George Eacker
George I. Eacker (c. 1774 – January 4, 1804)[1] was a New York lawyer and Free Mason who fatally shot Philip Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton, in a duel on November 23, 1801.[2][3]
Eacker was born to Jacob Eacker, who fought in the American Revolution and served in NYS Assembly, and Anna Margaret Finck, daughter of Andreas Finck.[4]
Eacker was 27 years old at the time; Philip Hamilton was 19. Eacker was a supporter of Aaron Burr, and made a speech denigrating Philip's father Alexander Hamilton. Philip and his friend Richard Price confronted Eacker. Eacker called them "hot foxes like John Laurens" so, as was the common at the time, they challenged Eacker to a duel.[4]
A fictional version of the duel appears in the 2015 Broadway musical Hamilton ("Blow Us All Away") and foreshadows the Burr–Hamilton duel only a few years later (July 11, 1804) on the same dueling ground in Weehawken, New Jersey.
After Philip's death, in a letter to Rufus King, Robert Troup wrote of Alexander: "Never did I see a man so completely overwhelmed with grief as Hamilton had been."[5]
Eacker died less than three years after Philip Hamilton. His cause of death was reported as consumption, but his brother claimed it was prolonged sickness contracted while fighting a fire in cold weather (while a captain in the fire department).[4]
Eacker is portrayed in the 2015 Broadway musical Hamilton through a performance originated by Ephraim M. Sykes.
See also
List of people killed in duels
References
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