St. tammany chapter 8

349
CHAPTER 8
Precursor to War
The 1850s sees the Society of St. Tammany support and then reject what is generally regarded as two of the worst
Presidents in the history of the United States: Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. Tammany Hall continues to
be divided, and slavery dominates the politics of New York City, New York State, and the nation; but Tammany
waffles on the issue of slavery, and its two factions main concern is over who gets the spoils.
The Society of St. Tammany also backs and then opposes one of the most polarizing figures in 19th century
New York: Fernando Wood. Wood, who starts his political career as a member of Tammany Hall, increasingly
plays by his own rules, not Tammany’s. He surrounds himself with his own minions, rigs his own elections without
the help of Tammany Hall, and cut them out of control of their home turf.
A broad array of political figures cross paths with Tammany Hall in the 1850s. Two of them of note are
Henry A. Wise of Virginia, and Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. The event that connects Tammany and these two
men is one that moves the nation inexorability toward war, hastens the demise of the Whig Party, and leads to the
formation of the Republican Party: the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
With the rise of the Republican Party in New York in the second half of the 1850s, the Republican
dominated Legislature squares up with Mayor Wood, and wrests control from Wood something that he depends
on to stay in power: the Municipal Police. The Republicans establish the Metropolitan Police that the State, not
Wood control, and this enables a field day for the gangs of New York. New York City faces two major riots in 1857
that are a direct result of the competing police forces fighting each other instead of crime. Tammany Hall supports
Wood on this issue. They want to check Wood’s power, but on their own terms, not the Republicans.
Tammany Hall is faced with the increasingly powerful Republican New York “organs,” the New-York Daily
Tribune, edited by Horace Greeley, and the New-York Times, with its politician/editor Henry Raymond. It must
also face up to its continued divisiveness that mirrors the state of the national Democratic Party. And as the 1860s
begins with the ascendancy of Abraham Lincoln, and with the Civil War looming, a unifying, albeit corrupt figure
is waiting in the wings: William M. Tweed.
A political cartoon by Louis Maurer, published by Currier & Ives. It depicts Tammany driving left, James
Buchanan driving right, and Lincoln bearing down on them. From the collection of the Library of Congress.

1853
1853
1853
On January 11, the New-York Daily Times reports of the celebration of anniversary
of the Battle of New Orleans at Tammany Hall. The Times article states that:
“The ancient society made extensive arrangements, and the spacious ballroom of Old
Tammany was decorated with an oil painting representing the Battle of New Orleans.”
On January 22, the Weekly Herald reports of a meeting at Tammany Hall that is
dominated by the Barnburner faction. It notes of two new names being subscribed
to the Barnburners and the Hunkers: The Soft Shells and the Hard Shells:
“Trouble in Tammany Hall
Thursday evening the Sachems assembled at Tammany Hall, in pursuance for the call in
the Herald, for deciding between the hard shells and the soft shells, in reference to the organization
of the General Committee. The sachems consist of thirteen members—eleven are barnburners and
only two are hunkers.”
The evolution from Barnburner to Soft Shell, and Hunker to Hard Shell occurs
sometime in 1852, and the origin of these terms remains obscure. As historian
Gustavus Myers states: “How the ludicrous nicknames originated it is not possible
to say.” 1
On February 18, the New-York Daily Times reports of Franklin Pierce arriving in
New York City on his way to Washington:
“Notwithstanding the earnest request of Gen. Pierce, President elect, as published in the
Times yesterday morning, desiring to be kept in seclusion and retirement, his apartments were
besieged at an early hour by various leading politicians of the Democracy and office seekers. The
spacious hall of the Astor House was densely crowded.”
The article continues:
“At an early hour of the day the members of the ‘Soft Shell’ faction of the Tammany
Hall General Committee called at Astor House for the purpose of paying their respects to the
President.”
Detail of a lithograph of Gen. Franklin Pierce, published by Currier & Ives.
From the collection of the Library of Congress.
350
Precursor to War

1853
1853
1853
What is notably absent from this article, and only obliquely referred to, is that
on January 6, Pierce, his wife Jane, and their son Benjamin are onboard a train
traveling from Boston and the train derails. Pierce and his wife somehow escape
injury, but Benjamin is crushed to death.
Daguerreotype of “Bennie” and Jane Pierce.
From the public domain.
On March 4, Franklin Pierce is inaugurated President. William R. King, the Vice
President-elect is not present at the inauguration in Washington, having traveled
to Cuba in an attempt to recover from tuberculosis.
On March 7, President Pierce appoints William L. Marcy Secretary Of State. This
is the zenith of Marcy’s political career. By now Marcy is prominent in the Soft
Shell faction of the New York Democratic Party.
On March 24, by a Special Act of Congress, William R. King is sworn in as Vice
President, being allowed to take the oath of office in Havana, Cuba. 2
351
America Through the Eyes of St. Tammany

1853
1853
1853
1853
1853
1853
In April, William R. King returns from Cuba to his home in Selma, Alabama.
On April 18, he dies at his home, Chestnut Hill, failing to preside over any
legislative session in Congress. The office of Vice President is left vacant until
John C. Breckinridge is inaugurated with President James Buchanan, King’s
former companion, on March 4, 1857. The country is now faced with a dead Vice
President, and a grieving President.
On April 24, the Weekly Herald reports of the Soft Shells prevailing in the election
of Sachems at Tammany Hall:
“Tammany Society—Election of Officers and Sachems.
The Defeat of the Hard Shells, and the Triumph of the Softs.
This election decides the question as to which party shall have possession of the Hall, and
to whom belongs the right of appointing delegates to future conventions.”
The Hard Shells are the remnants of the old school Hunkers, where conservative
ideology comes before unifying the Democratic Party. The Soft Shells are a merger
of the Barnburners and the moderate Hunkers. Soft Shell Isaac V. Fowler is elected
Grand Sachem of the Society of St. Tammany, and President Pierce goes on to
appoint him Postmaster of New York City. Gustavus Myers gives his take on the
new Grand Sachem:
“Fowler was an exception to the average run of the leaders who preceded him, in that he was a
college graduate and moved in the best social circles. With a view of bettering the ‘tone’ of the
Wigwam, he had induced a number of rich young men to join the organization.” 3
The fact that Fowler “moved in the best social circles” will cause him to live beyond
his own means, and eventually be included in a long list of Tammany Sachems
embroiled in graft.
On July 2, the New-York Evening Post prints the following notice:
“Tammany Society, or Columbian Order.—Celebration of the 77th Anniversary of
American Independence, at Tammany Hall, Monday, July 4, 1853. Order of Arrangements.
The Chiefs, Warriors, and Sachems of the Thirteen Tribes will report themselves to the
Grand Sachem, in the Great Wigwam, at 11 o’clock. A.M.”
On September 2, the New-York Evening Post reports:
“The Tammany Society.—Last evening Mayor Westervelt, Governor Seymour, and a
number of other leading democrats, were initiated members of the Tammany Society, by Grand
Sachem, Isaac V. Fowler.”
On September 14, the New York State Democratic Convention is held in Syracuse.
The Hard Shells and the Soft Shells compete for dominance, with the Soft Shells
representing Tammany Hall prevailing as the “regular” faction.
As a result of the infighting in the New York Democratic Party, there are three
separate tickets in the upcoming election: the Democratic Hard ticket, the
Democratic Soft ticket, and the Free Democratic ticket running against a unified
Whig Party that also meets in Syracuse on October 5.
352
Precursor to War

1853
1853
1854
1854
On November 8, the New York state election is held. Up for office are candidates
for Secretary of State, State Comptroller, Attorney General, State Treasurer, State
Engineer, among other offices. All members of the State Assembly and Senate
are up for office as well. The Whigs win in an overwhelming landslide. Only two
Democratic Judges for the Court of Appeals win. The Whigs retake the majority
of the Assembly and Senate as well.
On November 10, the New-York Daily Times reports the election of John Kelly,
running on the Soft ticket, to the Board of Aldermen representing the 14th Ward.
Much more will be heard from Kelly in the coming decades.
On January 10, the New-York Evening Post reports:
“Anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans.
Last evening the Tammany Society and its friends celebrated the thirty-ninth anniversary
of the battle of New Orleans, at a ball and supper. There were about six hundred ladies and
gentlemen present, and the festivities commenced at half past nine o’clock. The council chamber of
the Old Wigwam presented a beautiful appearance in its dress of flags and streamers. The orchestra
was ornamented with flags and banners of different nations, and portrait of Andrew Jackson in
the centre, Lewis Cass on the right, and Sam Houston on the left. An engraved likeness of Gov.
Seymour was placed on the right of Gen. Cass.’

At the celebration they laud Senator Lewis Cass, a recent Tammany member.
Cass’s Doctrine of Popular Sovereignty will return to the center stage of national
politics in the coming weeks, where it will remain until the end of the decade.
On February 4, the New-York Daily Times reports:
“The Nebraska Bill—Progress of the Agitation
The Democratic Soft-Shell Committee, at Tammany Hall, has adopted resolutions,
which will be found in another column, fully indorsing the proposition to repeal the Missouri
Compromise.”
By this time, tens of millions of acres of the Great Plains west of Missouri and Iowa,
made extremely fertile by thousands of years of undisturbed grassland, beckons
Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, the leader of the Democratic Party. His
vision is to establish a new territory and open it up for farming. His actual aim,
by creating a multitude of new farms, is to establish a transcontinental railroad
starting in Chicago as a means for the farmers to get their crops to market. It
will take until 1883 for the third transcontinental railroad, the Northern Pacific
Railway to stretch from Chicago to Seattle. By that time, Douglas will be long dead.
Douglas introduces a bill calling for the creation of the new territory on January
4, and on January 23 the bill is revised to repeal the Missouri Compromise, invoke
the principle of popular sovereignty, and create two new territories, Kansas and
Nebraska above the Missouri Compromise Line. 4
The Kansas-Nebraska Act is
signed into law on May 30, causing pro and anti slavery settlers to sweep into the
new territories. The pro and anti slavery settlers, competing to establish either
free or slave territories, will lead to the border war known as Bleeding Kansas, the
rise of John Brown, and be a major precursor to the Civil War. The Act will cause
significant divisions in both the Democratic and Whig Party, and will be noted
as one where President Pierce sits back and lets Senator Douglas, supported by
Tammany Hall, take the lead.
353

1854
1854
1854
The Times article of February 4, proving to be remarkably prescient, goes on to
state:
“If it should be passed, and should receive the united vote of the South, we are inclined
to think, that is will be regarded as offering a direct issue on the general merits of Slavery to the
people of the Northern States, and a very powerful party will at once spring up in favor of meeting
that issue, and of prosecuting it to a final and permanent decision.”
With this, the Times predicts the breakup of the Whig Party, the formation of the
Republican Party, and the Civil War, which will prosecute the issue of slavery, “to
a final and permanent decision.”
On March 10, the New-York Evening Post reports:
“The Meeting at Tammany to-night.
Great pains are taken to bring to the meeting, called this evening at Tammany Hall, as
many friends of the Nebraska bill a possible. For this purpose, Fernando Wood, of the Softs, has
been making love to the Hards.”
On March 17, the New-York Daily Times reports:
“THE NEBRASKA BILL.
FIRST MEETING IN ITS FAVOR.
Old Tammany Committed to Slavery.
The combined influences of Administration patronage, party ties, cannon, music and
curiosity, so far swelled the ranks of the few who approve of Douglas’ bill, as to fill Tammany Hall
last evening, on a call for a meeting to support the admission of Slavery into Nebraska. For some
hours before the meeting, a piece of ordnance was fired at intervals in the Park, and brass band was
engaged to keep together, by attractive sounds, those summoned by ‘the cannon’s mouth.’”
An excerpt of the first page of the official printing of
An Act To Organize The Teritories Of Nebraska and Kansas.
Published by the United States Senate, 1854, from the public domain.
354
Precursor to War

1854
1854
On June 24, the Weekly Herald reports:
“Meeting at Tammany Hall.
Important Proceedings
Repudiation of the Know Nothings.
The Democratic Republican General Committee Wednesday held a special meeting at
Tammany Hall. Lorenzo B. Shepard filled the chair, and Messrs. Haswell and Andrus acted as
Secretaries. Resolutions were introduced utterly repudiating, on the part of the committee, and
connection with the Know Nothings, as may be seen in the following.”
What follows are a series of resolutions that affirm the freedom of religion and the
rights of immigrants, as demonstrated by this excerpt:
“Whereas the constitution of the United States declares ‘that no religious test shall ever
be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States,’ and whereas if
there can be no exclusion from office in consequence of a man’s religious tenets, it is self-evident
there can be no restriction of the right of suffrage growing out of that cause; and whereas, the
greatness and glory of this republic have been materially advanced by the industry, energy, and
patriotism of a large portion of its citizens of foreign birth; and whereas it is anti republican, anti-
democratic, and anti-Christian to proscribe any man or sect of men because differing with us in
religious opinions, or because not of American nativity;
therefore it is
Resolved, That as Americans, and as democrats devoted to the fundamental principles
of this government, and in favor of preserving all rights and guarantees of the constitution, we
utterly repudiate any attempts to proscribe any of our fellow-citizens, whether native of foreign, on
account of the religious beliefs they may entertain.”
This resolution is remarkable, especially in light of the xenophobic, jingoistic
tone of the 2016 United States presidential campaign. It also demonstrates the
dichotomy of Tammany Hall: It lauding religious freedom and the rights of the
foreign born, while turning a blind eye to slavery.
On July 5, the Weekly Herald reports of the Independence Day celebrations at
Tammany Hall, which includes the following toast:

“Non-interference by the general government with the domestic affairs of the states and
territories.—One of the cardinal principles of the Democratic party, acknowledged by all its
friends, and alleged against its foes, a rule for the future alike sound in theory, safe in practice and
expedient in policy. May it be strictly adhered to, as the best protection from internal dissensions,
and affording the best facilities for safely extending our cherished form of government over the
whole of North America.”
With this toast, the Society of St. Tammany reaffirms its core tenet: The rights of
the States over the rights of the Federal Government.
Although Franklin Pierce is regarded as one of the worst presidents of the United
States, he seeks to mitigate the Spoils System during his administration, appointing
members from all factions in the Democratic Party to his cabinet. This will lead
to his downfall. 5
It is demonstrated by his appointment of Robert McClelland of
Michigan as his Secretary of Interior, an early supporter of the Wilmot Proviso, and
Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as his Secretary of War. The Hard Shell faction of the
New York Democratic Party has already written off Pierce with his appointment
of Soft Shell William L. Marcy as Secretary of State, and on July 12 the Soft Shells
begin to turn on Pierce as well, as reported in the Weekly Herald:
355

1854
1854
1854
“The Soft Shell Democratic General Committee met at Tammany Hall on the 11th inst.
and denounced the Appointment of the Hon. John McKeon, as one ‘not fit to be made,’ and as
‘seriously impairing the confidence heretofore reposed in the President and his Administration.’ ”
Democrat John McKeon is a New York City lawyer, former member of the New
York State Assembly, and former Congressman. In July 1854 President Pierce
appoints him United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
On July 14, the New-York Daily Times details Tammany’s reasons for opposing
McKeon in the meeting of July 11:
“Whereas, while a member of the House of Representatives in the Twenty-Fifth and
Twenty-Seventh Congress, he voted and sympathized with Giddings of Ohio, Slate of Vermont,
and other Abolitionists; and whereas he opposed the twenty-first rule and the resolution in the
censure of Joshua R. Giddings for introducing incendiary and Abolition documents into the
House of Representatives; and whereas he has constantly maintained the propriety of extending
to negroes in the State of New York the unqualified suffrage and the concessions to them of all
political privileges exercised by whites…
Therefore be it Resolved, That we deeply deplore the appointment of John McKeon to the
office of United States District Attorney for the Southern District of New York.”
On July 15, the Weekly Herald reports of:
“The Hard Shell State Convention—Independent National Platform
The emphatic nomination of Judge Bronson for Governor extinguishes the last spark of
hope of a reconciliation between the hards and the softs this season, unless the latter resolve to
throw the administration overboard on account of John McKeon, and unite with the hards, on the
principle that each section of the party has been equally outraged by the spoils of the president.”
Greene C. Bronson is a former New York Assemblyman, New York Attorney
General, and Associate Justice of the New York Supreme Court. At the time of
his nomination he is the Collector of the Port of New York. His nomination,
opposing “regular” nominee Horatio Seymour, shows the depth of the bitterness
that the Hard Shells show the Soft Shells. Bronson will prove to be a spoiler in the
upcoming election for Governor.
On July 28, the New-York Daily Times reports of a Prize Fight between two
bare-knuckle boxers, gang leaders, and rival election enforcers: William “Bill
the Butcher” Poole, of the Bowery Boys and the Know Nothing Party, and John
Morrissey, of the Dead Rabbits and Tammany Hall Democrats. In the bout,
Morrissey is on the receiving end:
“A Prize Fight between John Morrissey and William Poole.
Morrissey terribly beaten and left friendless.”
The article goes on to state:
“At 63
/4
o’clock, Morrissey was seen coming down unattended and exclaimed, ‘Where
is Poole?’ on being answered that he was on the pier, took off his coat, without the precaution of
unbuttoning his shirt collar, until reminded to do so by one of his friends, he immediately repaired
there. Poole stood ready to meet him. Morrissey struck out—a clinch ensued—Morrissey falling
heavily with Poole on top and who took advantage of his position to deal tremendous blows on
Morrissey’s face, and before they had fought five minutes, Morrissey cried ‘enough.’ Poole jumped
intohisboatlyingatthedock,androwedaway,whileMorrissey,considerablychop-fallenandawfully
bruised and beaten, was obliged to leave the ground amid the jeers and hootings of the assemblage.”
356
Precursor to War

1854
In less than one year’s time, Poole will be dead.
A lithograph of John Morrissey, published by Currier & Ives.
On September 11, the New-York Daily Times reports of the New York State
Democratic Convention held in Syracuse that concluded on September 7. The
lengthy article details the re-nomination of Horatio Seymour for Governor,
and resolutions supporting the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It also reports the dissent
of delegate Preston King, who opposes the Act, who introduces a resolution
denouncing it. After his resolution is voted down, the Times reports:
“Preston King said that the Convention having adopted the Nebraska bill, he could no
longer act with it.”
The Times then reports:
“The Convention was again called to order a 3 o’clock—the seceding Delegates and other
Barnburners absent.”
King, having seceded from the Democratic Party goes on to play a prominent role
in the first national convention of the Republican Party in February of 1856: “This
convention was composed of many of the most distinguished and notable men of the
country. These men represented all the old parties: Francis P. Blair, Horace Greely,
Preston King…” 6
357

1854
1854
1854
BythistimetheWhigPartyisbeginningtofallapartnationallywithWhigstalwarts
Henry Clay and Daniel Webster both dead. While the Democratic Party is able to
hold together despite the pro and anti-slavery factions, the Whig Party is not.
On September 26, in lieu of a Whig Convention in New York, the Anti-Nebraska
Movement holds a convention in Auburn, New York and nominates Myron H.
Clark for Governor, and New-York Daily Times publisher Henry J. Raymond as
Lieutenant Governor. Clark is a State Senator, and an advocate of prohibition.
On October 6, the New-York Daily Times reports of:
“THE KNOW-NOTHING CONVENTION.
Proceedings of the Second Day’s Session—Political Nomination.
The article states that Daniel Ullman is their candidate for governor. The location
of this convention is a secret, as revealed in the conclusion of the article:
“In the above report we have, of course, only given the rumors that have reached us
concerning the action of the Convention. As the proceedings are secret, and guarded by special
and extraordinary precautions, it is impossible to give any authoritative and detailed account of its
transactions.”
Ullman is a lawyer, and graduate of Yale College. In 1851 he runs unsuccessfully
for Attorney General of New York as a Whig. He goes on to serve the Union during
the Civil War, attaining the rank of Brigadier General. He is noted for mustering
the Ullman Brigade, Corps d’Afrique, a regiment of African-American soldiers. 7
What has previously been known as the Native American Party, and
in New York State, the American Republican Party, now gains the title Know
Nothing. Historian Humphrey J. Desmond describes how the name comes to be:
“November 10, 1853, The New York Tribune referred to the new secret influence in
politics, which have been exerting itself for some months, as ‘the Know-Nothing order.’
The New York press explained, as the reason for the name, the fact that members of
the order, when questioned, professed to ‘know nothing’ about it.” 8
But by any name,
their tenets remain the same: hatred of Catholics, mistrust of anyone who is not
a Protestant, dedicated to curtailing the rights of immigrants, and the belief that
native-born Americans are of a higher class than all others.
On October 10, the New-York Evening Post reports of Tammany Hall’s nomination
for mayor in the upcoming election:
“MAYORALTY CONVENTION.
Tammany Hall.
The democratic convention met last evening at Tammany Hall, and on the first ballot
nominated Fernando Wood for Mayor.”
The campaign for Mayor of New York in the fall of 1854 is full of intrigue. The
Weekly Herald of October 21 lists a confusing array of candidates:
“Whig, John J. Herrick.
Hard Shell Democrat, Fernando Wood. Soft Shell Democrat Fernando Wood.
Temperance, James W. Barker. Know Nothing, James W. Barker.
Municipal Reform, Wilson G. Hunt.
Adamantine, Augustus Schell.”
358
Precursor to War

1854
1855
1855
Know Nothing nominee Barker is a successful dry goods merchant. Whig
nominee John J. Herrick is a merchant as well. Municipal Reform nominee Wilson
G. Hunt is a prominent businessman who is connected with Peter Cooper. The
Weekly Herald alone attaches Augustus Schell to the obscure Adamantine Party.
Adamantine is an extremely hard mineral. Schell is a corporate lawyer who will
go on to figure prominently in Tammany Hall after the Civil War. And then there
is Fernando Wood. According to Humphrey J. Desmond, Herrick and Wood
are secret Know Nothing members. 9
Historian Jerome Mushkat corroborates
Desmond’s claim that Fernando Wood is a secret Know Nothing, stating: “Wood
found Know-Nothing secrecy too great to resist. He not only became a clandestine
Know-Nothing, but accepted a place on their shadowy executive committee. Given
his ego, Wood would never consider the immorality of betraying immigrants.” 10
On November 7, the New York State elections are held. In New York City, the
mayoral election is held as well. There are four candidates for governor, two main:
Myron H. Clark and Horatio Seymour, and two spoilers: Daniel Ullman and
Greene C. Bronson. Like the gubernatorial election of 1850 it is a squeaker, with
Whig/Anti-Nebraska candidate Clark defeating Democrat/Soft Shell Seymour by
just over 300 votes. Know Nothing candidate Ullman comes in third, and Hard
Shell candidate Bronson coming in a distant fourth. Henry Raymond, publisher
of the New-York Daily Times is elected Lieutenant Governor. Once again, the
Democrats are trounced in all elected offices, including the race for the Assembly.
In the race for Congress, the soon to be defunct Whig Party takes on the term
“Opposition.” It is made up Independent, Anti-Know Nothing, Anti-Nebraska,
Northern Whigs, and the like. They dominate the election. However, John Kelly
beats Michael Walsh by 21 votes in the race for New York’s 4th Congressional
District. In the elections in New York City, it is a different matter. Fernando Wood
is elected Mayor. He will hold office, off and on for the next eight years, becoming
one of the most polarizing mayors New York City will see. Wood goes on to be a
polarizing force on a national level as well. William Tweed declines to run again for
Congress, where he serves an unremarkable two years. Unhappy in Washington,
and largely ignored, he returns to New York City.
On January 1, Fernando Wood is inaugurated mayor of New York City. To some,
he is the very face of evil. The Morning Courier and Enquirer of November 9, 1854
laments:
“Have things come to this? We will not yet believe it. We cannot believe it.”
Nonetheless, it is true, and for the first six months of his mayoralty Wood
astonishes his critics. In a repudiation of a proprietor of an omnibus franchise
who gives him a free season pass, Wood publicly returns it. He enforces Sunday
liquor laws, and soon only 20 saloons are open on Sunday, whereas before there
had been 2300 operating. 11
He has streetwalkers rounded up, and closes the
gambling dens that cater to the poor. He reforms the new police force, connecting
the station houses by telegraph, and sets out to turn the police officers into a
centralized, trained military force. 12
Giving the everyday citizen a means to
blow off steam, he establishes a “Complaint Book” at City Hall, where people
can record their grievances. The New-York Daily Times of January 19 records
the following entries:
359

“MAYOR’S BLACK BOOK.
Complaints.
Of Johanna Argan, for ill treatment on the part of her father.
That the streets in the vicinity of First-avenue and Third-street are in a filthy and unhealthy
condition.
That a junk-shop in Seventh-avenue is in the habit of receiving stolen goods and
encouraging crime.
That lot No. 413 Ninth-avenue is used as a public privy, to the great annoyance of the
residents of that neighborhood.”
But behind these reforms, in which Wood seeks to groom himself as the “Model
Mayor,” lies a politician who is only in it for himself. While his police target many
poor women on the street as prostitutes, they leave the high-end brothels alone.
The gambling dens in the poor wards are closed, while the ones catering to the
rich are allowed to remain open. The saloon keepers who vote with Wood operate
freely on Sunday. He begins to monopolize patronage, relies on his own to coerce
voters at the polls, and starts down a path that will come to a head in two years
time: demanding complete control of the police. 13
Daguerreotype of Fernando Wood from 1855 by Mathew Brady.
360
Precursor to War

1855
1855
On February 5, the New York State Legislature re-elects soon to be Republican
William H. Seward to the United States Senate.
“TERRIBLE SHOOTING AFFRAY IN BROADWAY
BILL POOLE FATALLY WOUNDED
THE MORRISSEY AND POOLE FEUD
RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES
Broadway, in the vicinity of Prince and Houston Streets, was the scene of an exciting shooting affair
about 1 o’clock yesterday morning, which is but a repetition of a similar occurrence that transpired
a few weeks ago under Wallack’s Theatre between Tom Hyer, Lewis Baker, Jim Turner and several
other noted pugilists. It appears that about 9 o’clock on Saturday evening, John Morrissey and a
gang of ruffians entered a saloon at No. 579 Broadway, called the Stanwix Hall, where they met Bill
Poole. As might be expected, an altercation took place. The proprietor of the saloon, Mr. Dean,
immediately gave information of the disturbance at the Eight Ward Station-house, and a platoon
of Police was forthwith sent to the house, and they succeeded in quieting the belligerents. The
crowd then dispersed and went in various directions, though seemingly bent on having a row.”
Morrissey’s gang returns to Stanwix Hall at midnight and set upon Poole. The
article continues:
“…Pargene spit in Poole’s face. This was about to be resented by Poole, Turner aimed a six-barreled
revolver at his head, crying out, “Come, draw your weapon,” or words to that effect. Scarcely a
minute elapsed before Turner fired, but as he did so he raised his arm and received himself the full
charge which was intended for Poole. He fired off another barrel at Poole, and the slug took effect
in Poole’s left leg, which weakened him to such a degree that he staggered and fell on the floor. At
this moment Baker jumped on top of Poole, exclaiming, “I’ll put you out of the way now.” Baker
was also seen to fire off a pistol in the crowd, but it is not known upon whom the contents took
effect. Poole cried to them not to murder him, but the mob paid but little attention. He was beaten
and kicked in a horrible manner. The Police finally came and attempted to arrest the offenders, but
failed in the effort, and both Morrissey and Baker are still at large.”
Tom Hyer is an associate of William Poole and a noted bare-knuckle boxer. In
1849, in a bout held in Still Pond, Maryland that will establish boxing in the
United States, Hyer defeats Yankee Sullivan, then the boxing champion. After the
bout Hyer retires from boxing, and Sullivan reclaims the title. In 1853, a bout is
held between Morrissey and Sullivan in what is now Boston Corner, New York. It
is a bloody affair lasting over an hour. Sullivan eventually knocks Morrissey out,
but for some reason is disqualified, leaving the winner in dispute. At this time
boxing is illegal in New York, and much of the United States. This is the reason the
Hyer-Sullivan, as well as the Morrissey-Sullivan bouts take place in obscure sites
in Maryland, and what was then Massachusetts. A bet that nativist Poole makes
against Irishman Morrissey in his bout against Sullivan brings their enmity to a
head.
In the Morrissey camp are three men: “Pargene,” an alias of Patrick
McLaughlin, a Tammany “slugger” who is out on bail for attempted murder just
prior to last November’s election. Jim Turner, likewise is a Tammany slugger, a
term for election enforcer. Both McLaughlin and Turner are noted criminals,
and act as bodyguards to Lewis Baker, who is a police officer and a Tammany
slugger as well. 14
All three likely come to know Morrissey through Isaiah Rynders
Empire Club. Poole, mortally wounded, is taken to his home, the Times reports, in
“Charles Street.”
361

1855
1855
“THE BROADWAY SHOOTING AFFAIR.
Baker Still at Large—John Morrissey Arrested—Poole Recovering.
There was much excitement yesterday in relation to the terrible shooting affair at Stanwix
Hall in Broadway, in which the pugilists took an active part. The details have been published.
The Police authorities took prompt action, and succeeded in effecting the arrest of Morrissey and
Turner.”
Morrissey promptly makes bail. The Times then prints a letter from Morrissey that
claims:
“Mr. Hyer, who lives in the house where the disturbance occurred, requested me to
accompany him to his rooms. I replied that I could not do so; that I was under arrest, and had
promised to go home, and was fearful of a renewal of the disturbance should I return there. I then
at once went home and retired to bed. While I was in bed, this bloody encounter took place.”
By this time Morrissey has gained the moniker “Old Smoke.” The name is a result
of a fight between Morrissey and a gang member named Tom McCann over
the affection of a woman. In the fight, which takes place indoors, McCann gets
the better of Morrissey and pushes him on top a wood stove. The stove having
overturned, the hot coals sear Morrissey’s back. Bystanders throw water on the
coals, and the steam chokes McCann. Morrissey then proceeds to pound McCann
senseless. 15
Morrissey will escape indictment, and return to his hometown of Troy,
New York. He will go on to open a famous gaming house in Saratoga Springs, New
York, and return Tammany politics after the Civil War.
On March 9, the New-York Daily Times reports:
“The pugilistic affray, which recently occurred at Stanwix Hall, has found its natural result
in the loss of life. William Poole died yesterday at his residence in Cristopher-street.”
Mechanics Delight Boxing Card #42, 1887.
Manufactured by the Lorillard Tobacco Company, from the public domain.
362
Precursor to War

1855
1855
1855
1855
1855
As funeral arrangements are made for Poole, Lewis Baker, Poole’s shooter, remains
at large. (A highly fictionalized representation of William—Bill the Butcher—
Poole is featured in Martin Scorsese’s 2002 film, Gangs of New York, played by
Daniel Day-Lewis, for which he receives an Academy Award for Best Actor.)
On April 5, the New-York Evening Post prints an editorial titled “Mr. Crosby’s Police
Bill,” that opposes the New York State Legislature meddling in affairs of the New
York City Police Department. What follows are some excerpts:
“The great object of the bill is to alter our police system”
“Mr. Crosby, in his remarks introducing the bill, expressed a fear the Mayor Wood was
converting the police officers into a set of Tammany politicians.”
“If Mr. Crosby’s bill should pass, the city may justly complain of it as an act of party
tyranny.”
“Mr. Crosby” is Clarkson F. Crosby, a Whig State Senator from Troy. This is the first
shot between New York City and New York State in the war over who will control
the New York City police. It is interesting to note that the Post, that by now has
turned away from the Democratic Party, supports Wood and his desire to control
the police.
On April 27, the New-York Evening Post reports of the election of members to the
Society of St. Tammany. Among those inducted is Congressman John Kelly. It is
the beginning of Kelly’s rise in Tammany Hall.
On April 30, the Albany Evening Journal maligns the memory of St. Tammany:
“To-morrow is the ancient festival of ‘St. Tammany, his Day’—a Saint who has sadly fallen
from the grace of his original position on the Calendar. His name is looked upon by some as
synonymous with political intrigue, drunken riots and Captain Rynders; and we have heard even
intelligent people inquire whether he was a Dutchman or an Indian!”
The celebration of St. Tammany’s Day, as noted in chapter one, dates back to May
1—Old Style calendar—1732, when the Schuylkill Fishing Company, in what is
now Philadelphia, ordains Chief Tamanend as Saint Tammany. It has now been 23
years since the Society of St. Tammany has held the annual celebration.
On May 16, the New-York Daily Times reports:
“Baker Arrested! The Grapeshot Back To Port.”
Baker manages to make it across the Atlantic to the Canary Islands, where United
States Marshals finally catch up with him onboard the Bark Grapeshot.
On May 31, Lieutenant Governor Henry Raymond’s New York Daily Times reports:
“A meeting of the Mayor and Recorder—as the ‘Board’ of Police Commissioners—was
held in the Mayor’s Office on Tuesday afternoon. The object of this session was to sever the heads
of numerous Whigs in the Department. Judge Stuart, being prostrated with severe illness, it was
not a bad time for his associate Commissioners to do a little job for certain good men of the
Tammany stripe, that has now a long time needed doing.”
363

1855
1855
1855
1855
1855
Recorder of New York City, a role that wears many hats—Judge, Deputy Mayor,
Vice-President of the Board of Alderman—is James M. Smith, Jr..“Judge Stuart”
is Sydney H. Stuart, a New York City Judge. Judge James Smith will soon turn on
Wood.
On June 1, the Albany Evening Journal Reports:
“From New York.—The Democracy of this city held a most enthusiastic meeting last
evening at Tammany Hall to rejoice over the result of the Virginia election. The Hall was brilliantly
illuminated, and crowded to excess. A large meeting also assembled in front of the Hall, where
congratulatory speeches were made by prominent politicians.”
Tammany needs something to celebrate, and it finds one with the election of Henry
A. Wise as Governor of Virginia. Wise defeats the Know Nothing/American
Party candidate Thomas Flournoy. Wise will have a complex politival career. First
a Jackson Democrat, then Whig, opposing Jackson’s banking policies. He will
return to the Democratic Party in the late 1840s. Wise’s politics are complex, and
intertwined with the North, New York, and Tammany Hall. But with the election
of Abraham Lincoln, Wise becomes a stanch supporter of secession. When the
Civil War breaks out he becomes a General in the Army of Northern Virginia, and
is with Robert E. Lee at his surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Because of his
respect of Ulysses S. Grant, he joins the Republican Party after the Civil War, and
becomes a strong supporter of Grant. 16
Despite Wise’s victory, and Tammany’s
support of him, the American Party will show surprising strength in New York’s
November elections.
On July 6, the New-York Daily Times reports of Independence Day celebrations
at Tammany Hall, including a speech from Sachem and former Loco-Foco,
Alexander Ming Jr.. What follows is an excerpt from the speech, detailing “The
Origin of Tammany.”
“Tammany was an Indian chief then residing in Pennsylvania, of extremely virtuous and
honorable habits—noble, tolerant, brave, social and intelligent, with extremely high notions of
liberty and equality. Him they adopted as their Saint.”
On September 1, the New-York Daily Times publishes a lengthy article on the
Democratic State Convention held in Syracuse. Tammany members Lorenzo
Shepard, John Cochrane, and John Kelly are in attendance. Many resolutions
touting the Democratic line are passed, but what is notable is what is not resolved:
the issue of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, with many upstate delegates unable to agree
with Tammany Hall’s support of it. This continued strife will bode poorly for the
Democratic Party in the upcoming state election.
On September 5, the New-York Evening Post reports:
“TheYoungMen’s(Tammany)GeneralCommitteetaketherefusaloftheStateConvention
to endorse the Nebraska bill in high dudgeon. The met last night, and ‘reaffirmed their attachment,’
&c. to the principles of the Nebraska bill.”
On September 28, the Soft Shells hold a rally in Tammany Hall that features a
speech by ex-Governor Horatio Seymour.
364
Precursor to War

1855
1855
1855
1855
On October 1, the Albany Evening Journal reports of:
“Gov. Seymour’s Speech in New York.—Gov. Seymour’s speech in Tammany Hall on
Friday evening, was more thoroughly Pro-Slavery than necessary, and much more so than was
pleasant to many of his former political friends.”
In the New York State election that is held on November 7, a fusion of anti-slavery
Whig and former Barnburners merge into what will become the Republican Party.
This new party will win the plurality in the New York State Senate, winning 16
seats. In the last hurrah of the Know Nothing/American Party, it will gain 12
seats. The split Democratic Party will gain only 4 seats. In the Assembly race, the
Democrats gain a slight plurality with 47 seats, with the Know Nothing/American
Party coming in second with 44. The Republicans will come in third with 35 seats,
and the Whig Party, in its death throes, will finish with two seats. The former
Tammany Hunker, Assemblyman, and soon to be infamous Daniel E. Sickles is
one of the four Democrats elected to the State Senate.
On November 27, the New-York Daily Times reports of:
“The Trial of Lewis Baker.
The trial of Lewis Baker on a charge of killing William Poole, on the 25th of February
last, was commenced in the Court of Oyer and Terminer yesterday. The circumstances which
surround this case and the parties interested in it, are such as are well calculated to revive the
excitement which existed at the time of Poole’s death, and which continued for weeks after he was
buried. There is a great deal of anxiety evinced by the friends of the deceased, and also by Baker,
concerning the result of the trial, and from a glance, at the names of those retained as for counsel
for the prosecution and for the defendant, it is evident that the rights of both will be properly cared
for.”
“Oyer and Terminer” is a legal term derived from the French that translates as “to
hear and determine.” It has its roots in the Scottish courts of the 18th century, and
in 19th century New York State it is a name formally given for courts of criminal
jurisdiction. The “counsel” for Lewis Baker is James T. Brady, the former Tammany
Hunker.
On December 11, the New-York Daily Times prints a lengthy article on the
proceedings of the Baker trial, including James T. Brady summing up:
“THE CHARACTER OF POOLE
The counsel went on to consider Poole’s character. He was a man who could assault, and
that desperately. There is no evidence, not a particle, that Baker bore any animosity toward Poole.
Oh, but he shot him! Yes, but legitimately, in self defense. Poole was in many respects a remarkable
man, but as was said of the illustrious Sheridan, that Nature broke the die in moulding him, so
he, the counsel, trusted that she broke the die in which she moulded Poole, and that there was
not another like him. He was a man who could stand at a bar and pour down bottle after bottle,
wishing he could kill every Irish son of a b—h. He was courageous. Yes, he was fearless enough to
do what you would not dare to, and what, thank God, I would not dare to—he was fearless enough
to attack a peaceable man in a fearless and savage manner. He was fond of pleasures, but they were
of vile kind. There was nothing too low for him. He was a visitor at race-courses, gambling dens,
and brothels.”
On December 14, the New-York Daily Times reports of:
“THE STANWIX HALL TRAGEDY. THE CURTIAN FALLS.”
365

The curtain falling is summed up in the article by reporting that:
“At 103
/4
an officer a handed a communication to the Judge which His Honor read:
To the Honorable Court:
We, the Jurors impaneled in the case of the people against Lewis Baker, after
having become convinced that we cannot possibly agree on a verdict, would most respectfully
request that we be discharged from the duties devolved upon us.”
It is worth noting that Baker’s counsel, James T. Brady, loses only one case in his
legal career of fifty-two trials. In three years time Brady will win another case, a
sensational one, defending a fellow member of the Society of St. Tammany.
On January 9, Horace Greeley’s New-York Daily Tribune reports on the celebration
of the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans at Tammany Hall:
“The Anniversary was celebrated last evening at Tammany Hall by the Sachems and their
guests of the occasion by a ball and supper.”

From February 22 to February 25, the American Party holds its national
convention in Philadelphia. It is a disjointed affair. It too is split over the issue of
slavery. A resolution barring candidates who support slavery north of the Missouri
Compromise Line is voted down, causing anti-slavery delegates from Illinois,
Iowa, New England, Ohio, and Pennsylvania to bolt. The conservative former
Whigs from New York remain, and Millard Fillmore receives the nomination.
This despite the fact that Fillmore is not, and never was a member of the Know
Nothing/American Party, and is in Europe at the time. 17
On February 23, the New-York Daily Times devotes three pages to the celebrations
of Washington’s Birthday held at various Societies, including one held at Tammany
Hall. The celebration held at Tammany is attended by several Southern Democrats
who give speeches, including Mississippi Congressman John A. Quitman,
Louisiana Congressman Thomas G. Davidson, and South Carolina Congressman
James L. Orr. In Orr’s speech he gives his opinion of the impending Presidential
election:
“I believe in the Presidential election we shall have three candidates in the field. We shall,
as far as I can see, have a real Simon-Pure Democrat in the field. [Cheers.] We shall have admitted
into the race the candidate of the new party—the Know-Nothings. [Groans.] Their banner will be
borne—I do not know, by the by, that they carry any at all, for I believe that their principles are
not put out in the view of the sun. We are to have an addition to our contest of that other party,
the Black Republicans. [A Voice—‘The Nigger worshippers,’ with hisses.] These all will go, in my
judgment, into the next Presidential election, and if so, I prophecy, that the Democracy will go
forth united, and will carry not less than twenty-six States in the Union. [Cheers.] If you will take
care of the Black Republicans in the North, we will take care of the Know-Nothings in the South.
[Applause.]
The term “Simon-Pure” is derived from a 18th century Restoration comedy that
comes to mean in the 19th century genuine, or “the real man.” The subtext of Orr
using this phrase is that the Democratic Party will forsake Franklin Pierce. Orr is a
close friend and colleague of fellow Congressman from South Carolina Preston S.
Brooks. South Carolinians will lead the coming national conflict, and Brooks will
deliver the first blow, literally, on May 22.
366
Precursor to War
1856
1856
1856

1856
1856
1856
1856
On April 22, the New-York Daily Times reports the elections of Sachems at
Tammany Hall. Congressman John Kelly and Richard B. Connolly are among
those elected. Kelly is the son of Irish immigrants, and Connolly is Irish born.
The induction of these two shows that the Irish are here to stay in the Society of
St. Tammany, and will come to dominate Tammany Hall. Connolly is the Clerk of
New York County. The connection between Connolly and William M. Tweed will
be established in the coming decade, and will mutually benefit both of them, at
least for a time, until the New-York Times steps in. This will lead to the ascendency
of John Kelly.
On May 7, the New-York Herald reports of a meeting of the:
“YOUNG MEN’S DEMOCRATIC (SOFT SHELL) COMMITTEE.
The approach of the period of the National Convention is arousing the city politicians
to activity once more. The young soft shells met last night at Tammany Hall, and had a large and
enthusiastic meeting.”
The “National Convention” refers to the Democratic National Convention to be
held from June 2 to June 6, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
On May 13, the New-York Daily Times reports that:
“The anniversary of the Tammany Society or Columbian Order took place last evening
at Tammany Hall, by the installation of the Sachems and officers of the Society chosen at the last
election.
It is understood that the Tammany Society have in contemplation the removal of
the bones of the martyrs who perished during the Revolutionary War in the Jersey and other
prisonships at Wallabout. Their removal within the walls of the Navy Yard and the erection of a
suitable monument there are suggested.”
This is the first time in 24 years that the New York press has noted of a celebration
of St. Tammany’s Day at Tammany Hall. It will take until 1873 for a new tomb
to be constructed for the bones of the prison ship martyrs in Fort Greene Park,
Brooklyn.
On May 22, South Carolina Democratic Congressman Preston S. Brooks attacks
Republican Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts on the floor of the Senate
with a gold-headed walking cane, nearly beating Sumner to death. The reason
for this attack is a lengthy speech delivered in the Senate by Sumner over two
days, May 19 and 20. In it he attacks “the elder senator” Andrew Butler of South
Carolina, who is a cousin of Brooks, and co-author of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
with Stephen A. Douglas. Sumner virulently denounces the Act in a speech filled
with sexual innuendo. What follows is an excerpt:
“I regret much to miss the elder senator from his seat; but the cause, against which he has run a
tilt with such activity of animosity, demands that the opportunity of exposing him should not be
lost; and it is for the cause that I speak. The senator from South Carolina has read many books of
chivalry, and believes himself a chivalrous knight with sentiments of honor and courage. Of course
he has chosen a mistress to whom he has made his vows, and who, though ugly to others, is always
lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight—I mean the harlot,
slavery. For her his tongue is always profuse in words. Let her be impeached in character, or any
proposition made to shut her out from the extension of her wantonness, and no extravagance of
manner or hardihood of assertion is then too great for this senator.” 18
367

1856
This incident will be a defining moment for the nascent Republican Party, and
a major event leading up to the Civil War. Brooks resigns from Congress, and is
brought to trial. On his defense team is friend of Tammany, James L. Orr. 19
He
is convicted, serves no jail time, fined $300.00, and later reelected in a special
election. By this time, the ill-fated Kansas-Nebraska Act sparks the Border Wars
known as Bleeding Kansas. In November 1855 a pro-slavery settler kills an anti-
slavery settler near Lawrence, Kansas, and in December pro-slavery Missourians
lay siege to Lawrence, only to be repulsed by John Brown and others. One day
after Sumner’s speech, pro-slavery settlers sack Lawrence. Two days after Sumner
is attacked, John Brown, along with his sons and others, abduct five pro-slavery
settlers from their homes in the pro-slavery settlement of Pottawatomie Creek,
Kansas, and hack them to death.
Illustration of the attack, from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, June 7, 1856.
On June 2 the Democratic National Convention begins. It is race between President
Pierce, James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, and
Lewis Cass, the former Senator from Michigan. The Democratic Party is divided
between the North and the South over the issue of slavery and embroiled over the
Kansas-Nebraska Act. Buchanan is the Minister to the Court of St. James from
August 1853 to March 1856. His being in England during the Kansas-Nebraska
crisis gives him a decided advantage at the convention. New York State sends two
competing delegations, the Soft Shells and the Hard Shells to Cincinnati.
368
Precursor to War

1856
1856
1856
Former governor Horatio Seymour is the head of the Soft Shell faction, and Samuel
Beardsley the head of the Hard Shells. Beardsley is an upstate lawyer, former
Jacksonian, and former congressman. By June 5, the committee on credentials
resolves the delegations from New York, by seating half of the two factions.
There are 17 ballots. Cass never stands a chance. Finally Pierce and then Douglas
withdraw in favor of the compromise candidate, James Buchanan. On June 6 he
receives the nomination, along with his running mate, former Congressman John
C. Breckinridge of Kentucky.
On June 7, the New-York Daily Tribune reports of the:
“Old Tammany had her flag flying within half and hour after the results were known. It was a
remarkable fact that not a democrat was to be seen who was not a Buchanan man.”
On June 7, the New-York Daily Times prints a lengthy article of New York’s reaction
of the Buchanan nomination. It reports of patriotic banners hung at Tammany
Hall, and then gives a harsh critique of President Pierce and Senator Douglas:
“ We have said that Tammany Hall was prepared to speak last night, using the above
venerated quotations, emblazoned as mottos on its front. Wisely prepared as they have been,
they will not be lost. On Wednesday evening next it is expected the Democrats will hold their
ratification meeting, and then we shall have the transparencies. Then we shall have the glorification.
Then the cannon—not the Mayor’s gun—but the empire cannon of Capt. Rynders will shake the
infirm panes of glass on the decrepit buildings on Chatham-street. Then tar barrels will blaze more
earnest than they did last night. Then crowds will gather within and without Tammany, and rum
will be drank, and cheers will be given, and uproar will be dominant, and Pierce’s rule will be
nominally at an end. For Pierce is defeated. That cry resounds. Pierce is defeated. The cry taken
up on all sides. Pierce is defeated. Douglas, also is defeated; Douglas, with his black, bad, Kansas-
Nebraska fame—but foremost in the news of yesterday, presses forward the great fact that Pierce is
defeated.”
On June 17 the Republican National Convention begins in Philadelphia. This
nominating convention is second to the first held in Pittsburgh on February 22. The
origin of the Republican Party can be traced to one event: The Kansas-Nebraska
Act. On February 28, 1854, A.E. Bovay, an associate of Horace Greeley, publisher
of the New-York Daily Tribune, holds a meeting at the Congregational Church in
Ripon, Wisconsin. At this meeting a resolution is adopted “that, if the Nebraska bill,
then pending, should pass, they would throw old party organizations to the winds, and
organize a new party on the sole issue of the non-extension of slavery.” On March 20,
1854, a second meeting is held, led by Mr. Bovay, at the “Little White Schoolhouse”
in Ripon. There the name “Republican” is suggested as the name of the new Party,
and Bovay writes to Greeley asking him to promote the name in the Tribune. 20
At the Philadelphia Convention, John C. Frémont is overwhelmingly
nominated. Known as the “Pathfinder,” Frémont leads expeditions along the
Oregon Trail and into New Mexico between 1843 and 1844. He is a key player in
the Conquest of California during the Mexican-American War, and helps capture
Los Angeles in January 1847. He then proclaims himself Military Governor of
California, and is court martialed. President Polk commutes his sentence. After
California is admitted into the Union in 1850, Frémont is elected its first Senator.
He runs for President under the slogan “Free Soil, free silver, free men, Frémont
and victory!” His running mate is William L. Dayton, the former Whig Senator
from New Jersey.
369

1856
1856
1856
1856
On July 4, the New-York Herald reports of a meeting at Tammany Hall the evening
before the celebration of the 4th:
“City Politics.
Soft Shell General Committee—Union with the Hard Shells
The regular meeting of the soft shell General Committee was held in Tammany Hall last
night, L.B. Shepard in the chair, and J. H. Chambers officiating as Secretary pro tem.
“ A resolution was carried empowering L. B. Shepard to open communications with the
Hard Shell General Committee, to induce them to unite with the softs in one Union General
Committee, whose headquarters should be at Tammany Hall.”
Lorenzo B. Shepard is a lawyer, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of
New York, appointed by President Polk, and Tammany Hall Grand Sachem.
On July 6, the New-York Herald prints a letter from James Buchanan to the Society
of St. Tammany:
Wheatland, near Lancaster, Pa., July 2, 1856.
Gentlemen—I have been honored by the receipt of your invitation, in behalf of the
Tammany Society, to attend the celebration of the approaching anniversary of our National
Independence at Tammany Hall. Would that it were in my power to be present on this great
occasion I should, indeed, esteem it a high privilege. At a period when the national democratic
party of the country are everywhere rallying to defend the constitution and the Union against the
sectional party who would outlaw fifteen of our sister States from the confederacy, it must cheer
the heart of every patriot to know that the democracy of the Empire State , in solid and united
column, are rushing to the rescue. Acting upon your motto, that ‘Past grievances are to be buried
in exertions for the future,’ they must prove invincible. Most gladly would I be with you on this
auspicious day, and sincerely do I regret that this is impossible.
With sentiments of high respect, I remain your truly,
JAMES BUCHANAN.”
The Democratic Party of New York, as noted by Buchanan being a “solid and
united column,” is due in large part to the efforts of Tammany Grand Sachem
Lorenzo B. Shepard. It is worth noting that Shepard is a delegate from New York at
the Democratic National Convention in Cincinnati, and part of the unified group
between the Soft Shells and the Hard Shells that nominate James Buchanan as the
candidate for President.
On July 30, a unified Democratic Party holds its State Convention in Syracuse.
William M. Tweed is one of the secretaries. They nominate Amesa J. Parker a their
candidate for governor. Parker is a former Democratic Congressman from upstate
New York and Justice of the New York Supreme Court.
On August 1, the New-York Herald reports of a:
“MEETING OF THE YOUNG MEN’S HARD SHELL COMMITTEE.
This committee met last night, C. Godfrey Gunther, Esq., in the chair, The Committee on
Conference reported in favor of a plan of union with the Young Men’s Soft Shell Committee, which
had been agreed to by a committee of that body. The plan provides that the softs shall escort the
hards to Tammany Hall, on the 5th of August, when a joint committee shall be formed of the two
bodies. The present officers to resign, and others to be elected in their places.”
370
Precursor to War

1856
1856
Charles Godfrey Gunther, the son of German immigrants, is a Sachem of the
Society of St. Tammany. He is a wealthy fur merchant and former volunteer
firefighter. He will go on to become Mayor of New York City in 1864.
On August 22, the New-York Herald reports of a mass rally held in Tammany Hall
and spilling out into City Hall Park:
“THE CAMPAIGN OPENED.
‘OLD BUCK’ IS FAIRLY STARTED.”
The article is replete with lengthy speeches lauding James Buchanan, as well as
other subjects. One of the many resolutions adopted is the following:
“Resolved, That the democracy of the city and county of New York unanimously and
heartily ratify the nomination of Amasa J. Parker for Governor.”
What follows is an excerpt from Parker’s speech, in which he waffles on the issue
of slavery:
“We have been greatly misrepresented and misunderstood. The most labored efforts have
been made to hold up the democratic party before the people of the North as pro-slavery. Nothing
could be more untrue or unjust. As a party, we are neither pro-slavery or anti-slavery.”
Tammany Hall, and the Democratic Party of New York are now reunited behind
James Buchanan on the National and State level. On the local level it is a different
matter. Many of the Sachems of the Society of St. Tammany are becoming
increasingly disenchanted with Mayor Fernando Wood. The reason is simple one:
not enough spoils. Wood, as his first term progresses, more and more surrounds
himself with his friends and personal confidants, leaving members of Tammany
Hall on the sidelines. Knowing he will have to divide Tammany Hall to get re-
nominated as a candidate for Mayor, he resorts to guile. Wood persuades Wilson
Small, a Custom House official who holds a seat on Tammany’s General Committee
to resign, and substitutes himself. 21
On September 5, the New-York Daily Tribune
reports of a:
“GRAND ROW AT TAMMANY.
The Democratic Republican General Committee met in Tammany Hall last evening to
make arrangements for holding the primary elections. There was a large attendance of office-
holders and office-seekers, on the outside, warmly interested in the contest which was being
waged in the Committee between Fernando Wood and his opponents, and the most acrimonious
language was used on both sides.”
The Anti-Wood contingent tries to pass a resolution that a committee be formed
to determine if Wood is a member of the Know Nothing Party—as he secretly in
fact is— and if thus found be expelled from the General Committee. The Tribune
article tells the outcome:
“After a long and fierce debate, it is said that the resolution was tabled by Mr. Wood’s friends, by a
vote of 87 to 44. Mr. Wood is said to have carried all his points by the same decisive majority and
his renomination is now considered certain.”
The meeting lasts until four in the morning. Wood goes on to personally control
the primary election inspectors in the Wards of New York City. 22
371

1856
1856
1856
1856
1856
On September 12, the New-York Daily Tribune reports:
“The Democratic Primary Elections for Delegates to the various Nominating Conventions
came off yesterday between 3 and 7 p.m. The principal contest was on Mayor, and the result was
that Mr. Wood had it pretty much his own way.”
On September 16, the New-York Herald reports that:
“Two Democratic Mayoralty Conventions were held at Tammany Hall last night. One led
by Daniel E. Sickles and nominated Fernando Wood for Mayor; the other was presided over by
Recorder Smith, and nominated James S. Libby (ex-Alderman of the Second Ward and proprietor
of Lovejoy Hotel) for Mayor. The Wood party call the Libby men bogus, and the Libby men return
the compliment. It is reported that the Sachems will be called upon to decide which is regular.”
Sickles will eventually turn on Fernando Wood.
On September 18, the New-York Daily Tribune reports:
“The Democratic Republican General Committee of the City and County of New-York
met at Tammany Hall on Tuesday evening. About 84 of the 132 members of the Committee were
present. After adopting rules and regulations for the government of the Committee, resolutions
wereofferedandadoptedindorsingthenominationofFernandoWoodforMayor,andcondemning
the nomination of James S. Libby for that office. Mayor Wood’s nomination was indorsed by a vote
of 58 to 26.”
On September 17, the Republican State Convention is held in Syracuse. John
Alsop King is nominated as their candidate for Governor. King, who is sixty-eight
years old, is the son of Federalist Senator Rufus King, Ambassador to the Court
of St. James under President John Quincy Adams. John King, a New York City
lawyer, is a veteran of the War of 1812 and former Whig Congressman.
On September 19, Society of St. Tammany Grand Sachem Lorenzo B. Shepard, a
unifying force in Democratic politics, dies unexpectedly at age thirty-five.
On September 27, the New-York Daily Times prints a lengthy letter from “Peter
B. Sweeny, J.Y. Savage, Secretaries of the General Committee at Tammany Hall,”
denouncing Mayor Wood, with the headline:
“Ballot-Box Stuffing at Tammany Hall—How Mayor Wood was Nominated—A Voice from the Interior.
What follows are some excerpts from the letter:
“It is well known that for many years this system has be degenerating until it had become
so corrupt as to be a mere machine in the hands of unprincipled men, by which the foisted
themselves before the people as nominees of the party in defiance of public sentiment.”
“Detachmentofpolicewerestationedateverypollthroughoutthecitytogivecountenance
and support to the adherents of Mr. Wood, to restrain every attempt of the citizens exercise a
supervision over the actions of the Inspectors, and to uphold the inspectors in the performance od
the task which they had assumed.”
In the coming decade, Peter B. Sweeny will come to know something, along with
William M. Tweed and Richard B. Connolly, of “a mere machine in the hands of
unprincipled men.”
372
Precursor to War

1856
1856
Two members of the future “Ring.”
From Tammany Hall by M.R. Werner.
On October 1, the Albany Evening Journal report of:
“The President On His Way Home.
President Pierce left Washington yesterday morning en route for Concord, N.H. He
reached Jersey City about 9 o’clock last evening, where he was met by some two or three dozen
of his adherents, and escorted to the Astor House. There was no reception—no Empire Club, no
military—not even a deputation of Sachems from Old Tammany. It is reported that the President
has been for some time subject to attacks of ague, but we venture to say that he was never so chilled
as on his arrival last evening.”
On October 23, the New-York Daily Times reports:
“WOOD VERSUS LIBBY.
The Disunited Democracy—A Ratification Meeting at Tammany, and Some Shoulder
Hitting—Old Times Restored.
Old Tammany is itself again. Twas in all its glory last night, and the scenes enacted there
brought vividly to mind recollections of the glorious past, when Tammany was great on muscle
and better up in real good blows, right from the elbow.”
“At length victory perched on the party of the Woodites. The great body of the Libbyites
were kicked out of the room and down the stairs with a velocity proportionate to the expelling
force behind.”
373

1856
1856
1856
1856
On November 4, the National, as well as the New York State and New York City
mayoralelections areheld. Inthepresidential election,DemocratJames Buchanan,
portraying Republican John Frémont as an extremist, prevails. Buchanan takes 19
States to Frémont’s 11. Millard Fillmore, running on the American Party ticket,
takes the state of Maryland with its eight electoral votes, being the strongest
Third Party showing in a presidential election to the present day. Interestingly,
Buchanan wins Frémont’s home state of California, and Frémont takes New
York. Buchanan takes all the Southern and border States, with Frémont taking
New England, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The supposedly unified
Democratic Party of New York fails in the state elections as well. Republican John
Alsop King wins the Governors race by a solid majority over Democrat Amasa J.
Parker. The Republicans also take all the elections for state offices, and win 81 seats
in the Assembly, to the Democrats 21 and Americans 8. In the race for Congress,
the Republicans send 21 members to Washington, to the Democrats 11. Fernando
Wood wins his second term as Mayor. One Democrat that does win a seat for
Congress is Tammany member Daniel E. Sickles, and he and his wife move to
Washington. There they will only find unhappiness and tragedy.
On November 5, the New-York Herald gives its take of election night at Tammany Hall:
“The unterrified met at Tammany Hall last night in great numbers and great spirits at
first. The Old Wigwam was lighted up at an early hour, and there was the usual consumption of
bad liquor and awful segars.”
On November 18, the New-York Daily Tribune prints a letter from “Edward Rice,
Policeman, Second Ward” to Mayor Wood. What follows are some excerpts from
the letter:
“To the Hon. Fernando Wood.
Sir: On the 20th of June, 1855, I was appointed a member of the Police Department. Up
to the present time, I have had no complaint made against me. I was one of the few who refused
to pay the assessment to aid your election, and who openly denounced the attempt to compel
the Department, by fear, to contribute funds for that purpose. I consider you unworthy of that
position. I had been on the Police long enough to learn that you used the Department for your own
interests, and not for the interests of the city. At the primary election in the Second Ward, held on
the 14th of September last, to select delegates to Tammany Hall, the policemen were compelled to
vote for a delegate that would sustain you as a candidate for Mayor; and since that time, they have
been called upon to pay money to advance your political interests.”
“I sincerely hope that the next Legislature will remodel the Police Department, and so guard it by
law that in the future no one man will have the power to perpetrated through the department such
acts a were perpetrated at our last election, and that no one man will be enabled to extort money
from poor policemen, or have it in his power to harass and oppress them if they are not wholly
subservient to his political wishes. I tender to you my resignation.”
The upcoming Republican led New York State Legislature will do just what former
policeman Edward Rice asks.
On November 24, the New-York Daily Tribune reports:
“Col. Daniel Delavan was on Saturday night elected Grand Sachem of the Tammany
Society, which place was made vacant by the death of Lorenzo B. Shepard. Mr. Delavan is a
prominent anti-Wood man.”
374
Precursor to War

1857
1857
1857
1857
1857
Delavan goes on to become Inspector of the City of New York in 1859, but
otherwise will keep a low profile.
On January 9, the New-York Daily Times reports of the:
“Anniversary of the Battle of N. Orleans.
Commemorative Celebration by the Tammany Society.
The ancient Society of Tammany, or Columbian Order, celebrated last night, according to
its custom, the Forty-Second Anniversary of the Battle of New-Orleans.”

Tammany Grand Sachem Daniel E. Delavan presides over the many toasts, and
delivers the following remarks:
“Gentlemen: The recurrence of another anniversary of the glorious Battle of New-Orleans
has called us together this evening. It is well known to you that the Society of Tammany has for
many years been in the habit of celebrating that glorious event—one that sheds so much lustre
upon the annals of our beloved country. Although the great captain, warrior and statesman of that
day has been taken from our midst, still his spirit is with us to cheer is on in the glorious cause
of Democratic principles, of which he was the great exponent. I need but say that this Society (of
which he was one of its most cherished members) pride themselves in cherishing his glorious
deeds and emulating his bright examples.”
Sachem Delavan repeatedly notes the glory of the Battle of New Orleans, and the
General who prevailed, a General and President whose core values become those
of the Society of St. Tammany. Delavan lauds Tammany’s celebration of Jackson’s
victory, one that has now taken precedence over their past celebrations of St.
Tammany’s Day, Evacuation Day, and even Independence Day.
On February 3, the New York State Legislature elects Republican Preston King,
the former Democrat and Free Soil Congressman, to the United States Senate.
On February 5, the New-York Herald reports:
“Curious Movement at Tammany Hall—A Proposition Before The Sachem To Upset The
Present General Committee—More Hostility To Mayor Wood.
We learn the leaders of the Libby faction have been arranging a grand coup d’état to upset,
if possible, Mayor Wood and put themselves as the regular democratic party of this city.”
On February 28, the New-York Daily Times prints an editorial entitled “A State
Police.” Here are some excerpts from it:
“Why should we not have a State Police? The primary object of a Police force is to secure
the execution of the Law,—not the local laws of the cities and large villages merely, but the general
laws of State against crime of all kinds.”
“It is taken for granted that the power over the Police,—the power of appointing,
controlling, governing, punishing and removing all the members of the Police Department, should
not be entrusted to one man,—that the Mayor, though of necessity the Executive head of the City
Government, and therefore empowered to use the Police force as the efficient available means of
enforcing the law, should not be the arbitrary, irresponsible, monarch of the Department:—that
he should not have the power of appointment or of removal, or of punishment;—but that these
supreme powers should be exercised by an independent Commission.”
On March 2, a “State Police Bill” is introduced in the New York State Legislature.
375

1857
1857
On March 4, James Buchanan and John C. Breckinridge are inaugurated as
President and Vice President of the United States. Buchanan is considered by
many polls and historians to be the worst President in the history of the United
States, and Breckinridge one of the worst Vice Presidents. It will take decades for
the Democratic Party to recover from the nation’s fifteenth presidency. John C.
Breckinridge will go down in history as the only United States Senator convicted
for treason against the United States by the Senate. Buchanan will largely ignore
him during his tenure. 23
He will split the Democratic Party in the election of 1860,
and will join the Confederacy, even though his home state of Kentucky eventually
sides with the Union. After the Civil War he will flee to Cuba and then to England.
Detail of 1856 Buchanan Breckinridge voting ticket.
Tammany Hall proceeds to lobby Buchanan for spoils. The New-York Daily Tribune
of March 25 reports:
“Assuming the truth of yesterday’s reports from Washington, we must give the new
administration credit for at least one good appointment—that of Augustus Schell as Collector of
Customs for the Port.”
The article goes on to report the Isaac V. Fowler is reappointed Postmaster, and
Isaiah Rynders is appointed United States Marshal.
376
Precursor to War

1857
1857
1857
1857
1857
On March 30, the New-York Daily Tribune reports:
“Capt. Rynders, the new United States Marshal, justified before Commissioner Norton on
Saturday. Wm. N. Ternure and Wm. M. Tweed became his bondsmen in $20,000 apiece.”
It is unclear who Mr. Ternure is. In addition, Tweed is elected to the New York
County Board of Supervisors. The Republican led New York State Legislature, in
an effort to curtail Mayor Wood’s power, enhance the power of the Board. This
governing body’s new powers include the authority to appoint inspectors of
elections, supervise public works, oversee taxation of city departments, and audit
county expenditures. Much to the Republicans future chagrin and unaware to
what they have wrought, Tweed’s new role will become a springboard for his rise
to power and serve as a base of his operations. Overseeing county expenditures
will have great appeal for Tweed. By this time Tweed is in the Sweeny camp of
“reformers” in Tammany Hall who are opposed to Mayor Wood. 24
Despite the
Common Council being predominantly Democratic, 25
they amend the municipal
charter to curtail Mayor Wood’s term to one year, with the new municipal elections
for the mayoralty and the Common Council to be held on December 1 26
In midApril, the Republicansin Albanypass theMetropolitan PoliceAct. It repeals
the Municipal Police Act of 1844. It stipulates that a police district be created
encompassing the counties of Kings, New York, Richmond, and Westchester.
A new police commission is established whose members are appointed by the
governor, and serve a five-year term. 27
It supplants the former New York City
police commission controlled by Mayor Wood and local Judges. Wood and his
loyal Municipals will not go down without a fight.
On April 22, the New-York Daily Times reports:

“The Tammany Contest—The Victory and the Victors.—The contest for Sachems of
Tammany Hall, night before last, enlisted even more than the interests which usually attends
upon the struggles of the Democratic Party. What contributed largely to give it this desperate and
determined character was undoubtedly the fact that it was the forlorn and final effort of Mayor
Wood to regain political ascendency in the Democratic ranks which has for some time past been
gradually slipping from his hands.”
The article goes on to report that Samuel J. Tilden, a Sachem of the Society of
St. Tammany, is one of the leaders of the revolt against Wood. Tilden, a former
Barnburner, does not forsake the Democratic Party for the Republicans, like many
of his Barnburner brethren do.
On May 12, there is no mention in the New York press of the Society of St.
Tammany celebrating St. Tammany Day.
On May 13, the New York Daily Times prints a lengthy article that begins:
“Resistance To State Legislation.
Great Mass Meeting in the Park.
Recent Legislative Acts Denounced.
‘Peaceable of we Can, Forcibly if we Must.’
A Division Of The State Talked Of.
Speeches by Marshal Rynders and Hon. John Kelly.”
377

1857
1857
1857
The article reports of ten thousand Democrats assembled in City Hall Park across
from Tammany Hall. The Times reports of many resolutions adopted including
the following:
“Resolved, That a bill establishing what is facetiously termed ‘An act to establish a
Metropolitan Police’ in this city, which provides for a commission of party men, elected from a
small minority faction, to rule this right arm of our Metropolis, and sets at defiance the constituted
authorities of this City, aims a blow at municipal rights which, if unresisted, will eventually make
our toasted freedom a bye-word and a reproach, and blot out the last vestige of Democratic
principles from our escutcheon.”
So even though there is a groundswell in Tammany Hall against Mayor Wood,
they are still Democrats, and oppose Republican legislation aimed at limiting
Wood’s control of the police.
On May 26, the New-York Daily Times prints a lengthy article spanning five
columns over two pages that begins:
“THE METROPOLITAN POLICE.
The New Law Declared Constitutional by the Supreme Court.
The Concurring Decisions of Judges Mitchel and Peabody.
The article then reports of a meeting of a Board of Councilmen who pass the
following ordinance:
“An Ordinance to establish a Bureau of Day and Night Watch, or Municipal Police.
The Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the City of New York, in Common Council convened,
do ordain as follows:
Whereas, The Common Council of the City of New York are fully authorized to pass such
laws and ordinances they may deem proper for the suppression of vice and immorality, and the
preservation of peace and good order—
The Department now known as the Police Department shall be a bureau in the Mayor’s
Office, to be called the Bureau of City Watch or Municipal Police, and the head or chief officer
thereof is denominated Chief of Police.”
So now there are two competing police departments in New York City. It will not
end well.
On June 11, the New-York Daily Times reports the death of New York City Street
Commissioner Joseph S. Taylor. The Street Commissioner, an appointed position,
is one of the most sought after spoils in New York City. Rife with corruption, 28
it
allows the Commissioner to award lucrative contracts for paving and grading the
ever-expanding Manhattan street grid, often to the Commissioner himself. Mayor
Wood appoints Charles Devlin, deemed notorious by historian Gustavus Myers,
as the new Commissioner. Republican Governor John Alsop King will have other
ideas. As cited in his obituary from the New York Times on February 2, 1881, Devlin
is one of the best-known contractors in New York City, making a fortune grading
paving and improving city streets. He goes on to be the bondsman of William M.
Tweed in 1871. Myers states that Devlin pays Wood $50,000—$1,020,000 in 2015
dollars as calculated by the GDP deflator—for the appointment.
On June 13, a Saturday, things begin to come to a head, with the New-York Daily
Times reporting on the following Monday:
378
Precursor to War

“The Eleventh Ward was in a state of great excitement Saturday night. A collision took
place between some of the Metropolitan and Municipal Police. Two of the latter—one of them
badly cut in the head—were arrested by the former, and conveyed to the new Station-house in
Sixth-street, from which they were subsequently released on bail by Judge Anderson. During
the excitement Officer Oliver Laflin of the Metropolitan Police, was dangerously stabbed in the
abdomen with an ice pick, a portion of which broke off and remained some time in the wound.”
On June 16, Daniel D. Conover, having been appointed Street Commissioner
by Governor King, arrives at City Hall, mobbed by the Municipal Police, to take
possession of his office. What follows are excerpts from New-York Daily Times of
June 17 reporting the events:
“At 9 o’clock, Mr. Conover appeared entirely unattended: passing through the double
line of Police which skirted the stairs and hall, he entered thee outer office, where he was met
by his friends, who congratulated him on the course he had pursued in the matter. Mr. Conover
proceeded to the inner room and attempted to pass the gate, but the officers refused to let him
enter. He then requested Captain Bennett to admit him, but the Captain answered: ‘You cannot
come in Sir. I trust you do not consider this a personal matter in any way. It is a disagreeable duty,
but I have strict orders not to permit to pass the gate, and I must enforce them.”
“Mr. Conover then renewed his attempt to enter when he was again seized by the collar
by Officer Masterson and another Policeman, when a brief struggle ensued. Other officers seized
him by the arms, and he was carried to the door and released.”
Conover, who is a wealthy Republican industrialist, is then forcibly ejected from
City Hall by the Municipals. By this time City Hall Park is mobbed with people,
described as “the most reckless rowdies, thieves, pocketbook droppers, and bloated
rummies in the city.” 29
The Times article then reports that Conover proceeds to the Superior
Court room, where Judge John T. Hoffman grants an arrest warrant for Mayor
Wood, Officer Bennett, and others, with bail set at $5,000.00. Recorder James M.
Smith, having previously served on the Municipal Board with the Mayor, also
issues an order of arrest for Wood. The warrants are then given to Captain George
W. Walling of the Metropolitan Police. The Times then reports what happens next:
“The Captain immediately proceeded to the Mayor’s office. He entered without
opposition, and walking up to the Mayor, put his hand on his Honor’s shoulder, saying, ‘I
arrest you, Sir!’ The Mayor looked at him with apparent astonishment, and then turning
to his policemen, said, ‘Men, put this man out!’ The Police obeyed orders; seizing Capt.
Walling and ejected him forcibly from the room. Capt. W. then returned to the Recorder’s
office, and said that he had been unable to accomplish the arrest of Mayor Wood.”
At 3:30 PM, with the New-York Daily Times giving a blow-by-blow account, what
is now known as the Police Riot of 1857 begins in earnest. With the mob in City
Hall Park aiding the Municipals, the crown exclaims: “Here they come; pitch into
the sons of bitches,” as the Metropolitans enter the Park and mount an assault of
the steps of City Hall. With clubs drawn on both sides as well as by members of
the crowd, “The scene was a terrible one; blows upon naked heads fell thick and fast,
and men rolled helplessly down the steps.” The Metropolitans are forced to retreat,
with the crowd crying “Down with the Black Republicans!” The Metropolitans,
greatly outnumbered, withdraw to the Recorders office where they regroup and
send a messenger to find Major General Charles W. Sandford, the senior officer of
the New York State Militia.
379

Sandford is an old hand at dealing with riots, having quelled the Flour Riots of
1837, and the Astor Place Riots of 1849. 30
In six years time he will be forced to
deal with the nadir of New York City history. General Sandford arrives at the
Recorders office and hearing the excited reports of the Metropolitan Captains,
replies, “That is enough.” At this time, by coincidence, the New York State Militia’s
7th Regiment is marching down Broadway, preparing to embark for Boston, but
Sandford intervenes. “The General left, and in five minutes more, about 4 o’clock,
the National Guards (7th Regiment) were drawn up in front of City Hall.” Unlike the
Astor Place Riots, cooler heads prevail:
“The presence of this splendid corps, coming as it did with perfect instantaneousness, had the
most salutary effect on the rioters. Had it been delayed for and hour or two there would have been,
without a doubt, a fierce and sanguinary battle. As it was, they eclipsed the angry stars, some of
whom gazed out of the open windows of the City Hall with the most woebegone faces.”
Illustration of the Riot from Recollections of a New York Chief of Police.
By George Washington Walling, from the public domain.
James C. Willett, Sheriff of New York County, then proceeds to City Hall. With
the Militia at his back he gains entry to the Mayor’s office unobstructed. He and
his deputy then serve Wood with Recorder Smith’s second warrant, and ask that
Wood accompany them. Wood complies, but reaching the outer office, the Sherriff
is presented with a writ of habeas corpus signed by Tammany member Richard
Connolly. Again, Tammany is for the ouster of Wood, but on their terms, not the
Republicans. A writ of habeas corpus requires that the defendant appear before a
judge before they can be imprisoned. But the presiding Judge has by now left his
chambers, most likely having had enough of the day’s events. Recorder Smith and
General Sandford then confer, and they agree there most likely will be bloodshed
if Wood is forcibly taken through the streets under arrest. Wood is eventually
allowed to go home, accompanied by the Sheriff.
380
Precursor to War

1857
1857
1857
1857
An article in the New-York Daily Times of June 18, summarizes what happens the
next day:
“THE CIVIL WAR.
The Mayor still in the Sheriff’s Keeping.
Eight Hundred of the Mayor’s Policemen in the City Hall.
The Metropolitan Force increased to Nine Hundred.
Four Regiments Under Arms.
Fernando Wood Acknowledges the New Police, General Sandford assuring him he must.
Hearing on the Habeas Corpus.
The Matter Postponed To Friday.
Two Street Commissioners Acting.”
OnonesideofthehearingofhabeascorpusistheNewYorkCity’sDistrictAttorney,
Abraham Oakley Hall, on the other, Wood’s counsel, George Barnard. These two,
although on opposite sides of the proceedings, will become allies under William
M. Tweed. The upshot of the events are that Wood is never brought to trial, twelve
police officers are severely injured, 31
and in August a Judge throws out Governor
King’s appointment of Daniel Conover, making Charles Devlin, having paid cash
on the barrel, the sole Street Commissioner. 32
On July 1, the New-York Evening Post prints the following notice:
“Tammany Society and the Fourth of July.—A meeting of the Tammany Society was held
last evening for the purpose of making arrangements for celebrating the fourth after the most
approved manner of the New York Democracy.”
Events on the evening of July 4, and well in to the early morning of July 6 will
unfold in a most decidedly unapproved manner of the New York Democracy.
On July 4, the New-York Daily Times reports:
“Mayor Wood’s Submission.
Mayor Wood at last submits with an ill grace, to the law of the State, and informs the
unfortunate men who have been deluded by his promises, that he has no longer any authority over
them, and that they are disbanded and dismissed. It is cold comfort for them to be informed that
they have been violators of the law while acting under the Mayor’s orders, and they are liable to be
prosecuted for making illegal arrests. The Mayor yields obedience to the Law, because the Court of
Appeals has decided that the new Police Bill is constitutional.”
And so the Municipal Police are no more. The next forty-eight hours will sorely
test the new Metropolitan Police.
On July 4, the venerable New York politician, Senator, Governor, Secretary of
War, and Secretary of State, William L. Marcy dies in Ballston Spa, New York, a
village near the Hudson between Albany and Saratoga Springs. His death on July 4
follows in the footsteps of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe. His
death comes just four months after he resigns as Secretary of State under Franklin
Pierce. In one of his last diary entries from April 18, 1857, his gives his opinion of
President Buchanan:
“My knowledge of the qualities of Mr. Buchanan’s mind never allowed me to hope that
he would display much skill in managing the personal affairs of the government, but he has gone
beyond the limit fixed by my apprehensions, in his maladroitness.” 33
381

1857
1857
The New-York Herald of July 6 reports the following telegraphic dispatches:
“Ballston, July 4, 1857. The Hon. William L. Marcy was found in his room today,
at noon, quite dead. He appeared to be in his usual good health this morning. We have not heard
of any cause assigned for his sudden death.”
“Albany, July 5, 1857. Governor Marcy’s funeral will, it is expected, to take place
here on Wednesday, on which occasion there will be a grand military display. His remains will be
brought down from Ballston to-morrow in charge of John N. Wilder, Esq. and Mr. Delavan.”
“John N. Wilder” is a successful merchant, and President of the Board of Regents
of the University of Rochester. 34
“Mr. Delavan” is Society of St. Tammany Grand
Sachem Daniel E. Delavan.
The still simmering conflict between the Metropolitan Police and the recently
disbanded Municipals allows the gangs of New York to run rampant on the
weekend of July 4. It is a culmination of the conflict between the Irish Dead
Rabbits, and the nativist Bowery Boys who are still reeling at the loss of their
leader, William “Bill the Butcher” Poole. By this time Lew Baker, Poole’s assailant,
has gotten off scot-free. There are conflicting timelines of events, as cited in The
Gangs of New York, by Herbert Asbury, and The Great Riots of New York, by J.T.
Headley. In addition, accounts in the New-York Daily Times, and the New-York
Daily Tribune give various perspectives of events, demonstrating the widespread
nature of the rioting that consumes the city. Early Saturday morning, July 4, while
most of New York City is sleeping, the youth of the Five Points loosely connected
to the Dead Rabbits, emboldened by the lack of police presence, attack the Bowery
Boys headquarters at 40 Bowery. What starts out as a relativity minor fracas, as
reported in the New-York Daily Times of July 6, swells over the next forty-eight
hours into what will come to be known as the “Dead Rabbits Riot,” the worst
rioting the city has seen since the Astor Place Riots:
“The riots began late Friday night (or early Saturday morning) started in this way. A
crowd of young vagabonds from Cow Bay and the neighborhood proceeded to the Bowery, at
Nos. 40 and 42, and made an onslaught upon the ‘Atlantic Guards,’ or Bowery Crowd. The attack
was not anticipated, still a vigorous resistance was made by the assailed, and the fight that ensued
was a desperate one. Fire arms, clubs, Brick-bats and stones were freely used. The windows of the
houses in the vicinity were shattered to pieces. Unoffending people fled rapidly, and the uproar was
most intense. The ‘Bowery Crowd’ were finally forced to retreat, and the ‘Five Points,’ alias ‘Dead
Rabbits.’ alias ‘Roach Guard,’ then retired, yelling and assailing all whom they met, firing their
revolvers into the air and defying any to interfere.”
Cow Bay is a cul-de-sac at the foot of Little Water Street, just north of Paradise
Square, in the Five Points. So named because it occupies what was the southern
portion of the Collect Pond, a formerly fresh water pond that by 1811, teeming
with refuse and sewage, is filled in. The Times reports events unfolding on Saturday,
with the Metropolitans trying to quell street fighting:
“The officers, despite their small numbers, fought with desperation. They rushed among
thehundredsofassailantsand,dashingtheirclubsrightandleft,prostratedmanyoftheiropponents.
Most of the rioters finally rushed into the houses adjoining, from the windows and roofs of which
the showered down stones and brickbats upon the officers, whom they compelled to retire, having
made only two prisoners whom the carried to the Tombs, where they were committed, in default
of bail, by Justice Welsh, who, at the request of Commissioner Draper, kept open Court all day.”
382
Precursor to War

1857
“Commissioner Draper” is Simeon Draper, who has held the position of
Metropolitan Police Commissioner for just one day. J.T. Headley gives his account
of what happens at the Tombs:
“Comparative quiet was now restored, though the excitement spread in every direction.
It lasted, however, only an hour or two, when suddenly a loud yell was heard near the Tombs,
accompanied with the report of fire-arms, and crowds of people came pouring down Baxter and
Leonard Streets, to get out of the way of bullets. Some wounded men were carried by, and the
utmost terror and confusion prevailed. The air was filled with flying missiles and oaths, and shouts
of defiance.” 35
By Saturday evening, the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys are faced off from
each other behind barricades, as reported in the New-York Daily Tribune of July 6:
“Meanwhile, hostilities were continued between the Bowery boys and the Dead Rabbits,
the former still holding possession of the brick pile; but on the repulse of the police the Dead
Rabbit force was increased by the accession of a couple hundred of mien who had been engaged
with the officers, and making a grand charge with clubs and missiles, they succeeded in dislodging
the Bowery boys and gaining possession of the brick pile. The Bowery boys retreated to Elizabeth
street, where they again made a stand, and the fighting was resumed with renewed vigor.”
View from the “Dead Rabbit” barricade in Bayard Street, taken at the height of the
battle by our own artist, who, as spectator, was present at the fight.
From Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, July 18, 1857.
Herbert Asbury gives his account of what happens at the barricades:
“Early in the evening the police authorities, in despair, sent for Captain Isaiah Rynders,
political boss of the Sixth Ward and as such king of the Five Points gangsters, and implored him to
stop the slaughter. But the rioters were in such a rage that they refused his commands, and as he
stood before their barricades haranguing them the Bowery Boys attacked and Captain Rynders was
badly beaten before he could find refuge in the midst of his own henchmen. Realizing the futility of
further appeal, he made his way to Metropolitan Police Headquarters and advised Commissioner
Draper to call out the troops.” 36
383

St. tammany chapter 8

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (12)

Similar to St. tammany chapter 8

Similar to St. tammany chapter 8 (17)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

St. tammany chapter 8