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Col Woodlief was noted as the one who given charge of General Antonio de Lopez Santa Ana as prisoner where he ordered Texas Capt. William H Patton to travel to Washington DC for trial which never happened. Gen Santa Ana was allowed to travel back to Mexico.
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From the logs of N. Gray & Co Funeral Home in San Francisco it states that he was interred in Grave 30- 1st Tier, chain plot No. 1 ( Lone Mountain) Note, a chained plot was an area that was surrounded by used anchor chains, since there were so many abandoned ships in the harbor, they found a need for them here.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Daily Alta newspaper, Nov 18, 1854:
Strange Request--- The Late Col, Woodlief, it is said, requested to be buried in the said clothes in which he was shot. The request was compiled with.
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From Sacramento Daily Union, Nov 10 1854, had a correspondent from San Francisco writing as to what happened. He explained,
I telegraphed you last evening in regard to the fatal dual which look place in Contra Costa county yesterday. The following, from the Chaonicle, is pronounced a correct version of the affair : ''Mr. Kewen, accompanied by Sir. Wood and Dr. Wake Briarly as seconds, and Mr. Woodlief, accompanied by Maj. McDonald and Mr. Skerrett, went over to Oakland in the first boat yesterday morning. It was the purpose to have fought in the morning, not far from Clinton, but the Sheriff of Alameda county interfered, and the party went in a southeasterly direction from Clinton, upon the mountain near the line of San Joaquin county. The second of Mr. Seven won the word and the position. The distance was forty yards, and the weapons rifles. The ground was sloping ; Mr. Kewen's position being about three feet higher than that of Col. Woodlief. At the word " one," Woodlief fired, and Kewe'n fired immediately after. Woodlief fell, mid without speaking or struggling, died in ten seconds. The ball entered the left breast, passing through the heart, and came out at the back, near the spine. "The origin of the affair, as we have heard it from an eye-witness, was as follows : On last Thursday evening Mr. Kewen, at the time n ot perfectly sober, was engaged in a little war of words with an acquaintance in the Blue Wing saloon. The acquaintance said he was a Know Nothing. Kewen .said that, for himself, he was the son of an Irishman. The other replied that he was none the better for that. Kewen said his father fought at the battle of New Orleans. The other asked which side? Kewen got angry at this, and was speaking in an angry tone when Col. Woodlief came up (they were trends) and led him away, Maybe he was wrong. Kewen said he was not wrong; Woodlief repeated the expression ; Kewen said that he was not, and he would consider I repetition of the assertion an insult. Col. Woodlief repeated it again, and Kewen raising his hand gave W.a slight blow upon the mouth. The next morning Woodlief sent a challenge. Kewen sent it back with a straightforward apology upon it. Woodlief . refused to accept it, saying that the offence was given in public, and the apology, to be satisfactorily, must be given in public likewise. Kewen refused to give a public apology, and hence the duel."
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WOODLIEF, DEVERAUX J. (1806–1854). D. J. Woodlief, settler and soldier, was born near Petersburg, Virginia, in 1806, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Claiborne) Woodlief, and was reared in Granville County, North Carolina. The family was Episcopalian. Woodlief moved to Washington County, Texas, in 1828 and settled in Lorenzo de Zavala's grant, receiving a half league of land. He also acquired property on Hidalgo Bluff, near the Falls of the Brazos, between Independence and Washington-on-the-Brazos, and with his brother Thomas C. was locally involved in real estate. Woodlief's log house has been restored and bears a historical marker. Woodlief fought at the battle of San Jacinto as a member of Henry W. Karnes's cavalry company, under the command of Mirabeau B. Lamar, and also was one of the Second Regiment Texas Volunteers Cavalry Company, better known as Sherman's raiders. He was wounded during the battle and carried to Vice President Zavala's home across the Brazos, where Nicholas D. Labadie tended the wounded. Woodlief commanded the Texian forces at Velasco after San Jacinto and on June 13, 1836, ordered Capt. William H. Patton to remove Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna from Velasco to Columbia (West Columbia) and thence to Washington, D.C. On August 13, 1836, Woodlief was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the Texan army. In 1838 President Lamar mentioned his name (together with Col. Edwin Morehouseqv) as a possible leader of a regiment of 500 volunteers to join Gen. José Antonio Mexia, a Federalist, who was planning an expedition against Mexican Centralist forces at Tampico. In 1839 Woodlief, as second in command of Karnes's cavalry regiment, participated in the Cherokee War in East Texas in which Chief Bowl was killed; Camp Woodlief was named in his honor. Woodlief served as a Texas Ranger and was a volunteer during the Mexican War. He married Harriet Jane Reynolds of Brazoria on August 10, 1836. They celebrated their wedding at Jane Longqv's famous inn. At the death of Allen C. Reynolds, Harriet's father, the bill for the wedding supper, with Jane Long's signature, was found in his probate file in the Washington County Courthouse in Brenham. The couple had two children. In 1838 Woodlief sold his property in Washington County and moved to Fort Bend County, where his wife died in November 1846. In 1849 Woodlief left his children with his brother Thomas C. and his wife, Amaryllis Roddy Woodlief, and followed the gold rush to California. There he served as a county judge and later as the state collector of the Foreign Miners Tax. The 1850 census in Calaveras County listed Woodlief as owner of a gold mine in the area. In 1854 Woodlief, described as well-educated, gentlemanly, and well-to-do, was involved in a duel with A. L. Kewen, a brother of E. J. D. Kewen, California attorney general. Woodlief had interfered in an argument between Kewen and another man, and Kewen hit him across the face. The men had the duel in the Oakland area, with a large crowd watching. Woodlief was shot through the heart and died instantly. In December 1854 he was buried near Oakland. Woodlief's brother Thomas became the guardian of D. J.'s two children and managed his brother's estate.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932). Herbert Gambrell, Anson Jones: The Last President of Texas (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1948). Gerald S. Pierce, Texas Under Arms: The Camps, Posts, Forts, and Military Towns of the Republic of Texas (Austin: Encino, 1969).
La Quencis Gibbs Scott
pub 05 Dec 1854, Washington DC Daily Globe, pg 3, excerpts:
The Fatal Duel in California, pub Alta CA, 04 Dec -- Colonel D J WOODLIEF, died in a duel affair appears to have originated from a political dispute; weapons chosen were Mississippi rifles, bullet passing thru heart; remains taken by ferry boat to Tehama House in the city; he'd made his will Tues eve, leaving all he possessed to his widow; born in Greenville Co VA, moved to TX 20+ yrs ago; elected a Colonel in Texan Army, in active service during the revolution there; subsequently, a Texas Ranger; During Mexican war, accompanied American forces as an amateur warrior & was distinguished for the independent method in which he took his positions during battles & accuracy of marksmanship; he had engaged in number of duels, wounded a number of times in battle, carrying 3 bullets to grave; came to CA in 1849, was collector of foreign miners' tax in Calvaeras Co; suvivors include widow, a daughter, & a brother, a merchant in New Orleans.
According to one account, they dismounted near the town of Alvarado which is now known as Union City.
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From the newspaper Daily Alta, Jan 20 1888
Sheriff Drew has received an inquiry regarding the where abouts of Mrs. Colonel D. J. Woodlief. Her husband was killed in a duel, in 1854, by a man by the name of McCuin. Any information regarding the lady will be thankfully received by T. J. Woodlief, of Austin, Texas.
Note: this doesn't mean she was alive.
There is a possibility that his remains were removed from Lone Mountain Cemetery as a document shows that he was placed there on November 9th, in December of 1854 a request by the City of Oakland which they felt his body should not had been moved out of there County, and was place in a Cemetery in Oakland. This would had been Oaklands first Cemetery during those times which became full and a second one opened, this to became full which caused concern for another Cemetery to take its place. So in 1864 a new Cemetery opened in 1865 known as Mountain View above Oakland. He could be here or they never actually removed all remains in the first Cemetery or that request by family in 1888 is that his marker disappeared or fallen down in the sandy soil of Lone Mountain. Later on about 1940 or after, all remains from Lone Mt and Laurel Hill Cemetery were moved to Cypress Lawn Cemetery in San Mateo, California. So, it remains unsolved.
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The Col did have a brother, Thomas C Woodlief who died in Austin TX. b. 1817 Va - 1873
He Married Harriet Jane Reynolds. Harriet parents were Col Allen C Reynolds and Harriet A Unknown. Harriet died in 1845 Richmond, FT Bend, Texas
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So, what ever happened to Achilles Kewen, from Los Angeles Herald, 11 January 1893
The militia boys of Sacramento have played a practical joke upon Perrie Kewen by getting up a sham duel in which he was the party played upon. They had better not go too far with Perrie in this kind of amusement. He comes of dueling stock, and unless the normal family courage of the Kewens has left him out, they might realize some fine day the proof of the adage that it is dangerous to fool with edged tools. Perries father was as brave as a lion, and would fight at the drop of a handkerchief. His uncle, Achilles, who was afterwards killed at the battle of Rivas, Nicaragua, had- been the principal in many deadly encounters. Just before he left this state to join General Walker, the filibuster, he exchanged shots with Colonel Woodliff just outside of Oakland, leaving his antagonist dead on the field. Perries maternal grandfather. Dr. T. J. White, was also a man of courage and a gentlemen with whom few dared trifle.' Perrie has become a sort of dude, and by his peculiarities has invited the ridicule of his comrades. But they may go too far.
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From the logs of N. Gray & Co Funeral Home in San Francisco it states that he was interred in Grave 30- 1st Tier, chain plot No. 1 ( Lone Mountain) Note, a chained plot was an area that was surrounded by used anchor chains, since there were so many abandoned ships in the harbor, they found a need for them here.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Daily Alta newspaper, Nov 18, 1854:
Strange Request--- The Late Col, Woodlief, it is said, requested to be buried in the said clothes in which he was shot. The request was compiled with.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Sacramento Daily Union, Nov 10 1854, had a correspondent from San Francisco writing as to what happened. He explained,
I telegraphed you last evening in regard to the fatal dual which look place in Contra Costa county yesterday. The following, from the Chaonicle, is pronounced a correct version of the affair : ''Mr. Kewen, accompanied by Sir. Wood and Dr. Wake Briarly as seconds, and Mr. Woodlief, accompanied by Maj. McDonald and Mr. Skerrett, went over to Oakland in the first boat yesterday morning. It was the purpose to have fought in the morning, not far from Clinton, but the Sheriff of Alameda county interfered, and the party went in a southeasterly direction from Clinton, upon the mountain near the line of San Joaquin county. The second of Mr. Seven won the word and the position. The distance was forty yards, and the weapons rifles. The ground was sloping ; Mr. Kewen's position being about three feet higher than that of Col. Woodlief. At the word " one," Woodlief fired, and Kewe'n fired immediately after. Woodlief fell, mid without speaking or struggling, died in ten seconds. The ball entered the left breast, passing through the heart, and came out at the back, near the spine. "The origin of the affair, as we have heard it from an eye-witness, was as follows : On last Thursday evening Mr. Kewen, at the time n ot perfectly sober, was engaged in a little war of words with an acquaintance in the Blue Wing saloon. The acquaintance said he was a Know Nothing. Kewen .said that, for himself, he was the son of an Irishman. The other replied that he was none the better for that. Kewen said his father fought at the battle of New Orleans. The other asked which side? Kewen got angry at this, and was speaking in an angry tone when Col. Woodlief came up (they were trends) and led him away, Maybe he was wrong. Kewen said he was not wrong; Woodlief repeated the expression ; Kewen said that he was not, and he would consider I repetition of the assertion an insult. Col. Woodlief repeated it again, and Kewen raising his hand gave W.a slight blow upon the mouth. The next morning Woodlief sent a challenge. Kewen sent it back with a straightforward apology upon it. Woodlief . refused to accept it, saying that the offence was given in public, and the apology, to be satisfactorily, must be given in public likewise. Kewen refused to give a public apology, and hence the duel."
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WOODLIEF, DEVERAUX J. (1806–1854). D. J. Woodlief, settler and soldier, was born near Petersburg, Virginia, in 1806, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Claiborne) Woodlief, and was reared in Granville County, North Carolina. The family was Episcopalian. Woodlief moved to Washington County, Texas, in 1828 and settled in Lorenzo de Zavala's grant, receiving a half league of land. He also acquired property on Hidalgo Bluff, near the Falls of the Brazos, between Independence and Washington-on-the-Brazos, and with his brother Thomas C. was locally involved in real estate. Woodlief's log house has been restored and bears a historical marker. Woodlief fought at the battle of San Jacinto as a member of Henry W. Karnes's cavalry company, under the command of Mirabeau B. Lamar, and also was one of the Second Regiment Texas Volunteers Cavalry Company, better known as Sherman's raiders. He was wounded during the battle and carried to Vice President Zavala's home across the Brazos, where Nicholas D. Labadie tended the wounded. Woodlief commanded the Texian forces at Velasco after San Jacinto and on June 13, 1836, ordered Capt. William H. Patton to remove Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna from Velasco to Columbia (West Columbia) and thence to Washington, D.C. On August 13, 1836, Woodlief was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the Texan army. In 1838 President Lamar mentioned his name (together with Col. Edwin Morehouseqv) as a possible leader of a regiment of 500 volunteers to join Gen. José Antonio Mexia, a Federalist, who was planning an expedition against Mexican Centralist forces at Tampico. In 1839 Woodlief, as second in command of Karnes's cavalry regiment, participated in the Cherokee War in East Texas in which Chief Bowl was killed; Camp Woodlief was named in his honor. Woodlief served as a Texas Ranger and was a volunteer during the Mexican War. He married Harriet Jane Reynolds of Brazoria on August 10, 1836. They celebrated their wedding at Jane Longqv's famous inn. At the death of Allen C. Reynolds, Harriet's father, the bill for the wedding supper, with Jane Long's signature, was found in his probate file in the Washington County Courthouse in Brenham. The couple had two children. In 1838 Woodlief sold his property in Washington County and moved to Fort Bend County, where his wife died in November 1846. In 1849 Woodlief left his children with his brother Thomas C. and his wife, Amaryllis Roddy Woodlief, and followed the gold rush to California. There he served as a county judge and later as the state collector of the Foreign Miners Tax. The 1850 census in Calaveras County listed Woodlief as owner of a gold mine in the area. In 1854 Woodlief, described as well-educated, gentlemanly, and well-to-do, was involved in a duel with A. L. Kewen, a brother of E. J. D. Kewen, California attorney general. Woodlief had interfered in an argument between Kewen and another man, and Kewen hit him across the face. The men had the duel in the Oakland area, with a large crowd watching. Woodlief was shot through the heart and died instantly. In December 1854 he was buried near Oakland. Woodlief's brother Thomas became the guardian of D. J.'s two children and managed his brother's estate.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932). Herbert Gambrell, Anson Jones: The Last President of Texas (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1948). Gerald S. Pierce, Texas Under Arms: The Camps, Posts, Forts, and Military Towns of the Republic of Texas (Austin: Encino, 1969).
La Quencis Gibbs Scott
pub 05 Dec 1854, Washington DC Daily Globe, pg 3, excerpts:
The Fatal Duel in California, pub Alta CA, 04 Dec -- Colonel D J WOODLIEF, died in a duel affair appears to have originated from a political dispute; weapons chosen were Mississippi rifles, bullet passing thru heart; remains taken by ferry boat to Tehama House in the city; he'd made his will Tues eve, leaving all he possessed to his widow; born in Greenville Co VA, moved to TX 20+ yrs ago; elected a Colonel in Texan Army, in active service during the revolution there; subsequently, a Texas Ranger; During Mexican war, accompanied American forces as an amateur warrior & was distinguished for the independent method in which he took his positions during battles & accuracy of marksmanship; he had engaged in number of duels, wounded a number of times in battle, carrying 3 bullets to grave; came to CA in 1849, was collector of foreign miners' tax in Calvaeras Co; suvivors include widow, a daughter, & a brother, a merchant in New Orleans.
According to one account, they dismounted near the town of Alvarado which is now known as Union City.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the newspaper Daily Alta, Jan 20 1888
Sheriff Drew has received an inquiry regarding the where abouts of Mrs. Colonel D. J. Woodlief. Her husband was killed in a duel, in 1854, by a man by the name of McCuin. Any information regarding the lady will be thankfully received by T. J. Woodlief, of Austin, Texas.
Note: this doesn't mean she was alive.
There is a possibility that his remains were removed from Lone Mountain Cemetery as a document shows that he was placed there on November 9th, in December of 1854 a request by the City of Oakland which they felt his body should not had been moved out of there County, and was place in a Cemetery in Oakland. This would had been Oaklands first Cemetery during those times which became full and a second one opened, this to became full which caused concern for another Cemetery to take its place. So in 1864 a new Cemetery opened in 1865 known as Mountain View above Oakland. He could be here or they never actually removed all remains in the first Cemetery or that request by family in 1888 is that his marker disappeared or fallen down in the sandy soil of Lone Mountain. Later on about 1940 or after, all remains from Lone Mt and Laurel Hill Cemetery were moved to Cypress Lawn Cemetery in San Mateo, California. So, it remains unsolved.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Col did have a brother, Thomas C Woodlief who died in Austin TX. b. 1817 Va - 1873
He Married Harriet Jane Reynolds. Harriet parents were Col Allen C Reynolds and Harriet A Unknown. Harriet died in 1845 Richmond, FT Bend, Texas
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, what ever happened to Achilles Kewen, from Los Angeles Herald, 11 January 1893
The militia boys of Sacramento have played a practical joke upon Perrie Kewen by getting up a sham duel in which he was the party played upon. They had better not go too far with Perrie in this kind of amusement. He comes of dueling stock, and unless the normal family courage of the Kewens has left him out, they might realize some fine day the proof of the adage that it is dangerous to fool with edged tools. Perries father was as brave as a lion, and would fight at the drop of a handkerchief. His uncle, Achilles, who was afterwards killed at the battle of Rivas, Nicaragua, had- been the principal in many deadly encounters. Just before he left this state to join General Walker, the filibuster, he exchanged shots with Colonel Woodliff just outside of Oakland, leaving his antagonist dead on the field. Perries maternal grandfather. Dr. T. J. White, was also a man of courage and a gentlemen with whom few dared trifle.' Perrie has become a sort of dude, and by his peculiarities has invited the ridicule of his comrades. But they may go too far.
Col Woodlief was noted as the one who given charge of General Antonio de Lopez Santa Ana as prisoner where he ordered Texas Capt. William H Patton to travel to Washington DC for trial which never happened. Gen Santa Ana was allowed to travel back to Mexico.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------‐-------------
From the logs of N. Gray & Co Funeral Home in San Francisco it states that he was interred in Grave 30- 1st Tier, chain plot No. 1 ( Lone Mountain) Note, a chained plot was an area that was surrounded by used anchor chains, since there were so many abandoned ships in the harbor, they found a need for them here.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Daily Alta newspaper, Nov 18, 1854:
Strange Request--- The Late Col, Woodlief, it is said, requested to be buried in the said clothes in which he was shot. The request was compiled with.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Sacramento Daily Union, Nov 10 1854, had a correspondent from San Francisco writing as to what happened. He explained,
I telegraphed you last evening in regard to the fatal dual which look place in Contra Costa county yesterday. The following, from the Chaonicle, is pronounced a correct version of the affair : ''Mr. Kewen, accompanied by Sir. Wood and Dr. Wake Briarly as seconds, and Mr. Woodlief, accompanied by Maj. McDonald and Mr. Skerrett, went over to Oakland in the first boat yesterday morning. It was the purpose to have fought in the morning, not far from Clinton, but the Sheriff of Alameda county interfered, and the party went in a southeasterly direction from Clinton, upon the mountain near the line of San Joaquin county. The second of Mr. Seven won the word and the position. The distance was forty yards, and the weapons rifles. The ground was sloping ; Mr. Kewen's position being about three feet higher than that of Col. Woodlief. At the word " one," Woodlief fired, and Kewe'n fired immediately after. Woodlief fell, mid without speaking or struggling, died in ten seconds. The ball entered the left breast, passing through the heart, and came out at the back, near the spine. "The origin of the affair, as we have heard it from an eye-witness, was as follows : On last Thursday evening Mr. Kewen, at the time n ot perfectly sober, was engaged in a little war of words with an acquaintance in the Blue Wing saloon. The acquaintance said he was a Know Nothing. Kewen .said that, for himself, he was the son of an Irishman. The other replied that he was none the better for that. Kewen said his father fought at the battle of New Orleans. The other asked which side? Kewen got angry at this, and was speaking in an angry tone when Col. Woodlief came up (they were trends) and led him away, Maybe he was wrong. Kewen said he was not wrong; Woodlief repeated the expression ; Kewen said that he was not, and he would consider I repetition of the assertion an insult. Col. Woodlief repeated it again, and Kewen raising his hand gave W.a slight blow upon the mouth. The next morning Woodlief sent a challenge. Kewen sent it back with a straightforward apology upon it. Woodlief . refused to accept it, saying that the offence was given in public, and the apology, to be satisfactorily, must be given in public likewise. Kewen refused to give a public apology, and hence the duel."
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WOODLIEF, DEVERAUX J. (1806–1854). D. J. Woodlief, settler and soldier, was born near Petersburg, Virginia, in 1806, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Claiborne) Woodlief, and was reared in Granville County, North Carolina. The family was Episcopalian. Woodlief moved to Washington County, Texas, in 1828 and settled in Lorenzo de Zavala's grant, receiving a half league of land. He also acquired property on Hidalgo Bluff, near the Falls of the Brazos, between Independence and Washington-on-the-Brazos, and with his brother Thomas C. was locally involved in real estate. Woodlief's log house has been restored and bears a historical marker. Woodlief fought at the battle of San Jacinto as a member of Henry W. Karnes's cavalry company, under the command of Mirabeau B. Lamar, and also was one of the Second Regiment Texas Volunteers Cavalry Company, better known as Sherman's raiders. He was wounded during the battle and carried to Vice President Zavala's home across the Brazos, where Nicholas D. Labadie tended the wounded. Woodlief commanded the Texian forces at Velasco after San Jacinto and on June 13, 1836, ordered Capt. William H. Patton to remove Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna from Velasco to Columbia (West Columbia) and thence to Washington, D.C. On August 13, 1836, Woodlief was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the Texan army. In 1838 President Lamar mentioned his name (together with Col. Edwin Morehouseqv) as a possible leader of a regiment of 500 volunteers to join Gen. José Antonio Mexia, a Federalist, who was planning an expedition against Mexican Centralist forces at Tampico. In 1839 Woodlief, as second in command of Karnes's cavalry regiment, participated in the Cherokee War in East Texas in which Chief Bowl was killed; Camp Woodlief was named in his honor. Woodlief served as a Texas Ranger and was a volunteer during the Mexican War. He married Harriet Jane Reynolds of Brazoria on August 10, 1836. They celebrated their wedding at Jane Longqv's famous inn. At the death of Allen C. Reynolds, Harriet's father, the bill for the wedding supper, with Jane Long's signature, was found in his probate file in the Washington County Courthouse in Brenham. The couple had two children. In 1838 Woodlief sold his property in Washington County and moved to Fort Bend County, where his wife died in November 1846. In 1849 Woodlief left his children with his brother Thomas C. and his wife, Amaryllis Roddy Woodlief, and followed the gold rush to California. There he served as a county judge and later as the state collector of the Foreign Miners Tax. The 1850 census in Calaveras County listed Woodlief as owner of a gold mine in the area. In 1854 Woodlief, described as well-educated, gentlemanly, and well-to-do, was involved in a duel with A. L. Kewen, a brother of E. J. D. Kewen, California attorney general. Woodlief had interfered in an argument between Kewen and another man, and Kewen hit him across the face. The men had the duel in the Oakland area, with a large crowd watching. Woodlief was shot through the heart and died instantly. In December 1854 he was buried near Oakland. Woodlief's brother Thomas became the guardian of D. J.'s two children and managed his brother's estate.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932). Herbert Gambrell, Anson Jones: The Last President of Texas (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1948). Gerald S. Pierce, Texas Under Arms: The Camps, Posts, Forts, and Military Towns of the Republic of Texas (Austin: Encino, 1969).
La Quencis Gibbs Scott
pub 05 Dec 1854, Washington DC Daily Globe, pg 3, excerpts:
The Fatal Duel in California, pub Alta CA, 04 Dec -- Colonel D J WOODLIEF, died in a duel affair appears to have originated from a political dispute; weapons chosen were Mississippi rifles, bullet passing thru heart; remains taken by ferry boat to Tehama House in the city; he'd made his will Tues eve, leaving all he possessed to his widow; born in Greenville Co VA, moved to TX 20+ yrs ago; elected a Colonel in Texan Army, in active service during the revolution there; subsequently, a Texas Ranger; During Mexican war, accompanied American forces as an amateur warrior & was distinguished for the independent method in which he took his positions during battles & accuracy of marksmanship; he had engaged in number of duels, wounded a number of times in battle, carrying 3 bullets to grave; came to CA in 1849, was collector of foreign miners' tax in Calvaeras Co; suvivors include widow, a daughter, & a brother, a merchant in New Orleans.
According to one account, they dismounted near the town of Alvarado which is now known as Union City.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the newspaper Daily Alta, Jan 20 1888
Sheriff Drew has received an inquiry regarding the where abouts of Mrs. Colonel D. J. Woodlief. Her husband was killed in a duel, in 1854, by a man by the name of McCuin. Any information regarding the lady will be thankfully received by T. J. Woodlief, of Austin, Texas.
Note: this doesn't mean she was alive.
There is a possibility that his remains were removed from Lone Mountain Cemetery as a document shows that he was placed there on November 9th, in December of 1854 a request by the City of Oakland which they felt his body should not had been moved out of there County, and was place in a Cemetery in Oakland. This would had been Oaklands first Cemetery during those times which became full and a second one opened, this to became full which caused concern for another Cemetery to take its place. So in 1864 a new Cemetery opened in 1865 known as Mountain View above Oakland. He could be here or they never actually removed all remains in the first Cemetery or that request by family in 1888 is that his marker disappeared or fallen down in the sandy soil of Lone Mountain. Later on about 1940 or after, all remains from Lone Mt and Laurel Hill Cemetery were moved to Cypress Lawn Cemetery in San Mateo, California. So, it remains unsolved.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Col did have a brother, Thomas C Woodlief who died in Austin TX. b. 1817 Va - 1873
He Married Harriet Jane Reynolds. Harriet parents were Col Allen C Reynolds and Harriet A Unknown. Harriet died in 1845 Richmond, FT Bend, Texas
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, what ever happened to Achilles Kewen, from Los Angeles Herald, 11 January 1893
The militia boys of Sacramento have played a practical joke upon Perrie Kewen by getting up a sham duel in which he was the party played upon. They had better not go too far with Perrie in this kind of amusement. He comes of dueling stock, and unless the normal family courage of the Kewens has left him out, they might realize some fine day the proof of the adage that it is dangerous to fool with edged tools. Perries father was as brave as a lion, and would fight at the drop of a handkerchief. His uncle, Achilles, who was afterwards killed at the battle of Rivas, Nicaragua, had- been the principal in many deadly encounters. Just before he left this state to join General Walker, the filibuster, he exchanged shots with Colonel Woodliff just outside of Oakland, leaving his antagonist dead on the field. Perries maternal grandfather. Dr. T. J. White, was also a man of courage and a gentlemen with whom few dared trifle.' Perrie has become a sort of dude, and by his peculiarities has invited the ridicule of his comrades. But they may go too far.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------‐-------------
From the logs of N. Gray & Co Funeral Home in San Francisco it states that he was interred in Grave 30- 1st Tier, chain plot No. 1 ( Lone Mountain) Note, a chained plot was an area that was surrounded by used anchor chains, since there were so many abandoned ships in the harbor, they found a need for them here.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Daily Alta newspaper, Nov 18, 1854:
Strange Request--- The Late Col, Woodlief, it is said, requested to be buried in the said clothes in which he was shot. The request was compiled with.
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From Sacramento Daily Union, Nov 10 1854, had a correspondent from San Francisco writing as to what happened. He explained,
I telegraphed you last evening in regard to the fatal dual which look place in Contra Costa county yesterday. The following, from the Chaonicle, is pronounced a correct version of the affair : ''Mr. Kewen, accompanied by Sir. Wood and Dr. Wake Briarly as seconds, and Mr. Woodlief, accompanied by Maj. McDonald and Mr. Skerrett, went over to Oakland in the first boat yesterday morning. It was the purpose to have fought in the morning, not far from Clinton, but the Sheriff of Alameda county interfered, and the party went in a southeasterly direction from Clinton, upon the mountain near the line of San Joaquin county. The second of Mr. Seven won the word and the position. The distance was forty yards, and the weapons rifles. The ground was sloping ; Mr. Kewen's position being about three feet higher than that of Col. Woodlief. At the word " one," Woodlief fired, and Kewe'n fired immediately after. Woodlief fell, mid without speaking or struggling, died in ten seconds. The ball entered the left breast, passing through the heart, and came out at the back, near the spine. "The origin of the affair, as we have heard it from an eye-witness, was as follows : On last Thursday evening Mr. Kewen, at the time n ot perfectly sober, was engaged in a little war of words with an acquaintance in the Blue Wing saloon. The acquaintance said he was a Know Nothing. Kewen .said that, for himself, he was the son of an Irishman. The other replied that he was none the better for that. Kewen said his father fought at the battle of New Orleans. The other asked which side? Kewen got angry at this, and was speaking in an angry tone when Col. Woodlief came up (they were trends) and led him away, Maybe he was wrong. Kewen said he was not wrong; Woodlief repeated the expression ; Kewen said that he was not, and he would consider I repetition of the assertion an insult. Col. Woodlief repeated it again, and Kewen raising his hand gave W.a slight blow upon the mouth. The next morning Woodlief sent a challenge. Kewen sent it back with a straightforward apology upon it. Woodlief . refused to accept it, saying that the offence was given in public, and the apology, to be satisfactorily, must be given in public likewise. Kewen refused to give a public apology, and hence the duel."
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WOODLIEF, DEVERAUX J. (1806–1854). D. J. Woodlief, settler and soldier, was born near Petersburg, Virginia, in 1806, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Claiborne) Woodlief, and was reared in Granville County, North Carolina. The family was Episcopalian. Woodlief moved to Washington County, Texas, in 1828 and settled in Lorenzo de Zavala's grant, receiving a half league of land. He also acquired property on Hidalgo Bluff, near the Falls of the Brazos, between Independence and Washington-on-the-Brazos, and with his brother Thomas C. was locally involved in real estate. Woodlief's log house has been restored and bears a historical marker. Woodlief fought at the battle of San Jacinto as a member of Henry W. Karnes's cavalry company, under the command of Mirabeau B. Lamar, and also was one of the Second Regiment Texas Volunteers Cavalry Company, better known as Sherman's raiders. He was wounded during the battle and carried to Vice President Zavala's home across the Brazos, where Nicholas D. Labadie tended the wounded. Woodlief commanded the Texian forces at Velasco after San Jacinto and on June 13, 1836, ordered Capt. William H. Patton to remove Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna from Velasco to Columbia (West Columbia) and thence to Washington, D.C. On August 13, 1836, Woodlief was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the Texan army. In 1838 President Lamar mentioned his name (together with Col. Edwin Morehouseqv) as a possible leader of a regiment of 500 volunteers to join Gen. José Antonio Mexia, a Federalist, who was planning an expedition against Mexican Centralist forces at Tampico. In 1839 Woodlief, as second in command of Karnes's cavalry regiment, participated in the Cherokee War in East Texas in which Chief Bowl was killed; Camp Woodlief was named in his honor. Woodlief served as a Texas Ranger and was a volunteer during the Mexican War. He married Harriet Jane Reynolds of Brazoria on August 10, 1836. They celebrated their wedding at Jane Longqv's famous inn. At the death of Allen C. Reynolds, Harriet's father, the bill for the wedding supper, with Jane Long's signature, was found in his probate file in the Washington County Courthouse in Brenham. The couple had two children. In 1838 Woodlief sold his property in Washington County and moved to Fort Bend County, where his wife died in November 1846. In 1849 Woodlief left his children with his brother Thomas C. and his wife, Amaryllis Roddy Woodlief, and followed the gold rush to California. There he served as a county judge and later as the state collector of the Foreign Miners Tax. The 1850 census in Calaveras County listed Woodlief as owner of a gold mine in the area. In 1854 Woodlief, described as well-educated, gentlemanly, and well-to-do, was involved in a duel with A. L. Kewen, a brother of E. J. D. Kewen, California attorney general. Woodlief had interfered in an argument between Kewen and another man, and Kewen hit him across the face. The men had the duel in the Oakland area, with a large crowd watching. Woodlief was shot through the heart and died instantly. In December 1854 he was buried near Oakland. Woodlief's brother Thomas became the guardian of D. J.'s two children and managed his brother's estate.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932). Herbert Gambrell, Anson Jones: The Last President of Texas (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1948). Gerald S. Pierce, Texas Under Arms: The Camps, Posts, Forts, and Military Towns of the Republic of Texas (Austin: Encino, 1969).
La Quencis Gibbs Scott
pub 05 Dec 1854, Washington DC Daily Globe, pg 3, excerpts:
The Fatal Duel in California, pub Alta CA, 04 Dec -- Colonel D J WOODLIEF, died in a duel affair appears to have originated from a political dispute; weapons chosen were Mississippi rifles, bullet passing thru heart; remains taken by ferry boat to Tehama House in the city; he'd made his will Tues eve, leaving all he possessed to his widow; born in Greenville Co VA, moved to TX 20+ yrs ago; elected a Colonel in Texan Army, in active service during the revolution there; subsequently, a Texas Ranger; During Mexican war, accompanied American forces as an amateur warrior & was distinguished for the independent method in which he took his positions during battles & accuracy of marksmanship; he had engaged in number of duels, wounded a number of times in battle, carrying 3 bullets to grave; came to CA in 1849, was collector of foreign miners' tax in Calvaeras Co; suvivors include widow, a daughter, & a brother, a merchant in New Orleans.
According to one account, they dismounted near the town of Alvarado which is now known as Union City.
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From the newspaper Daily Alta, Jan 20 1888
Sheriff Drew has received an inquiry regarding the where abouts of Mrs. Colonel D. J. Woodlief. Her husband was killed in a duel, in 1854, by a man by the name of McCuin. Any information regarding the lady will be thankfully received by T. J. Woodlief, of Austin, Texas.
Note: this doesn't mean she was alive.
There is a possibility that his remains were removed from Lone Mountain Cemetery as a document shows that he was placed there on November 9th, in December of 1854 a request by the City of Oakland which they felt his body should not had been moved out of there County, and was place in a Cemetery in Oakland. This would had been Oaklands first Cemetery during those times which became full and a second one opened, this to became full which caused concern for another Cemetery to take its place. So in 1864 a new Cemetery opened in 1865 known as Mountain View above Oakland. He could be here or they never actually removed all remains in the first Cemetery or that request by family in 1888 is that his marker disappeared or fallen down in the sandy soil of Lone Mountain. Later on about 1940 or after, all remains from Lone Mt and Laurel Hill Cemetery were moved to Cypress Lawn Cemetery in San Mateo, California. So, it remains unsolved.
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The Col did have a brother, Thomas C Woodlief who died in Austin TX. b. 1817 Va - 1873
He Married Harriet Jane Reynolds. Harriet parents were Col Allen C Reynolds and Harriet A Unknown. Harriet died in 1845 Richmond, FT Bend, Texas
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So, what ever happened to Achilles Kewen, from Los Angeles Herald, 11 January 1893
The militia boys of Sacramento have played a practical joke upon Perrie Kewen by getting up a sham duel in which he was the party played upon. They had better not go too far with Perrie in this kind of amusement. He comes of dueling stock, and unless the normal family courage of the Kewens has left him out, they might realize some fine day the proof of the adage that it is dangerous to fool with edged tools. Perries father was as brave as a lion, and would fight at the drop of a handkerchief. His uncle, Achilles, who was afterwards killed at the battle of Rivas, Nicaragua, had- been the principal in many deadly encounters. Just before he left this state to join General Walker, the filibuster, he exchanged shots with Colonel Woodliff just outside of Oakland, leaving his antagonist dead on the field. Perries maternal grandfather. Dr. T. J. White, was also a man of courage and a gentlemen with whom few dared trifle.' Perrie has become a sort of dude, and by his peculiarities has invited the ridicule of his comrades. But they may go too far.
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