Dueling in the Old South

When the "code of honor" ruled the antebellum South--or at least its upper classes--the slightest insult might give rise to a pistol duel at twenty paces, conducted with elaborate politeness. A crime on the statue books but a matter of honor to Southern gentlemen, dueling reflected the pre-Civil War individualism of this caste and their distaste for legal governance of their personal affairs. An understanding of the gentry's acceptance of dueling may even throw light on the mentality of those who led the South into a great mass duel, the American Civil War.