An Election Riot

 On Sunday I visited the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia.  Making my way through an exhibit on the early history of the Corps, I came across a small display referencing an 1857 election riot in Washington DC, in which President Buchanan called out the Marines to restore order, leading to an incident where the Commandant of the Corps, Brigadier General Archibald Henderson, 74 at the time, placed himself in front of a cannon operated by the rioters, admonishing them not to fire.  While the rioters hesitated, the Marines advanced and seized the gun.  Eight people were killed during the event.

A DC election riot in the years leading up to the Civil War?  One in which rioters in Mount Vernon Square, less than a mile from the White House, had a cannon?  Never heard of it.  Deciding to remedy my ignorance I now pass on to you, faithful reader, what I've learned.

June 1, 1857 was election day in the District and a fear of violence hung over the city.  The early 1850s had seen the rise of the anti-immigrant Know-Nothing Party, a rise sparked by the large scale immigration of Irish and Germans, beginning in the 1840s.  Not only were these groups not English or Scottish, even worse they were Roman Catholic.

Like many other cities in the Northeast, DC saw the party quickly gain strength and in 1854 John T Towers, a Know-Nothing, was elected mayor of the District.  Though the Know-Nothing mayoral candidate in 1856 was narrowly defeated by only 32 votes out of almost 6,000 cast, the party remained strong.  The June 1 election was a mid-term contest for other city offices.  

The Know-Nothings were determined to win the election at all costs and, to that end, a gang from Baltimore, the Plug Uglies, took the train to DC that morning where they were joined by two local gangs, the Chunkers and the Rip-Raps.  Heading to a polling place at Mount Vernon Square, the gang started by harassing anti-Know Nothing voters and escalating to assaults on anyone looking like a recent immigrant.  The gangs employed revolvers, bowie knives, stones, iron bars, and wood clubs, among their weapons, bloodying several immigrants and injuries police who tried to intervene, shutting down the voting station and breaking doors and windows in adjacent buildings. 

The mob then headed to another polling station near 11th St and Pennsylvania Ave., leaving more wounded immigrants at that location.

President Buchanan received a request for help from the Mayor and responded by ordering two companies of Marines to be sent.  Meanwhile, the gangs got a hold of a small brass cannon from a firehouse near the Navy Yard and returned to the Mount Vernon Square area.

The Marines approached the square, led by General Henderson.  Archibald Henderson joined the Corps in 1806 and served on board the USS Constitution during its famous naval battles in the War of 1812.  Becoming Commandant of the Corps in 1820, he would serve as its leader until his death on January 6, 1859, longer than any other Commandant in its history. 

Henderson marched up to the cannon, placing himself against the muzzle of the loaded gun, demanding the rioters not fire.  As the Marines seized the gun, the rioters began to retreat but several fired revolvers as they did so.  One shot, seriously wounded a Marine in the jaw and with that the Marines began firing, without orders, into the crowd, killing several people, including a government clerk watching from a second floor window, a German immigrant, and an African-American waiter at a nearby restaurant.

The Plug Uglies went back to the station to catch the train back to Baltimore but many were arrested before they could board. 

The actions of the Know-Nothings contributed to their precipitous decline as a factor in American politics, but violence in the District of Columbia would continue in the lead up to the Civil War.