Charles Lucas

Charles Lucas (September 25, 1792 – September 27, 1817) was an entrepreneur and legislator in Missouri Territory who was killed in a duel with U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton. Early life Lucas was born in Pittsburgh and moved with his father John Baptiste Charles Lucas to St. Louis, in 1805. He received a college degree from Jefferson College in 1810. Lucas engaged in considerable land speculation including buying much of the land in the wake of the New Madrid earthquake in 1811. He also received a large land grant in Normandy in what is now suburban St. Louis. He was the law partner to Rufus Easton in St. Louis and St. Charles and remained in this position until he was killed in a duel. He joined a volunteer Army unit in the War of 1812.