Duel of Button Gwinnett

Date: May 16, 1777 • Location: London, United Kingdom

Button Gwinnett, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, is wounded in a duel with Continental Army officer Lachlan McIntosh, dying of his injuries several days later.

Button Gwinnett was a British-born American Founding Father who, as a representative of Georgia to the Continental Congress, was one of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence. Gwinnett was briefly the provisional president of Georgia in 1777, and Gwinnett County was named for him. He was named in honor of his mother’s cousin, Barbara Button, who became his godmother. Gwinnett was killed by a wound sustained in a duel against rival general Lachlan McIntosh following a dispute after a failed invasion of East Florida.