physical strength and for his skill with the Bowie knife he routinely carried in a sheath under his coat. He stabbed Vigilante Sterling A. Hopkins, who survived. Terry was tried and convicted by the Vigilance Committee, but released, "the usual punishments in their power to inflict, not being applicable, in the present instance." On January 8, 1858, Chief Justice Terry administered the oath of office at the inauguration of Governor John B. Weller. Killing of U.S. Senator David Broderick On June 25, 1859, the California Democratic Party state convention nominated Warner Cope for Supreme Court over Terry. Although Terry was a close friend of Democratic U.S. Senator from California David Broderick, Terry accused Broderick, a Free Soil advocate, of having engineered Terry's loss for nomination for re-election in the 1859 state elections. Terry made inflammatory comments at a state convention in Sacramento, which offended Broderick. On September 13, 1859, Terry and Broderick, having agreed to a duel, met just outside San Francisco city limits. Terry won the coin toss to select weapons and chose pistols. Broderick's discharged early, leaving him open for Terry's shot. At first Terry thought that he had only wounded Broderick, but the senator died three days later. The day before the duel, Terry had resigned as Chief Justice. In June 1860, Terry was acquitted of murder. In November 1862, he campaigned for the Breckenridge Democratic Party. But by March 1863 he left the state for Texas. He fought during the American Civil War, serving in the 8th Texas Cavalry Regiment of the Confederate States Army. The unit was raised by his brother Benjamin Franklin Terry and was also known as Terry's Texas Rangers. Terry later became Colonel of the 37th Texas Cavalry Regiment and was wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga. In November 1865, after the war was over, he moved to a ranch at Guadalajara, near Mazatlan, Mexico. In 1869, Terry came back to Nevada, and by 1870 returned to Stockton and engaged in private practice. From March 1878 to March 1879, he was a delegate from San Joaquin County, California, to the state Constitutional Convention. Terry was chair of the Committee on Legislative Department, and his proposed language on bank directors' liability to depositors was adopted. In August 1879, the Democratic Party nominated Terry for California Attorney General. The nomination triggered criticism of his record of dueling with Broderick and fighting for the Confederacy.