Click image to enlarge
Description
Exceedingly rare promissory inscribed & signed note dated Janurary 9th 1861 by William A. Lake for seventy-nine dollars and thirty one cents. He promises to fullfill the note on the following October on the first day.
Just fourteen days after allegedly fullfilling this note, he was shot to death in dual with Henry C.Chambers.
William Augustus Lake (1808-1861) — Born near Cambridge, Dorchester County, Md., January 6, 1808. Member of Maryland state house of delegates, 1831; member of Mississippi state senate, 1848; U.S. Representative from Mississippi 4th District, 1855-57; member of Mississippi state house of representatives, 1859. Killed in a duel by Henry Cousins Chambers, his opponent for Confederate Congress, at Hopefield, Crittenden County, Ark., October 15, 1861 (age 53 years, 282 days). Interment at Cedar Hill Cemetery, Vicksburg, Miss.