 1805
    I am going to Philadelphia to meet with Jonathan Dayton.  From there I will talk to him about going out west to work on starting a new nation there of which, I would be the leader of.  I sure do hope that  it succeeds.  If it does  then  I will get to leave all of this behind I will be able to live out my life with nobody to bother me about Alexander Hamilton.  Maybe I will then be able to convince Theo to move out there with me.

July 11, 1805
    It has been a year since Alexander Hamilton died and I have not gone a day with out thinking about him.  This is not by choice mind.  Every day one way or another someone or something reminds me of him.  I wish that I could just forget about every thing.

January 10, 1807
    I was just reading the news paper and I found out that President Jefferson has ordered my arrest for the killing of Alexander Hamilton.  I guess I should do the right thing and go turn myself in, even if it means that I will never see the light of day again.


Epilogue

When Aaron Burr was tried for the murder of Alexander Hamilton he was never sentenced because there was not two witnesses.  In June 1812 Aaron Burr Alston died of the Tropical Fever.  Theodosia was heart broken.  When Aaron finally convinced Joesph to let Theo come visit him the schooner she was on was raided by pirates and made every on walk the plank.  Her body was never found.

Top of Page
Home