The last time I saw Ol’ Badger at Fort Boonesboro, I asked him how he lost an eye.  It was clear the question made him uncomfortable and he did not answer.   It is rumored that his eye was removed by his traveling companion during a domestic dispute.

Rough and Tumble” or “Gouging” was a form of fighting in the United States during the eighteenth century. Goals included gouging out an opponent’s eye or other methods of disfigurement, including biting.  This type of fighting generally took place in order to settle disputes.  Gouging was common in southern colonies by the 1730s.  Participants would sometimes schedule their fights, and victors were considered as heroes. 

When a dispute arose, fighters could either agree to fight “fair”, meaning according to Broughton’s rules, or “rough and tumble”. Ears, noses, lips, fingers and genitals could be disfigured during “rough and tumble” fights.

The emphasis on disfigurement or severing bodily parts set this style of fighting apart from traditional brawls,  Gouging out an opponent’s eye became pinnacle of rough-and-tumble fighting.  The best gougers, of course, were adept at other fighting skills. Some allegedly filed their teeth to bite off an enemy’s appendages more efficiently. Still, liberating an eyeball quickly became a fighter’s surest route to victory.

As time passed, the rough and tumble fighting style spread  from the southern seaboard to upcountry counties and the western frontier … and settlers of western Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee, as well as upland Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, also became known for this fighting style.

According to researcher Elliott Gorn, state laws were passed as early as 1740 (North Carolina ) that made it a felony “to cut out the Tongue or pull out the eyes of the King’s Liege People.  He also states that there was “An act passed by the Virginia Assembly in 1752 stated 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”.  The law makes it a felony to “put out an eye, slit the nose, bite or cut off a nose, or lip”, among other offenses.   The Assembly amended the Act in 1772 to make it clear that this included “gouging, plucking or putting out an eye.” 

Though legend sometimes magnifies the brutality of these fights, the reality was real.   Researcher L.A. Jennings notes that within rough and tumble fights, one could could kick a down opponent, deliver knee to the groin, bite, and even scratch each other with fingernails sharpened just for the purpose. While eye-gouging may have been the choice way to win, but there were numerous ways to maim an opponent and earn the approbation of the crowd.  Biting off ears, lips, fingers, and the nose were popular moves, as was head-butting and, of course, testicle tearing.

Although ‘gougers’ may have traditionally been ‘lower-class’ men, sometimes men from the upper classes engaged in rough-and-tumble, although not always by choice. A physician was a distinguished position in the 18^th century in the American South, but that did not stop one scoundrel  from insulting a doctor. The doctor challenged the ‘low’ man to a duel, but before the words left his mouth, the man attacked the doctor and with some dexterity, plucked the doctor’s eye from its socket.

While the rough-and-tumble is usually considered a Southern tradition, the fighting style passed to the western frontier, most famously legendary American folk hero and Tennessee native, Davy Crockett, who once related a tale of his own ‘gouging’ experience: “I kept my thumb in his eye, and was just going to give it a twist and bring the peeper out, like taking a gooseberry in a spoon.”

For some communities, the willingness to fight rough-and-tumble, rather than in a ‘fair fight,’ revealed the true grit of a man….

Sources:
Wikipedia
Elliott Gorn
L.A. Jennings