Cilley had alleged in a speech that a journalist named Webb had accepted a bribe. Graves brought Cilley a challenge from Webb; but Cilley refused to fight the newspaperman on the ground that he was "no gentleman." Craves got over this difficulty by challenging Cilley himself, this apparently being required by the ethics of the situation, although there was no real quarrel between Graves and Cilley. This was in February, 1838. The weapons used were rifles at eighty yards—a most unusual sort of a duel. After each shot the seconds asked the combatants if they were satisfied, but Cilley refused to yield. At the third round he fell mortally wounded. It was after this event that the dueling act was passed, making it a crime to carry or accept a challenge in the District of Columbia.

These exciting days in old Georgetown passed with the upbuilding of Washington. The requirement of foreign governments that their representatives live in the city took away the diplomats, and a little later the same rule was made to apply to Congressmen and Senators. With the Civil War came hard times. Most of the people who dwelt in Georgetown were Southern sympathizers; many of them left their homes during the war, and returned to them after having lost all their wealth. More than one proud mansion became a boarding house. But the bitter feelings that grew out of the war healed with time, and old Georgetown finally became what she is today, a part of Washington and one of its most attractive residential districts. 