Spencer Pettis

Spencer Darwin Pettis (1802 – August 28, 1831), U.S. Representative from Missouri. The fierce campaign of 1830 led to a quarrel over the United States Bank issue with Major Thomas Biddle. The quarrel escalated into a duel in which both men were killed on Bloody Island (Mississippi River) near St. Louis, Missouri.

He was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, in 1802; completed preparatory studies; studied law; was admitted to the bar about 1824 and commenced practice in Fayette, Missouri; held various local offices; appointed secretary of state on July 22, 1826, and served until December 31, 1828, when he resigned; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Congresses and served from March 4, 1829 until his death.

Pettis County, Missouri is named for him.