In 1836, Cilley was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He served part of one term, and died as the result of a gunshot wound caused when he engaged in a duel with Representative William J. Graves. They fired at each other with rifles three times, and on the third shot, Graves hit Cilley's femoral artery, causing blood loss which resulted in Cilley's death. He was temporarily interred at Congressional Cemetery, and later reinterred at Elm Grove Cemetery in Thomaston.
In 1829, Jonathan Cilley married Deborah Prince, the daughter of local businessman Hezekiah Prince.[1] Jonathan and Deborah had five children, two of whom died very young. Their surviving children were Greenleaf (b. 1829), Jonathan Prince (b. 1835), and Julia (b. 1837).[3] Jonathan Prince Cilley became a brigadier general by brevet in the Union Army during the Civil War.[3] Greenleaf was a career officer in the United States Navy.[4] He married Malvina Vernet, the daughter of Luis Vernet, a former Argentinian governor of the Falkland Islands in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1861 and died in San Isidro, Buenos Aires in 1899.[4] Julia was the wife of Ellis Draper Lazell (1832–1875).[5]
Democrats, including Jonathan Cilley, considered Webb's coverage of Congress to be biased and unfair; Cilley vented some of his party's bitterness in remarks made on the House floor, and suggested that Webb's change from opposing to supporting the re-chartering of the bank came about because Webb received loans from the bank totaling $52,000.[8] Webb, who considered himself insulted by Cilley's suggestion of quid pro quo corruption, persuaded a Whig friend, Congressman William J. Graves, to deliver Webb's challenge to a duel.[8] Cilley refused to accept the letter, in terms which Graves decided were an insult to his honor; Graves then challenged Cilley, and Cilley felt honor bound to accept.[8] Dueling was prohibited within the boundaries of the District of Columbia, so the participants and their seconds – George Wallace Jones for Cilley and Henry A. Wise for Graves – arranged to meet on February 24, 1838, at the Bladensburg Dueling Grounds, just outside the city limits and inside the Maryland border.[8]
As the challenged party, Cilley had the choice of weapons.[8] Because of Graves' reputation as an expert pistol shot, Cilley selected rifles, with the distance between the duelists to be 80 yards, a distance far enough apart to negate Graves' supposed shooting skill; in actuality, the marked off distance was 94 yards.[8] After their first fire missed, the participants shortened the distance and fired again, but again both shots missed.[8] On the third exchange of shots, Graves fatally wounded Cilley by shooting him through the femoral artery.[8] Cilley bled to death on the dueling ground within a matter of minutes.[8] He was buried at Congressional Cemetery,[9] and re-interred at Elm Grove Cemetery in Thomaston, Maine.[10]
Legacy
There is a cenotaph to Cilley's memory located at Congressional Cemetery.[9]
After Cilley's death, longtime friend Nathaniel Hawthorne published two biographical sketches of him.[11] His colleagues paid tribute to him by passing a federal law on February 20, 1839, which strengthened the strict prohibition against dueling in Washington, D.C. by making it a crime to issue or accept a challenge within district limits, even if the actual duel was to take place outside the district.[12]
Maine League of Historical Societies and Museums (1970). Doris A. Isaacson (ed.). Maine: A Guide 'Down East'. Rockland, Me: Courier-Gazette, Inc. p. 261.
Memoirs and Services of Three Generations: General Joseph Cilley, First New Hampshire Line. War of the Revolution; Johnathan Longfellow, Father of sarah, wife of General Joseph Cilley; Colonel Joseph Cilley, U.S. Senator and Officer in the War of 1812; Honorable Johnathan Cilley, Member of Congress from Maine; Commander Greenleaf Cilley, War with Mexico and War of 1861; General Johnathan P. Cilley, First Maine Cavalry, War of the Rebellion – reprint from the Courier-Gazette, Rockland Maine, 1909
Political Portraits with Pen and Pencil. No. IX. Jonathan Cilley by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The United States Democratic Review (J.& H.G. Langley, etc., New York), Sept. 1838, vol. 3 issue 9, pp. 67–69. Available online at [1] (accessed March 8, 2008).