Joseph Walker McCorkle (June 24, 1819 – March 18, 1884) was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as a California congressman from 1851 to 1853.
[1] On June 1, 1853, he fought a duel with William M. Gwin, a fellow Democrat and one of California's U.S.
[3] Gwin and McCorkle fired rifles at each other in San Mateo, California and came away unharmed.
[4] After leaving Congress, McCorkle moved from San Francisco to Marysville, California where he returned to practicing law.
[1] In 1860, just after the 1859 discovery of the Comstock Lode, he moved to nearby Virginia City, Nevada, where he practiced law until 1870.
[1] He left Virginia City to practice law in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in cases before the American-Mexican Claims Commission.