Fort Independence

Fort Independence in Boston carries a duel from Christmas Day 1817, when Lieutenant Gustavus Drane killed a fellow officer over accusations of cheating at cards and walked free from a court martial. The guide follows the legend soldiers told afterward, of a drunken revenge exacted in the fort's casemates, and traces it forward to a young army private stationed here two decades later under a false name, Edgar Allan Poe. That soldier, hiding from gambling debts, spent five months on guard duty right where you are standing.