The Baxter-Erwin Duel

Elias Gibbs was an eyewitness to another historical event in Henderson County brought on by the politics of the Civil War and that was the duel between Hendersonville Attorney John Baxter and Asheville newspaper editor Marcus Erwin. Baxter was an ardent supporter of the Union and Erwin was a pro-States Rights advocate and the feud was played out in the mid-1850's on the pages of the Asheville newspaper that Erwin owned. The feud reached a boiling point one morning when John Baxter was sitting on a bench in front of his law office on Main Street in Hendersonville carrying on a conversation with a then teen-age Elias Gibbs. A horse and buggy drove up to where Baxter and Gibbs sat and a man jumped out and handed Baxter a letter and drove off. Baxter read the letter and in a fit of rage, tore the letter to pieces and threw it on the ground. He got on his horse, and tore off South down Main Street. The letter was pieced together by Gibbs and some other occupants of Baxter's law office and it was a challenge from Erwin to a duel with Baxter. The letter said that Erwin would be waiting at Vance Mountain at Saluda Gap. As per the custom of duels of the day, Dr. Edward Jones was acting as Erwin's second with Dr. W.L. Hilliard of Asheville acting as his surgeon. Terrell W. Taylor acted as Baxter's second with Dr. W.D. Whitted as his surgeon. At the command of "Fire!" Baxter shot first and missed. Erwin's shot hit Baxter in the right knuckle of his right hand and the pistol ball eventually ended up lodged in Baxter's right shoulder. Erwin had been vindicated with his "victory" in the duel and Baxter left Hendersonville soon after and moved to East Tennessee a short time later. Baxter's Unionist sympathies were much more accepted in the Union stronghold of East Tennessee.