Savannah’s Dueling Grounds: The Forgotten History Behind Colonial Park Cemetery

Most of what people know about Colonial Park Cemetery comes from ghost tours and Civil War history. Both are legitimate angles — the cemetery is genuinely one of the most historically dense sites in Savannah. But there’s a chapter of its history that almost never gets mentioned: for well over a century, the land immediately adjacent to Colonial Park Cemetery was Savannah’s primary dueling ground.

The city’s main burial ground was located next to the place where gentlemen regularly went to try to kill each other. The proximity was considered practical, not ironic.

Dueling in the American South

Dueling was a legal and socially accepted institution in Georgia well into the 19th century — a formal, ritualized violence with specific protocols about challenges, seconds, weapons, and distances. Savannah’s social elite participated enthusiastically. The area east of Colonial Park Cemetery, near what is now Oglethorpe Avenue, served as one of the primary sites for these encounters.

Button Gwinnett: Founding Father, Dueling Casualty

Button Gwinnett — one of Georgia’s three signers of the Declaration of Independence — was killed in a duel in 1777, just outside Savannah. His opponent was General Lachlan McIntosh, with whom he had a long-running political rivalry. Gwinnett died of his wounds three days after the encounter. The duel had no logical outcome — both men had been on the same side of the Revolution. It was purely about ego and Southern codes of honor.

Gwinnett is now buried in Colonial Park Cemetery, and the precise location of his grave has been disputed for two centuries. He is directly across the street from the field where he was shot.

The End of Dueling

Georgia formally banned dueling in 1833, though the practice continued informally for decades afterward. By the late 19th century, dueling was functionally gone from Savannah’s social landscape. The ground where it happened is now residential streets. Next time you walk the east wall of Colonial Park, think about what the field on the other side used to witness. History has a way of sitting very quietly in grass.

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