George Eacker

George I. Eacker (Born: sometime in 1774, Died: Jan. 24, 1804), was a New York lawyer and Free Mason who shot Philip Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton, in a duel on November 20, 1801.

George Eacker's father was Jacob Eacker, who fought in the American Revolution and served in NYS Assembly and his mother was Anna Margaret Finck, daughter of Andreas Finck.

Eacker was 27 years old at the time (Philip Hamilton was 19). Eacker was a supporter of Aaron Burr and made a speech denigrating Alexander Hamilton. Philip and his friend Richard Price confronted Eacker and Eacker called them "damned rascals" so, as was the common at the time, they challenged Eacker to a duel. See also, List of people killed in duels.

The events of the duel are included in the Broadway musical Hamilton and provide a historical foreshadowing to the Burr–Hamilton duel only a few years later (July 11, 1804) on the same dueling ground in Weehawken, New Jersey.

After Philip's death, Rufus King wrote of Alexander: "Never did I see a man so completely overwhelmed with grief as Hamilton had been."

George Eacker died less than three years after killing Philip Hamilton. His cause of death was reported as consumption but his brother claimed it was prolonged sickness contracted while fighting a fire in cold weather (while a captain in the fire department).