Rough and tumble fighting (Rough-and-tumble) was a form of fighting in rural portions of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, primarily in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was often characterized by the objective of
gouging but also included other brutally disfiguring techniques, including biting, and typically took place in order to settle disputes.
Popularity
Though gouging was common by the 1730s in southern colonies, the practice was waning by the 1840s, by which time the
Bowie knife and
revolver
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
had made frontier disputes more lethal.
Though it was never an organized sport, participants would sometimes schedule their fights (as one could schedule a
duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules.
During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...
), and victors were treated as local heroes.
Gouging was essentially a type of duel to defend one's honor that was most common among the poor, and was especially common in southern states in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Practice
When a dispute arose, fighters could either agree to fight "fair", meaning according to
Broughton's rules, or "rough and tumble". According to Elliott Gorn,
Ears, noses, lips, fingers and genitals could be disfigured in these fights, but Gorn notes:
The practice spread at least as far west as rural Missouri, where "a particularly dextrous fellow could pluck his opponent's eyeballs from their sockets with one good thrust of the thumbs".
This disfigurement may have been subsequently construed as a visible sign of dishonor.
Though the practice was widespread, it was "best suited to the backwoods", according to Gorn.
Though
legend sometimes amplifies the brutality of these fights, Gorn emphasizes the historical reality of these events:
Legislation
An act passed by the
Virginia Assembly
The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 1619 ...
in 1752 begins by remarking that "many mischievous and ill disposed persons have of late, in a malicious and barbarous manner, maimed, wounded, and defaced, many of his majesty's subjects", then very specifically makes it a
felony
A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...
to "put out an eye, slit the nose, bite or cut off a nose, or lip", among other offenses.
The Assembly went on to amend the act in 1772 to make it clear that this included "gouging, plucking or putting out an eye."
Court cases and legal rulings in Tennessee, South Carolina, and Arkansas provide ample evidence of the history of this type of fighting.
See also
*
Bare-knuckle boxing
Bare-knuckle boxing (or simply bare-knuckle) is a combat sport which involves two individuals throwing punches at each other for a predetermined amount of time without any boxing gloves or other form of padding on their hands. It is a regulated ...
References
{{martial arts
North American martial arts
Hybrid martial arts
Human eye
Violence in sports