Isaac Caldwell

This article is about the American judge. For the American lawyer and educator, see Isaac Caldwell (died 1885).

Isaac Caldwell (1795 – January 12, 1836)[1] was a justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi from 1825 to 1826.[2]

Born in Clinton, Mississippi, Caldwell became well-known as an attorney.[3] In 1829, Caldwell fought a duel with state legislator John R. Peyton over the latter's vote preventing Caldwell's hometown from being named capital of Mississippi; neither participant was injured.[3] Caldwell was the law partner of Senator George Poindexter,[4] and following Poindexter's defeat in his 1836 bid for reelection, Caldwell ended up engaging in a duel with one of Poindexter's political opponents, Colonel Samuel Gwin.[5] The parties fought with pistols,[3][6] and "[b]oth parties fell. Caldwell expired in two hours. Gwin was shot through the lungs and survived about a year".[5]

His widow died in 1842.[7]

Henry S. Foote alleged that his wife, who died a couple years later, initially believed a suicide, was murdered by her second husband.[8] Her second husband, a Dr. Kearney, allegedly fled to Mexico to escape prosecution.[9] In 1843 Thomas Kearney was listed as an "administrator de bon nonis" for the estate of Isaac Caldwell.[10]

The Caldwells were buried in a small family cemetery near what is today Interstate 20.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ The Rodney Telegraph (January 22, 1836), p. 2.
  2. ^ Franklin Lafayette Riley, School History of Mississippi: For Use in Public and Private Schools (1915), p. 380-82.
  3. ^ a b c Sue Thompson, "Old-Style Battles Once Fought On State Soil", Clarion-Ledger (August 8, 1971), p. 52.
  4. ^ "Law notice". Natchez Gazette. 1823-09-13. p. 4. Retrieved 2026-02-06.
  5. ^ a b Jay Guy Cisco, Historic Sumner County, Tennessee: With Genealogies of the Bledsoe, Gage and Douglass Families (1909), p. 252.
  6. ^ "Jerry Mitchell, "History of high court justices in Miss. reveals tradition of impropriety", Clarion-Ledger (May 5, 2003), p. 1, 6.
  7. ^ "Elizabeth Kearney - Raymond Robinson - Thomas Kearney - Isaac Caldwell". Vicksburg Daily Whig. 1842-08-02. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-02-06.
  8. ^ "The trial of Mercer Byrd by H. S. Foote". Vicksburg Times and Republican. 1873-09-02. p. 4. Retrieved 2026-02-06.
  9. ^ "Stone Into Gully". Clarion-Ledger. 1973-07-08. p. 83. Retrieved 2026-02-06.
  10. ^ "NOTICE". The Yazoo City Whig and Political Register. 1843-11-03. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-02-06.
  11. ^ "Tale of Duels, Murder by Carl McIntire". Clarion-Ledger. 1968-03-10. p. 63. Retrieved 2026-02-06.
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