As confirmed by his second in the duel, Nathaniel Pendleton, he wrote, “I have resolved to reserve and throw away my first fire, and I have thoughts even of reserving my second fire.” ...

Weeks later, Pendleton’s parents, mother Cleo Cowley-Pendleton and father Nathaniel Pendleton, sat beside the first lady at the State of the Union address. The Pendleton family waited four years ...