st. tammany chapter 8

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349 CHAPTER 8 Precursor to War e 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. e 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. e 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. e 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. ey 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 leſt, James Buchanan driving right, and Lincoln bearing down on them. From the collection of the Library of Congress.

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Page 1: St. tammany chapter 8

349

CHAPTER 8Precursor 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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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:

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“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 into his boat lying at the dock, and rowed away, while Morrissey, considerably chop-fallen and awfully bruised and beaten, was obliged to leave the ground amid the jeers and hootings of the assemblage.”

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In less than one year’s time, Poole will be dead.

A lithograph of John Morrissey, published by Currier & Ives.From the collection of the Library of Congress.

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

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By this time the Whig Party is beginning to fall apart nationally with Whig stalwarts 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.”

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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:

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“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.From the collection of the Library of Congress.

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On February 5, the New York State Legislature re-elects soon to be Republican William H. Seward to the United States Senate.

On February 25, the New-York Daily Times reports:

“TERRIBLE SHOOTING AFFRAY IN BROADWAYBILL POOLE FATALLY WOUNDED

THE MORRISSEY AND POOLE FEUDRENEWAL 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.”

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On February 26, the New-York Daily Times reports:

“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.

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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.”

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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:

“The Young Men’s (Tammany) General Committee take the refusal of the State Convention 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.

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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.”

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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.

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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

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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.From the public domain.

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.

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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.

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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.

The article goes on to state:

“ 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.”

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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

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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 were offered and adopted indorsing the nomination of Fernando Wood for Mayor, and condemning 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.”

“Detachment of police were stationed at every poll throughout the city to give countenance 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.”

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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.”

The article goes on to state:

“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.”

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On November 4, the National, as well as the New York State and New York City mayoral elections are held. In the presidential election, Democrat James 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.”

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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.

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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.From the public domain.

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.

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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 mid April, the Republicans in Albany pass the Metropolitan Police Act. 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.”

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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:

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“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.

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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.

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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.”

On one side of the hearing of habeas corpus is the New York City’s District Attorney, 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

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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 the hundreds of assailants and, dashing their clubs right and left, prostrated many of their opponents. 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.”

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“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.From the collection of the Library of Congress.

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

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The Times gives its version of Rynders at the barricades:

“About this time Capt. Rynders appeared on the scene, and going about the combatants attempted to persuade them to desist, pointing out as he did so the great risks which they were running by their conduct, its illegality, and the lack of any necessity for such murderous collision between old acquaintances. The Captain was not rudely used, but his did not succeed in his good intent, and seeing a boy shot down beside him, he acted the wiser and retired. He next proceeded to the office of the Metropolitan Police Commissioners in White-street, where he had an interview with Commissioner Draper, of whom he inquired whether there were no means to put a stop to the riot. ‘If the Police force is not sufficient the military should be called out,’ said the Captain, who also offered to accompany a force to the place of the riot for the purpose of restoring order. The Captain was received most blandly. Mr. Draper said had that moment issued a requisition upon Major-General Sandford, and that three regiments would soon be on the ground, and would remain on duty all night to suppress and further attempt to riot.”

And so Major General Charles W. Sandford is once more called into the breech, but again the actual timeline of events becomes confused. Asbury writes that the Eighth and Seventy-First Regiments march down White and Worth Street behind seventy-five Metropolitans, swinging clubs and dispelling the rioters, but no citation is given. Headley’s history, which most likely was Asbury’s source, states the same thing. Again, there is no citation. The Times of July 6, reports it differently:

“At 11 o’clock Saturday night the 71st Regiment was ordered out under the command of Col. Vosburgh and rendezvoused at the arsenal in Elm Street. The were served with ball cartridge and remained under arms until 6 A. M. They were then discharged for the night and ordered to report for duty at 9 o’clock Sunday morning. Three hundred men of this Regiment remained on duty throughout yesterday at the Arsenal. They seemed entirely willing to go into the fight if necessary.”

Both the Times and the Tribune of July 6 give accounts on how the standoff between the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys is resolved, each article corroborating the other. An officer from the 19th precinct by the name of Shangles, along with several other officers, employs a ruse. Stripping themselves of their badges and clubs, they approach the Bowery barricades waving a white handkerchief. There they say that the Dead Rabbits are abandoning their positions. Upon hearing this, the Bowery Boys agree to abandon theirs. Officer Shangles then returns to the Dead Rabbits, still holding their positions, and uses the same ruse. And so the riot ends for the night. The only difference between the two articles is that the Tribune states that Shangles approaches the Dead Rabbits first. In addition to the standoff between the Bowery Boys and the Dead Rabbits, general lawlessness reigns, with many innocent people assaulted and robbed. On Sunday all is quiet until the evening when rioting flares again in the vicinity of the Five Points. In a separate article the New-York Daily Times of July 6, reports:

“Renewal of the Riots.—Last evening the difficulties of the night before broke out in a new place, lasted for hours, and the military were called out to assist the Police in dispersing the belligerent parties. On Centre-street, at the corner of Worth, a crowd of rowdies, to the number, perhaps, of 1,000, was assembled, and an equal number, or even more, at the Five Points.”

When is all said and done, eight people, including two young boys are killed with scores wounded. 37 In a final insult, the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys both employ a bit of 19th century public relations, as published in the New York Daily Times of July 6:

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“As far as there being any array of the ‘Bowery Boys’ against the ‘Dead Rabbits,’ either at the time mentioned, or in any subsequent fights in Bayard-street, they deny it totally. They do not hesitate to say, however, if the ‘Bowery Boys’ saw fit to muster in their strength, the could whip three times all the ‘Dead Rabbits’ could gather together. We are requested by a ‘Dead Rabbit’ to state that the ‘Dead Rabbit Clubb’ are not thieves, that they did not participate in the riot with the ‘Bowery Boys,’ and the fight in Baxter-street was between the ‘Roach Guards’ of Mulberry-street, and the ‘Atlantic Guards’ of the Bowery. The ‘Dead Rabbits’ are sensitive on points of honor, we are assured, and wouldn’t allow a thief to live on their beat, much less be a member of their Club.”

It is worth noting that Captain Isaiah Rynders, now on the other side of the law—Untied States Marshal as appointed by President Buchanan—has little control over the Irish gangs of the “Bloody Ould Sixth,” a group he once had completely under his thumb.

On July 11, Horace Greeley’s New-York Daily Tribune, squarely in the Republican camp, prints the following article with its thinly veiled sarcasm:

“The ‘Small’ Dead-Rabbit Committee.—This distinguished organization of Dead Rabbits, with the renowned Wilson Small at their head, held a meeting in one of the by-rooms of Tammany Hall last night, and went through the forms peculiar to the tribe. The burrow was illuminated by to small camphene lamps, which only served to render the gloominess of the gathering more distinct.”

Again, Wilson Small is a minion of Fernando Wood. The article goes on to state that Isaiah Rynders, Richard Connolly, and William Tweed resign from the Dead Rabbits ranks, but this is sarcasm on the Tribune’s part, the three of them generally steering clear of what Charles Dickens, in his essay American Notes, succinctly describes during his visit to New York City:

“There are many by-streets, almost as neutral in clean colours, and positive in dirty ones, as by-streets in London; and there is one quarter, commonly called the Five Points, which, in respect of filth and wretchedness, may be safely backed against Seven Dials, or and other part of famed St. Giles’s.” 38

“Seven Dials” is one the most notorious slums of mid 19th century London. Like the Five Points, so name for its five converging streets, Seven Dials has seven.

On August 26, the New-York Daily Times reports:

“Yesterday and Monday Judge Peabody granted fifteen attachments against the Ohio Life and Trust Company, at the suit of several banks and firms in this City. By the attachments already issued, the liabilities of the Trust Company is found to be $1,000,000. The will probably be other attachment applied for. The office of the Company is in the possession of the Sheriff.”

The failure of the banking institution Ohio Life and Trust, based is Cincinnati, is sparked by the maleficence of the manager of its New York City office, Edwin C. Ludlow. With a glut of European grain, made possible with Russia reentering the market after the end of the Crimean War, American grain is suppressed and midwestern grain brokers begin asking for the return of surplus funds they had held in reserve in New York Banks, including Ohio Life. There is only one problem: Mr. Ludlow’s systematic looting of the banks funds. Unable to cover the requested funds, Ohio Life is caught short and fails. 39

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It is unclear what becomes of Edwin C. Ludlow.

On September 5, the New-York Herald reports:

“Americus Engine Company No. 6 (better known as ‘Big Six’) will start to-day on their grand excursion to Canada, under the foremanship (for the occasion) of William M. Tweed. They will muster one hundred men; and the machine has been ‘fixed up pretty,’ and would take the first prize at any world’s fair. It is, in fact, a model of beauty, and reflects great credit on the good taste of the members.”

In September, opposition continues to mount against Fernando Wood. On September 5, the Weekly Herald reports:

“The Tammany Hall Troubles—The Mephistopheles of the Party Camp.—Notwithstanding the well intended and well directed efforts of the several divisions of the democracy of this city to bring reunion and consolidation of their forces, there is yet a screw or two loose which prevents the proper working of the machinery. Our impression is that the chief mischief-maker in the camp is Daniel E. Sickles; and that, aided by the folly, ignorance and stupidity of such bungling managers such as Sanders, Rynders and Hart, this man Sickles keeps our democratic factions by the ears, inside and outside of Tammany Hall.”

Reporting on the Democratic State Convention held in Syracuse, the New-York Daily Times of September 8 details members of Congress as well as Federal officers that are opposed to the re-election of Mayor Wood:

“Of members of Congress against him we have Daniel E. Sickles, Horace F. Clark, Wm. B. Maclay, Elijah Ward and John Cochrane.”

The article goes on to state:

“Of the Federal officers, there are opposed to him Isaac V. Fowler, Postmaster; Emanuel B. Hart, Surveyor; Isaiah Rynders, U.S. Marshal; George N. Sanders, Navy Agent, and John Mckeon, U.S. District Attorney. To the position of Mr. Schell, Collector, we shall refer in another place. Peter B. Sweeny, the Hard member of the State Central Committee, is also ‘bitterly agin him.’”

The article then goes on to report:

“THE EXACT POSITION OF COLLECTOR SCHELL. Mr. Schell’s position in this matter is widely misrepresented, and therefore, of course, grossly misunderstood. During all his career he has been opposed to Wood, and at last election voted against him for Mayor. When appointed Collector, Mr. Buchanan instructed him in somewhat the following words: ‘Alderman Wood came here,’ said the President, ‘expecting to dictate my appointments for your City. I know his antecedents; I know them well, and have always refused to recognize his pretended claims. No appointment which I have made is due to him, but I do not wish to further hasten the end of his career. The end of such men is as sure as heaven’s justice, and I wish that he should be left to the natural process of decay. The position in which you are about to be placed is one of great power and patronage; and all I ask is that you should simply keep your hands off him,’ concluding with that well-known cock of the eye,—‘and let the devil get his own in his own time.’ Mr. Schell has faithfully acted on these instructions, and that is his position.”

In fact, James Buchanan will decay long before Fernando Wood.

On September 9, the sidewheel steamer SS Central America, bound for New York City and laden with gold from California, is caught up in a Category 2 hurricane off the coast of the Carolinas.

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She sinks on September 12. 149 people are saved, but 423 are lost, along with $1,219,189 in gold. 40 That is $24,900,000 in 2015 dollars as calculated by the GDP deflator. The gold, destined for the coffers of Wells Fargo & Company, the American Exchange Bank, F.M. Drexel, as well as others, will deprive Wall Street of badly needed funds in the face of an impending financial crisis that will become known as the Panic of 1857. This loss of gold, along with the failure of Ohio Life, causes depositors to withdraw gold in droves. Remarkably like the Panic of 1837, 1857’s will be driven by speculation in land, along with manufacturing and railroads. Combined with declining grain prices, the bubble will burst. The depletion of specie from New York banks will cause one failure after another, and will soon cause the crisis to reach London and Paris. By the end of September, unemployment in New York City will be estimated at forty thousand. On October 14, eighteen New York City banks suspend payment of specie. 41 President Buchanan’s deals with this Panic much the same way that Andrew Jackson did twenty years earlier: restricting bank notes in favor of specie. The Northern manufacturers suffer more than the Southern planters, and this will further test Buchanan’s standing with the Democrats.

Wall Street on Suspension Day. Oct. 14, 1857.From The Banks of New-York, Their Dealers,

The Clearing House, and the Panic of 1857, by J.S. Gibbons.From the public domain.

On September 14, the New-York Daily Times shortens its name to the New-York Times.

On October 22, a message sent by Fernando Wood is read in the Common Council. To deal with the multitude of unemployed facing a hard winter, he proposes an extensive work-relief program. The message suggests that to prevent a recurrence of the 1837 Flour Riot, the municipal government provide work for the poor, building and grading roads, repairing docks, constructing a new reservoir in the nascent Central Park, and the like. Instead of cash the workers will be paid in flour, cornmeal, and potatoes. Long-term bonds will cover the funds of this ambitious program. This is all well and good, but Mayor Wood who is all things to all people—pro and anti-slavery, pro and anti-immigrant, Democrat, Know Nothing—now adopts the doctrines of Karl Marx. As reported in the New-York Times of October 22, Wood goes a step too far in his message to the Council:

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“Truly may it said that in New-York those who produce everything get nothing, and those who produce nothing get everything. They labor without income whilst surrounded by thousands living in affluence and splendor, who have income without labor. But now, even this, resource, with its poor pittance, is to be taken from them. The monetary troubles have prostrated all branches of industry and mechanical work.”

This proposal causes an extreme backlash by private charitable organizations, outraged at the prospect of a rival municipal relief agency. Leading the charge is the Association for the Improvement of Condition of the Poor. This otherwise forward thinking innovative charity, formed in 1843, suggests that the workingman “bear with manliness what they must bear.” 42 Wood’s proposal ultimately fails.

Wood’s proposal causes an extreme backlash in the press as well. In an editorial in the New-York Times of October 27, it states:

“How the Mayor of this City has treated the question of the relief of the laboring classes we already know. While urging upon the Municipal Government measures ingeniously contrived to exasperate the poor by further by further disappointments, and to increase the difficulties of the civic administration by adding another to the countless ‘jobs’ on which out taxes and the character of our City are continually thrown away, Mr. Wood raises the banner of fiery communism, and justifies by anticipation any possible excesses of the despairing poor, upon the persons and the property of the rich.”

Has Wood read Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ Manifesto of the Communist Party, first published in England in February 1848? Perhaps, as judged by the following excerpt:

“…those members who work acquire nothing, and those who acquire anything do not work.” 43

Interestingly, Marx becomes the European correspondent for the New-York Daily Tribune starting in 1852. The Times editorial goes on to state:

“The communism of Mayor Wood may be, and doubtless is, a mere personal ‘fetch,’—a ‘trap to catch sunbeams’ of popularity.”

A Trap to Catch a Sunbeam is a popular 19th century children’s fable.

On October 30, the New-York Evening Post reports:

“Rowdies in Possession of the City Hall.A Man Murdered at the Mayor’s Door.

A terrible fight occurred at the City Hall, about 12 o’clock today, in which a man was so brutally beaten that there is no hope for his recovery, if indeed he is still alive.”

On November 3, the New York state elections are held. In a surprising show of strength, the entire Democratic ticket prevails including former Lieutenant Governor Sanford E. Church elected Comptroller, and Tammany Sachem Gideon J. Tucker elected Secretary of State. The race for the State Legislature is almost evenly split, with 15 Republican, 14 Democrats, and 2 Americans elected in the Senate. In the Assembly, 61 Republicans prevail over 58 Democrats and 9 Americans. Gideon J. Tucker is a lawyer and investor in the pro-Tammany newspaper Albany Argus. At thirty-one year of age, he is the youngest man elected as Secretary of State. He will go on to have a long political career.

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By mid November, A few diehard supporters of Mayor Wood such as John Kelly still hold forth in Tammany Hall, but key members of the merchant elite—financier August Belmont, sugar magnate and former mayor William Havemeyer, industrialist Peter Cooper, and former Senator, Barnburner, and Mississippi and Missouri Railroad president John Adams Dix—are committed to unseating Wood. 44 Along with “reform” members of Tammany Hall, William Tweed, Daniel Sickles, Peter Sweeny, and Richard Connolly, they form a collation with Republicans and Know Nothings to find a candidate to oppose Wood. At first Havemeyer’s name is floated, but he declines. They settle on another powerful merchant, the wealthy German-American paint manufacturer Daniel F. Tiemann.

As a result of the Democratic led Common Council’s amending the municipal charter to hold new city elections on December 1, Mayor Wood’s term is cut in half. The New-York Times of December 2 reports the results:

“Daniel F. Tiemann Elected Mayor by Over 3,000 Majority.83,000 Votes Cast.

The Police Easily Preserve the Peace.Democratic Majorities in both Boards of the Common Council.

Rejoicings Over Wood’s Defeat.”

In addition to Tiemann prevailing over Wood, Peter B. Sweeny is elected as District Attorney, George G. Barnard is elected City Recorder, William Tweed is elected to the Board of Supervisors, and Richard B. Connolly is elected County Clerk. Barnard and Tweed will go on to have a mutually beneficial relationship.

On December 4, as reported in the New York Evening Post, Wilson Small and Fernando Wood take control of a meeting of the General Committee of Tammany Hall. Letters are read from Daniel E. Sickles and C. Godfrey Gunther offering their resignations. In a particularly vehement speech by Fernando Wood, he states that, “Such traitors deserve no mercy, no quarter,” and motion is made that they be summarily expelled from the Committee. Isaiah Rynders and others object, stating that the Committee should be completely purged and started fresh in the face of the previous elections. Rynders objection is shouted down, and the motion to expel Sickles and Gunther is carried.

On December 9, as reported in the New-York Daily Tribune, another meeting of the General Committee of Tammany Hall takes place. The Metropolitan Police are there in force. This time it is presided over by Sachem of the Society of St. Tammany, Edward Cooper. In it a resolution is passed declaring Wilson Small in “utter violation” of the laws of the Committee in expelling Daniel Sickles and C. Godfrey Gunther, and the two of them are reinstated. Edward Cooper, son of industrialist Peter Cooper, will go on to become mayor of New York City in 1879. Unable to enter the meeting by the police, Wood’s shoulder hitters are starting to overflow in the bar downstairs, and a “Grand Row” ensues, equal to the great melees at Tammany Hall in the past. With the Metropolitans cracking heads, but arresting no one, a man is shot, but survives. One of the belligerents is heard to remark, “it was a damned hard case the Black Republican Metropolitan Police should be brought into Tammany Hall to club good square Democrats.” By this time “Black Republican” is a derisive term used by Democrats to describe the Republican Party’s anti-slavery stance.

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By this time, President Buchanan is a full-fledged Doughface who is committed to slave-owners rights. Buchanan appoints Robert J. Walker, a former Democratic Senator from Mississippi as Territorial Governor of Kansas, thinking he will tow the administration line. Walker does not. Buchanan tries to ram the Lecompton Constitution, so named after pro-slavery Lecompton, Kansas, through Congress, allowing slavery in the Kansas territory. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, who advocates the resolution of the slavery question in Kansas by popular sovereignty, opposes him. In his first address to Congress on December 9, Buchanan belittles the Kansas question, as shown in the following excerpt:

“Kansas has for some years occupied too much of the public attention. It is high time this should be directed to far more important objects. When once admitted into the Union, whether with or without slavery, the excitement beyond her own limits will speedily pass away, and she will then for the first time be left, as she ought to have been long since, to manage her own affairs in her own way.”

On December 15, citing undo influence from President Buchanan, Governor of the Kansas Territory Robert J. Walker formally resigns in a letter to Secretary of State Lewis Cass. 45

On December 17, the New-York Times reports the refusal of the Sachems of the Society of St. Tammany to allow a general meeting at Tammany Hall, whose purpose is to indorse President Buchanan’s message to Congress. The article goes on to state that the Sachems then acquiesce to a private meeting at which Sachem Isaac V. Fowler presents the following resolution:

“Resolved, That we respond with heartiness and enthusiasm to the recent Message of President Buchanan; that its sound, Democratic doctrine, its wise and comprehensive policy, and its liberal yet conservative tone, commend it to the approval of judicious men of all parties; and that, especially, upon the subject of Kansas we regard it as securing to the people of that Territory the free expression of their will upon the only subject which has divided them, and as just toward all sections of the Union.”

Isaac V. Fowler is appointed Postmaster of New York City by President Pierce and reappointed by Buchanan. Things will not end well for his political career. His muddled statement that Buchanan is both “liberal yet conservative” demonstrates that the President’s policies are neither “wise” nor “comprehensive.” Just what “far more important objects” Buchanan is referring to is unclear and muddled as well, as the question of whether slavery be allowed in Kansas is one of the defining issues leading up to the events of April 12, 1861.

On January 4, voters in the Kansas territory overwhelmingly reject the Lecompton Constitution, but the matter is not settled with President Buchanan.

On January 8, the New-York Daily Tribune reports:

“Tammany Hall—Fernando Again Defeated.— The ‘Regular Democratic Republican General Committee’ for 1858 had their first meeting at Tammany Hall last evening. This occasion was one of interest to the Democracy, who rallied in strong force, as the organization to be effected would test the strength of Fernando Wood, who had made every effort to secure control of the committee. One hundred and two delegates answered to their names. There were no contestants. Capt. Rynders called the Committee to order. Supervisor Tweed was nominated for temporary chairman.

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The Tribune then reports that an election is held for permanent Chairman of the Committee, and District Attorney Peter B. Sweeny, leader of the anti-Wood faction, is elected.

On January 8, the Society of St. Tammany holds the celebration of the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans in Tammany Hall, as reported in the New-York Times of January 9. Covering all their bases, the Society sends out formal invitations to a broad range of politicians, past and present. Letters of regret are received from Martin Van Buren, Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis, New York Senator and former Hunker Daniel S. Dickinson, New York Congressman and anti-Wood stalwart Daniel S. Sickles, Fernando Wood, current Mayor Daniel F. Tiemann, and Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise. The most remarkable letter, dated December 30, 1857, is from Governor Wise, who directly addresses President Buchanan trying to usurp the will of the people of Kansas.

Henry A. Wise, from a glass negative by an unknown photographer.From the collection of the Library of Congress.

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What follows are some excerpts from his lengthy letter, published in the Times:

“Almost every other people and every other party, except the American Democracy, have had their ‘bridges of asses;’ but I do pray that we may not be such asses ourselves as to make of bridge of Slavery, or of any other subject, for us to stall at in a career and progress of national greatness. And yet, gentlemen, there are a great many Kans-asses in our country, and they are not half as stubborn asses as the Can’t-asses. A driver can get along after with an ass that can, but the cruelest goad will not prevail with the asses who can’t. They are the stubbornness of all, and are sure to stall just in the way of most danger. They bray a political religion and religious politics. The best whip which ever touched these asses exactly in the raw was JAMES BUCHANAN’S Conestoga thong, laid right upon forty fanatical preachers ‘all in a row.’ ”

“ It may be very desirable to have Kansas admitted as a State as early as practicable, but nothing will be gained by admitting her into the Union in a mode offensive and oppressive to a large majority of her voters.”

Wise’s view, essentially that the Kansas question is the wrong fight at the wrong time, is extraordinary in light of the fact that he comes from a family of slave owners who have a plantation on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. It will raise the ire of his Southern comrades, as well as the Northern Doughfaces.

Wise’s letter to Tammany Hall causes a national firestorm. James Gordon Bennett Sr.’s New-York Herald of January 13, showing its racist colors by using the “N” word, prints reactions to the letter from newspapers around the country:

[From the Richmond South—Fire-Eater}Governor Wise on the Lecompton Convention.

In another column of this paper the reader will find a letter from Gov. Wise to the Tammany Society of New York. The Governor rarely writes without producing a sensation; but for this performance we venture to predict an unexampled effect on the public mind of country. From one end of the South to the other it will be read with astonishment and mortification. From one end of the North to the other it will be read with astonishment and exultation.”

“[From the Richmond Whig—Opposition.] Suffice it to say, the sentiments of Gov. Wise on the Kansas question, and especially the Lecompton constitution, are lauded in the New York Times, a rabid abolition journal, in a long leader, and in the most extravagant terms. The Governor, in a word, repudiates the Lecompton constitution as a palpable and monstrous fraud, and says it must be submitted to a direct vote of the people of Kansas before it can be fairly admitted into the Union. We believe, in short, that the letter of Gov. Wise is calculated to do more harm to the South at the North than anything which has yet transpired in the Kansas imbroglio.”

“[From the New York Tribune—nigger worshipper.] The Lecompton constitution is doomed. Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, yesterday formally abandoned its advocacy in the Senate, and the country will not be troubled with it much longer. Mr. Buchanan and the fire-eaters are broken down. Walker, Douglas and Wise carry the day, and remain leaders of the national democratic party. Thanks to them, the people of Kansas are saved from the continuance of an usurpation under whose bloody and outrageous sway they have suffered from the beginning.”

“[From the New York Times—nigger worshipper.] Governor Wise’s letter on the Kansas question is a perfect bombshell thrown into the ranks of the democratic party. It is the boldest and manliest demonstration made in politics in a long time. Taken in connection with the letter of Governor Walker, the speech of Senator Douglas, the declaration of the democratic party in Ohio and Indiana, and the general sentiments of the democratic masses throughout the North and West, it will pretty certainly give the coup de grace to the Lecompton movement. Gov. Wise’s action on the subject excites more astonishment and is more credible to him, because he is intensely Southern in his feelings, a zealous champion of slavery, and quite as ready as any of the Southern fire-eaters to take the boldest steps which the advancement of Southern interests may require.”

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“Fire-Eaters” are the most radical faction of the pro-slavery Southern Democrats.

It is the desire of this history to document Tammany’s involvement with both the extraordinary, men such Henry A. Wise, and the ordinary, such as an obscure young man named James Trainor who meets an untimely fate. On February 1, the New-York Herald of February 1 reports of a:

“Stabbing Affray at Tammany Hall. At a little past twelve o’clock this morning a party of rowdies from the First ward went into Tammany Hall to take a drink, and while in there got into an altercation with the bartender and some of the waiters, when a general fight ensued, during which one of the waiters, named James Trainor, received two severe stabs, one to the left side, and the other to the stomach. Trainor instantly fell to the floor, when the rowdies fled from the house, before the alarm could be given to the police. Trainor was conveyed to the hospital, where his wounds were pronounced of a fatal nature, and it is said that he would not live till morning.”

On February 22, the New-York Herald reports of:

“Tammany Hall Factions and Troubles.— The factions, committees and societies of Tammany Hall are all in hot water in regard to the proposed public meeting to sustain the position of the administration upon the Kansas question. One of the committees has adopted resolutions endorsing the administration; but there are certain partisans who have, so far, prevented the calling of the meeting; and that is the real reason why it has been so long postponed. They are the traitors in the party camp, and we advise Mr. Buchanan to withhold all the federal appointments at this port until the squabbles of Tammany are settled one way or another.”

The leaders of the anti-Lecompton faction are former and future mayor William Havemeyer and George Bancroft. 46 Bancroft is a noted historian and former Secretary of the Navy and Minister to the United Kingdom under President Polk.

On March 4, the anniversary of the inauguration of President Buchanan, a large meeting led by the pro-Lecompton faction is held at Tammany Hall. Despite a national groundswell of opposition to Buchanan’s Kansas policies, the New-York Times of March 5 reports:

“THE PRESIDENT SUSTAINED.Tammany Celebration of the Anniversary of his Inauguration.”

The lengthy article, which goes on for two pages, details support for the President’s recommending immediate statehood for Kansas under the provisions of the Lecompton Constitution, even thought it is rejected by a territorial election in January. Interestingly, former Barnburners John Adams Dix and John Van Buren line up behind President Buchanan. Perhaps mindful of the New-York Herald recommending that Buchanan should withhold patronage to his opponents, the meeting adopts the following resolution that Kansas be admitted as State under the Lecompton Constitution:

“Because James Buchanan, the President of the United States, recommends it. Elevated to a position which enables him most accurately to ascertain the exact truth amid conflicting statements, coming from heated partisans in that distant frontier of the Union, gifted with a rare sagacity and long experience to foresee and appreciate the dangers that threaten us, surrounded by a wise and able Cabinet, and animated by a patriotism which no man can question, he has advised Congress to meet the existing crisis by admitting Kansas into the Union under her present Constitution.”

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The Kansas question will not be settled until the very end of Buchanan’s term.

On March 16, the New-York Daily Tribune reports

“We have hitherto called attention to the machinations of Secret Societies as part of the political machinery of our times. That we deem such societies at all times dangerous and often fatal to Liberty and good Government, our readers already know. That they are impressively condemned by Washington in his farewell address, we need hardly observe. If there were a secret political order connected with, or growing out of the Republican party, we should have said far more in deprecation of and warring against such an order; but so far as we know, there is none. Nor do we think the Democratic party is generally cursed with the cancerous existence of one of these midnight cabals in its midst; but in this City the evil has attained frightful proportions.”

The article goes on to state:

“ ‘The Foresters’ is the name assumed by on the last devised of these dark conspiracies against independent action and popular freedom, of which the specific purpose is the recovery by Fernando Wood and his creatures of the control of Tammany Hall. To this end they initiate into the ‘Foresters’ none but member of the Tammany Society.”

Fernando Wood, unable to retake control of Tammany Hall directly, now employs stealth. What the Tribune “hitherto called attention to” is the Know Nothings, of which Wood is a secret member. The Tribune’s history is a little off. No mention is made condemning secret societies in Washington’s Farewell Address. It occurs in his sixth address to Congress on November 19, 1794, as noted in chapter two of this history. In it, Washington lashes out at the Society of St. Tammany, which he obliquely terms “certain self-created societies.” Their offence is criticism of his use of force in putting down the Whiskey Rebellion.

On April 7, the New-York Times reports:

“The Tammany Quarrel—Caucus of the Anti-‘Foresters.’ One hundred and twenty-two members of the Tammany Society, who are opposed to the Wood or ‘Forester’ faction had an adjourned caucus last evening at the Westchester House, corner of Broome-street and Bowery. Andrew H. Mickle, Ex-Mayor presided and made a speech.” On April 20, the New-York Daily Tribune reports:

“The Tammany Election.Defeat of Fernando Wood.

The Westchester Ticket Chosen. The election of Sachems and officers of the Tammany Society for next year took place last evening, and the struggle resulted in a fearful political slaughter.”

Members who have been absent for twenty years come to vote from as far away as Cincinnati. The Tribune details the diverse tribe in the following manner: “Three fossil Injuns were exhumed from Hudson, and it was expected that Martin Van Buren himself would be present to cast his vote, but the soil of Kinderhook refused to yield up the political corpus. But at any rate the excitement was intense about the wigwam. Old Injuns, young Injuns, lame Injuns and blind Injuns, wounded Injuns and whole Injuns, Injuns with gold-headed canes, and Injuns with red shirts on, whisky Injuns and Injuns who came in carriages, Injuns with political aspirations, Injuns without political aspirations, and Injuns with no aspirations, except aspirations eternal—in short, impossible Injuns of all varieties turned out and congregated within the bounds of the wigwam.”

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The Tribune describing “Injuns with gold-headed canes” is a veiled reference to Preston Brooks nearly beating to death Charles Sumner on the floor of the U.S. Senate with a gold-headed walking cane. The result of the election is that Wood and his “Foresters” are expelled from Tammany Hall. It is not the last we will hear of Fernando Wood, not by a long shot. By August, he will form a rival political society residing at Mozart Hall.

On May 12, St. Tammany Day, no mention is made in the New York press of a celebration being held by the Society of St. Tammany.

On May 18, the New-York Herald reports:

“Meeting of the Tammany Society.—A meeting of the Tammany Society or Columbian Order was held last evening at Tammany Hall. I.V. Fowler, Emanuel B. Hart and Thomas B. Topping were installed as Sachems, and General Gideon J. Pillow of Tennessee, Gov. Rodman M. Price of New Jersey, and several prominent gentlemen of this city, were elected as members. The meeting was large and enthusiastic, and great good feeling and unanimity prevailed.”

Once again, Tammany’s inductees cut a broad swath. Who I.V. Fowler is has already been covered. Emanuel B. Hart is the Surveyor of the Port of New York, appointed by President Buchanan. A former member of the House of Representatives from New York, he is New York’s first Jewish Congressman. It is unclear just who Thomas B. Topping is. Rodman M. Price serves in the U.S. Navy during the Mexican-American War, is a former New Jersey Congressman from 1851 to 1853 and Governor of New Jersey from 1854 to 1857. Gideon J. Pillow is a slave owner, an ambitious and wealthy lawyer, and a colleague of fellow Tennessean, the late James Polk. Pillow is one of many Southern’s to cross the threshold of Tammany Hall and then go on to join the Confederacy.

On June 8, the New-York Times reports:

“There was a large meeting of Tammany Society last evening. Grand Sachem Daniel C. Delevan in the chair. The meeting was called for the purpose of installing Isaac V. Fowler Esq., Grand Sachem elect.

On July 5, the New-York Evening Post reports of a:

Celebration at Tammany Hall. One of the standing rules of the Tammany Society requires a due celebration of the 4th of July. The sachems and warriors met at 10 o’clock yesterday, and at noon the doors of the Council Chambers were thrown open for the admission of members and invited guests.

The Post reports that Grand Sachem Isaac V. Fowler is presented with a liberty cap, a symbol the Society of St. Tammany that goes back to its origins. Former Massachusetts Congressman Caleb Cushing is in attendance and gives a speech. The article goes on to comment on his remarks:

“He ridiculed the idea of a dissolution of the Union, and claimed that it is cemented by indissoluble bands. In his opinion there is no disunion ‘party’ in the country. He characterized the Abolitionists and all opponents of the Constitution as demoralized women, who are sorry they are not men; as denationalized men, not worthy even to be women; and as Negro-pholists, who take every opportunity to assert their love of black men, and their hatred of white men.”

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That Caleb Cushing—son of Massachusetts, the hotbed of Abolitionism—is pro-slavery is as remarkable as Virginian Henry A. Wise being opposed to slavery in the Kansas Territory. Yet he is. A committed Doughface, Cushing is a former Minister to China under John Tyler, and Attorney General under Franklin Pierce.

On August 30, the New-York Daily Tribune reports of the competing factions in the Democratic Party vying for delegates to the upcoming Democratic State Convention:

“There is Tammany General Committee, of which P.B. Sweeny is Chairman; there is an anti-Tammany General Committee at Mozart Hall of which Alderman Thomas Stephens is Chairman; and there is a third committee, claiming to be the ‘Regular General Committee,’ whose headquarters is at Free Mason’s Hall, Bowery, and of which Geo. C. Genet is Chairman; and it appears that each of these committees, as the legitimate authority, has been making arrangements for the election of seventeen delegates to Syracuse.”

On September 8, the New York Republicans hold their convention in Syracuse and nominate Edwin D. Morgan as their candidate for Governor. A successful merchant, former Alderman and State Senator, Morgan is instrumental in the formation of the Republican Party. He becomes First Chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1856, a position he will hold until 1864. He will soon become aligned with a prairie lawyer and former Congressman from Illinois by the name of Abraham Lincoln.

Detail of a clipping of Edwin D. Morgan, The War Governor of New York.From the collection of the New York Public Library.

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On September 16, the New-York Daily Tribune reports of events:

“From Syracuse.The Democratic State Convention.

Tammany Triumphant.Fernando Wood Shown the Door.”

On September 17, the New-York Daily Tribune prints an editorial that states:

“We have no sympathy, and never have, with Mr. Fernando Wood nor any of his belongings. We regard him as a bad, dangerous man, who has done very much to demoralize and debauch the political atmosphere of our City. Since Aaron Burr, no man has done more in that line. In the long struggle between him and his enemies entrenched in Tammany Hall, our partialities have notoriously been against him throughout. And now, if they prove to have effectually squelched him at Syracuse, we shall be glad of it, whatever the political consequences. At the same time, it is but simple justice to state the notorious truth that he and his associates had no fair play shown them in the Democratic State Convention. They were marked for slaughter from the outset.”

Once again, the Democrats nominate Amasa J. Parker as their candidate for Governor. It is Parker’s second attempt at being Governor, having lost the 1856 election to Republican John Alsop King.

On October 8, the New-York Times reports of a:

“Interesting Meeting at Tammany Hall—Arrangements for the Primary Election—Anti Douglas Resolutions Squelched.”

The article then prints one of the offending resolutions:

“Resolved, That we heartily condemn the action of the said Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, in opposing the great party to which he owes his present honorable position as a United States Senator; that we have no sympathy whatever with him or his coadjutors in their present treacherous movement, which only tends distract and divide the only national party, whose measures and principles are alone the conservators of the peoples rights and liberties in whatever State or Territory they may reside.”

The New-York Evening Post of October 8 reports the reaction of those present, the resolutions being referred, that is to say “Squelched,” and the meeting hastily adjourned:

“There was an evident consternation upon the faces of all present during the reading of the resolutions; when the chair declared them referred, the motion to adjourn was instantly sprung, and carried in like double-quick time. Then it was that a general sense of relief was experienced. The comparative silence which had prevailed burst forth at once into a Babel, in the midst of which there was manifested, an anxious desire to scatter.”

And so, more than halfway into President Buchanan’s term, the Society of St. Tammany begins to cover their bets. By this time, Douglas is in a heated race for re-election to the U.S. Senate with Republican Abraham Lincoln. The two of them are engaged in a series of debates that will gain national fame, and ultimately end Senator Douglas’ career in politics. The subject of the debates, of course, is slavery.

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On November 2, the New York State elections are held. It is a sweep for the Republicans, winning the race for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Canal Commissioner, and Inspector of State Prisons. They also hold on to a majority in the State Senate and Assembly. In the race for the United States House of Representatives, both in New York State and nationally, the Republicans gain the majority over the Democrats, although in New York Tammany member Daniel E. Sickles is reelected. Tammany member John Kelly, having retired from Congress, is the Tammany candidate for Sheriff, and wins. Meanwhile, 800 miles to the west, the Democrats prevail in the Illinois state election. As a result, the Illinois Legislature re-elects Stephan A. Douglas senator, even though Mr. Lincoln wins a slim majority of the popular vote. The Republican triumph in the House will lead to partisan deadlock, allowing them to block Buchanan’s increasingly fragile agenda. This will set the stage for a recurrence of the Lincoln-Douglas race on a national level.

On December 20, the New-York Times reports of:

“Our Presidential Bumble. It has been already been announced that Mr. Buchanan is devoting the energies of his mighty mind to the settlement of the family dissensions of our New-York Democracy. It is now stated that he has been pleased to decree that the Tammany faction is the only true, genuine, unadulterated Democratic Party:—but it is also added that, in giving this decision, he intends to insist that ‘The voters shall have something to say about party affairs, and especially about the nomination of candidates for office.’ This will pass for a good joke in the precincts of Tammany Hall. It is hoped the President will come on and superintend in person the execution of this virtuous though slightly verdant proclamation. It is a little melancholy, it must be conceded, to see the President of the United States devoting so much of his time and attention to the paltry wranglings of Ward politicians.”

President Buchanan is indeed green if he thinks Tammany Hall will ever entrust the common voter to decide who will get a Democratic nomination.

On January 11, the New-York Daily Tribune reports on the Society of St. Tammany’s annual celebration of the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans. Daniel Sickles is in attendance, and the Tribune covers events surrounding his appearance there:

“While the feast was proceeding, a good democrat, boiling over with superabundant enthusiasm and mixed liquors, was very desirous of making a speech, which the company seemed indisposed to hear. The Police invited him to leave, which he was indisposed to do so, saying that he had come to hear Dan Sickles speak. As he was escorted from the room involuntarily, he called out to know if ‘Dan was going to see him put out?’ but the honorable gentleman seemed insensible to the appeal of his admirer, who was subsequently ejected from the premises.”

Daniel Sickles then gives a speech, and the article goes on to report:

“While Mr. Sickles was speaking, a brickbat made its way through the window, near the Grand Sachem’s chair, without a ticket, as was believed by intelligent persons present.”

Sickles presides over the 13 toasts made at the celebration, including the following:

“10. Women—the social conqueror and civilizer of our sex. To yield is our triumph—to resist our misfortune.”

Sickles young wife Teresa presumably remains at their residence in Washington while Sickles is at the celebration.

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On February 28, the New-York Evening Post reports of:

“The Assassination At Washington.Philip Barton Key Shot by Daniel E. Sickles.

We derive from the telegraphic despatches sent to the Associated Press and to the several morning papers the following account of the dreadful affair at Washington. The simple facts of the case are thus stated by the reporter for the Associated Press, under date of February 27th: ‘The community was thrown into an intense excitement to-day, by the killing of Phillip Barton Key, United States District Attorney for the District of Columbia, at the hands of Daniel E. Sickles. According to the report, Mr. Sickles, becoming convinced of the truth of certain rumors involving his wife, resolved to redress his wrongs.”

Philip Barton Key II is a lawyer who is born in Georgetown, D.C. He is the son of Francis Scott Key, and the nephew of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Roger Taney. 47 At the time of his death he is a widower with four children. Teresa Sickles, the former Teresa Bagioli, is the daughter of a well-known Italian singing teacher by the name of Antonio Bagioli. Although Sickles has ties to her family since she is an infant, he becomes reacquainted with her in 1851. He is thirty-three and she is fifteen. Sickles becomes smitten with the young Teresa, and much to the chagrin of both their parents, proposes marriage. Her family refuses to consent, but the couple is wed in a civil ceremony on September 17, 1852. Teresa’s family relents and they are married in a religious ceremony performed by John Hughes, Catholic Archbishop of New York City. By this time Teresa is two months pregnant with their only daughter, Laura Buchanan. Daniel has a taste for sexual intrigue, and Teresa will follow in kind. At the time of their marriage Dan is known to consort with the noted prostitute Fanny White. When White finds out that Sickles is to marry, she attacks him with a riding whip. 48 The Post goes on to report that for some time there are rumors circulating of Teresa’s infidelity with Key. On February 27, Sickles arrives home with wife after attending the opera and finds an anonymous poison pen letter among his correspondence. In it Teresa is accused of having an affair with Key. He confronts her, and she confesses. Sickles goes so far as to have her confess in writing. After midnight Sickles, whose residence is across from the White House on Lafayette Square, sees Key walk past his house two or three times. Sickles arms himself with a revolver and a Derringer and confronts Key, stating “Sir, you have dishonored me: prepare to die.” Key does just that. Sickles goes on to surrender to United States Attorney General Jeremiah Black. James T. Brady, the prominent New York attorney, Tammany Hard Shell and close friend of Sickles, along with Edwin Stanton, who will go on to succeed Black as Attorney General and then becomes Secretary of War under Lincoln, will act as Sickles’ council. Their defense: crime passionnel.

On March 17, the New-York Evening Post reports that:

Few men in this city were more notorious than Mike Walsh, whose body was found about half-past 5 o’clock this morning, by officer Courtney, at the foot of the steps leading to the basement of No. 188 Eighth avenue. His neck was dislocated, the body lifeless, and he is supposed to have died in a fit of intemperance. He was conveyed to the 16th ward precinct station-house, where Coroner O’Keefe has summoned a jury to inquire into the cause of his death. Walsh was a man of considerable natural abilities, and if he had cultivated them, and observed good habits, might have raised himself to an honorable distinction. He was a printer, we believe, by trade, and for a time published a newspaper called the Subterranean, which was an abusive and scurrilous print, but an especial thorn to the leaders of the Tammany democracy, to which Walsh belonged.”

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For much of the month of April, the eyes of New York City, as well as the nation, are turned to Washington D.C. and the trial of Daniel E. Sickles for the murder of Philip Barton Key. It is reported extensively in the press, and is one of the most sensational trials of the 19th century. This is in large part because of the prominence of the parties involved, and the fact that the murder takes place across the street from the White House. Tammany Sachem John Kelly is in attendance. 49

Hon. Daniel E. Sickles shooting Philip Barton Key, in President’s Square, Washington. From the public domain.

Mr. Sickles’ defense team of Edwin Stanton, James T. Brady, Brady’s Washington colleague Samuel Chilton (who we will hear from in October,) and a lawyer named John Graham mount a canny, two pronged defense. First,they claim that Sickles is temporally insane, and thus not responsible for his actions. This is the first use of the M’Naghten rules in the United States. In 1843 Daniel M’Naghten, a Scottish woodturner, shoots and kills Edward Drummond, secretary to British Prime Minister Robert Peel, mistaking him for Peel. Deluded into thinking that the Tories, Peels Party, personally follow and persecute him, M’Naghten goes to London in search of redress. Seeking to codify informal insanity appeals that exist in England for centuries, the House of Lords asks panel of judges to define a series of questions to determine if someone is legally insane. These M’Naghten rules become the legal standard in much of the world. As reported in the New-York Times of April 11:

“Mr. Graham claimed that the condition of Mr. Sickles mind, at the time of the commission of the act in question, was such as to render him legally unaccountable, as much so as if the state of his mind had been produced by a mental disease. We mean to say (continued Mr. G,) not that Mr. Sickles labored under insanity in consequence of an established mental permanent disease, but that the condition of his mind at the time of the commission of the act in question was such as would render him legally unaccountable, as much so as if the state of his mind had been produced by a mental disease. In other words, the proposition we argue to this Jury is this: It is no matter how a man becomes insane; is he insane? That is the question. Whether it results from disease of mind and body or sudden provocation, it is perfectly immaterial, and the privileges of accountably attach as much in one case as in the other.”

Second, as reported in the New-York Times of April 12, Sickles’ lawyer John Graham casts Teresa Sickles as a victim, and portrays Key as an evil seducer whose manipulation of Teresa into having sex with him is just short of being non-consensual:

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“Mr. Key was a man of about forty years of age, as I am informed; he had been a married man, and at this very time he had the monuments of that sacred relation before him to warn him of the wickedness of his conduct.”

Graham continues:

“Who was the woman he committed this adultery? Young enough to be his daughter. What her disposition may be I know not.”

Illustration of Teresa Bagioli Sickles, after a photograph by Mathew Brady.From Harper’s Weekly, March 12, 1859.

From the collection of the Library of Congress.

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On April 26, the trial of Daniel E. Sickles finally concludes after proceeding for twenty days. As reported in the New-York Daily Tribune of April 27, District Attorney Robert Ould, in his final summation, evokes the Old Testament. First, regarding Key’s adultery, he quotes the book of Job, chapter 31, verse 11:

“For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.”

The Tribune then reports that Ould:

“…next quoted from the 18th chapter of Ezekiel, 10th verse, to show that not only the adulterer and the murderer, but any man that begat a robber, or a shedder of human blood, or an idolater, or a usurer, should receive the same punishment at the hands of the law as an adulterer.”

In other words, Sickles should receive the same fate as Key. But the deck is seemingly stacked against District Attorney Ould. As reported in the Tribune, Judge T.H. Crawford gives these final instructions to the jury:

“The humane, and I will add, just doctrine, that a reasonable doubt should avail a prisoner, belongs to a defense of insanity as much, in my opinion, as to any other matter of fact.”

The jury deliberates for just over an hour, and the Tribune reports the jurors entering the jury box with their names being called by the Clerk:

“Clerk—How say you, do you find the prisoner at the bar, guilty or not guilty? Mr. Arnold—Not Guilty! As these words fell from the lips of the Foreman, there was loud, wild, thrilling, tumultuous hurrah sent up by the spectators.”

In the end, Philip Barton Key, who leaves behind four orphans, is the one judged instead of Daniel E. Sickles. The jury accepts that Sickles goes insane when he discovers his wife’s infidelity, turns blind eye to the fact that Sickles himself is an adulterer, and reasons that Key got what he had coming to him. Sickles goes on to effectively abandon Teresa, and she dies eight years later at age thirty-one. Sickles remarries and lives to the age of ninety-four, seeing the first two decades of the 20th century.

On May 12, the Society of St. Tammany again fails to celebrate its St. Tammany Day.

On June 27, the New-York Times reports of Fernando Wood staging a public event that will precede his return to political life. The article, with its thinly veiled sarcasm, comments on:

“The Use of Virtue. The Honorable Fernando Wood, who is generally to be found wherever a lofty morality is to be inculcated, or early piety is to be promoted, assisted on Friday at the anniversary exercises of the Catholic Orphan Asylum, and there delivered a short address to the children. A careful examination even of the brief, and for that reason imperfect, report of the address which we published on Saturday morning, justifies us in saying, without hesitation, that it reveals in a striking manner the loss which the world has sustained through Mr. Wood’s diversion from the paths of didactic composition into the labyrinths of political intrigue. What Tammany and the City Hall have gained, the college and the Sunday-school have lost. Nothing can surpass the purity and wisdom of the precepts offered by Mr. Wood to the ingenuous youth for its guidance through life.”

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On July 3, the New-York Herald reports of the preparations of the impending Independence Day celebrations, including:

“The unterrified democracy in the city, represented in Tammany, give their usual celebration. The following is the circular inviting us to smoke the calumet and drink the fire water in the old Wigwam. The second paragraph is a grand specimen of the high-faluting style;—

Founded in 1789.‘Civil and Religious Liberty, the Glory of Man.’

Society of Tammany or Columbian Order.Tammany Hall, June 27, 1859.

Sir—In accordance with the unvarying usage of the Tammany Society, since its establishment in 1789, the celebration of the Anniversary of our National Independence will be held in Tammany Hall, on Monday, the Fourth day of July next, a 1 o’clock P.M. A day so fraught with sublime remembrances deserves to celebrated by an exhibition of the warmest testimonials of gratitude to those who made it immortal...”

The lengthy article goes on to cite celebrations across the country, from Portland, Maine to Rockford, Illinois, and showing that Scotsman James Gordon Bennett Sr. is profoundly racist, reports on:

“THE ALMIGHTY NIGGER ON THE FOURTH. Of course the almighty nigger could not be kept out of anything in this country, and therefore he comes up largely on the Fourth. Down South, according to Fred Douglas, they celebrate the Fourth (at Winchester, Tenn.) by a sale of negroes. Here is the advertisement:— Sale of Negroes, &c.—by consent of parties I will, on the 4th of July next, at the court house door, in the town of Winchester, sell for cash the following negroes:—Elle, about fifteen years old; Bonaparte, about thirteen; Richard, about eleven; Joan, a girl, about eight; David, about six; Ben, about four; Charles, about two; Eda, about thirty-three, and her infant child; Jude, about forty-five.”

“Fred Douglas,” of course, is the almighty Frederick Douglass, the former slave who goes on to become a nationally recognized author and orator, newspaper publisher, leader of the abolitionist movement, and statesman. A man of towering intellect, he is regarded as one of the most influential African-Americans in the history of the United States.

On August 4, the New-York Evening Post, reports of a:

“Remarkable Letter from Governor Wise.His Sentiments on New York Politics.

The following singular letter from Governor Wise, of Virginia, to a friend in Albany, has just been made public, and has created quite a sensation among the politicians now congregated in the city: Richmond, July 13, 1859. Dear Sir: I thank you for yours of the 8th inst. I apprehend all along that the Tammany Regency would carry a united delegation from New York to Charleston. For whom? Douglas, I know, is confident; but you may rely on it that Mr. Buchanan is himself for re-nomination, and all his patronage and power will be used to disappoint Douglas and all other aspirants. Our only chance is to organize by districts, and either whip the enemy or send two delegations. If that is done or not done, we must still rely on a united South. A united South will depend on a united Virginia, and I pledge you that she, at least shall be a unit. Virginia a unit, and persistent and firm on a sound platform of protection of persons of popular versus squatter sovereignty, she must rally to her support all of the South. The South cannot adopt Mr. Douglas’s platform. It is a short cut to all the ends of black republicanism. He then will kick up his heels. If he does, or don’t he can’t be nominated, and the main argument against his nomination is that he can’t be elected if nominated.”

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Just whom this letter is sent to is unclear, but in it Henry A. Wise calls the 1860 presidential election. The subtext is that Tammany Hall, and the New York Democratic Party should forgo any support for Stephen A. Douglas in the upcoming National Convention to be held in Charleston, South Carolina. Although wrong about Buchanan seeking re-nomination, he proves remarkably prescient in predicting that if the Democrats support Douglas for president it will result in “two delegations,” i.e. two conventions, and if Douglas is nominated he will lose the election. The letter goes on to float Wise himself as a potential nominee for president, and acknowledging Fernando Wood as a friend, states that he would welcome his support. However, Wise will soon have his hands full. In two months he will be confronted with events at a Federal arsenal in a little town in western Virginia situated at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers.

On September 7, the Republican State Convention is held in Syracuse. In contrast to the Democrats descending on Syracuse in a week, it is a calm unified affair. Among the offices up for election against the Democrats are Secretary of State, State Comptroller, Attorney General, and State Treasurer.

On September 16, the New-York Times reports on the proceedings of the Democratic State Convention held in Syracuse. Chief order of business is to nominate candidates in the November State election, and to select delegates for the Democratic National Convention. It is worthy of the great brawls of the past at Tammany Hall, and features the adherents of Fernando Wood. The Times correspondent states:

“My letter of yesterday, in which mention was made of the fighting-gang brought up by Fernando Wood may in some part have prepared you to hear of violence and outrage both within and around the Democratic State Convention. But the scenes which actually transpired last evening and in the forenoon of to-day, far exceeded anything which even the names given might have led those parties to expect. It was known in New-York, on the 11th and 12th, that Fernando Wood had offered free tickets to Syracuse and back, with money for ‘refreshments,’ to all the most dangerous characters of the City who could be relied on, or were thought reliable, to forward his interests. He had a large acquaintance with that class of gentry who are known as ‘traveling on their shoulder,’ and all such as made application were heartily welcomed and furnished with the sinews of war.”

The Times goes on to report that United States Marshal Isaiah Rynders has to arm himself on the floor of the Convention to fend off men sent there to kill him. The New-York Herald, also reporting on September 16, states:

“The sum and substance of the proceedings of the Democratic State Convention at Syracuse amounts to this: the two of three factions into which the party has split have nominated the same State ticket, but divided about the manner of sending delegations to Charleston, and had a fight worthy of the antecedents of Tammany Hall and the Albany Regency. What strikes every person in reading the account of the proceedings is the vulgar insolence and brutal rowdyism which characterized the Convention. It is disgraceful to the democratic party and to the civilized community.”

On September 17, the New-York Herald reports that the majority of delegates selected and the Syracuse Convention to attend the Democratic National Convention are split between Stephen A. Douglas, and former Senator and Tammany Hunker Daniel S. Dickinson. Governor Henry A. Wise gets four delegates.

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On October 16, having moved on from Kansas, John Brown, with the hope of sparking a slave uprising, mounts a raid on the United States arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. It is an abject failure put down by Colonel Robert E. Lee that results with the death of ten of Brown’s partisans, black and white alike, including his two of his sons, Oliver and Watson. One U.S. Marine and six civilians are killed in the conflict. Brown himself is wounded and captured. Governor Wise arrives in Harper’s Ferry on the 18th and personally interviews Brown. His aim it to determine if Brown is insane, and thereby spared execution. But Wise is surprised by what he finds, expressing admiration for Brown:

“They are themselves mistaken who take him for a madman. He is a bundle of the best nerves I ever saw, cut and thrust, and bleeding in his bonds. He is a man of clear head, of courage, fortitude, and simple ingenuousness. He is cool, collected, and indomitable, and is but just to him to say that he was humane to his prisoners, as attested to me by Col. Washington and Mr. Mills, and he inspired me with great trust in his integrity, as a man of truth. He is a fanatic, vain and garrulous, but firm, and truthful, and intelligent. His men, too, who survive, except the free negroes with him, are like him.” 50

Brown’s trial begins on October 25, and last for a week. After deliberating for forty-five minutes the jury finds Brown guilty of treason, murder, and inciting an insurrection among slaves. Wise is now faced with a difficult choice: with Brown clearly of sound mind, should he hang or not? Many Southerners clamor for his death, but to the men of the South now committed to secession, hanging Brown will only make him a martyr and galvanize the North.

The reaction of Brown’s conviction at Tammany Hall is swift. On November 2, the New-York Times reports of a meeting held the Hall the previous evening, with the Times commenting on James T. Brady’s reaction to the trial:

“It would be quite remiss not to notice the recent occurrence at Harper’s Ferry. The unfortunate old man who led the movement there had been convicted of capital offences and was in hazard of being sentenced to death. He, for one, would have been more gratified if John Brown’s trial had been less precipitate; yet it is perfectly certain that on no state of facts consistent with his conduct could the case be varied, and that the only hope of escape must rest on legal propositions which his council had presented. Mr. Brady took occasion here to eulogize Mr. Chilton, of counsel for the prisoner, who, he said, would fearlessly and ably guard all the rights and interests of his client.”

Samuel Chilton, as noted earlier in this chapter, is a colleague of Brady, and is council along with Brady in the successful defense of Daniel E. Sickles. James Redpath, the noted 19th century journalist and advocate for the anti-slavery movement, takes exception to Brady lauding his fellow lawyer:

“From the opening of the Court until the afternoon session, the counsel for the defence (Messrs. Griswold and Chilton) and for the prosecution (Messrs. Hunter and Harding) occupied the attention of the jury in arguing for and against the prisoner. I do not intend to pollute my pages with any sketch of the lawyers pleas. They were able, without doubt, and erudite, and ingenious; but they were founded, nonetheless, on an atrocious assumption. For they assumed (as all lawyers’ speeches must) that the statutes of the State were just; and, therefore if the prisoner should be proven guilty of offending against them, that it is right that he should suffer the penalty they inflict.” 51

On November 2, in one of his last acts as governor, Henry A. Wise signs John Brown’s death warrant. 52

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On November 8, the New York State elections are held. In the race for state offices, the Democrats make a respectable showing, electing Secretary of State, State Engineer, and Canal Commissioner. The Republicans prevail overall however, electing Comptroller, Attorney General, Treasurer, Judge of the Court of Appeals, and Clerk of the Court of Appeals. In the race for the State Legislature it is another story, with the Republicans overwhelming the Democrats, 23 to 9 in the Senate, and 91 to 37 in the Assembly. Up next is the race for mayor of New York City.

On November 14, the New-York Herald reports:

“The Mozart Hall Mayoralty Convention will meet tonight to go through the formula of a nomination. Of course everyone knows the nominee.”

The unnamed party, of course, is Fernando Wood.

The fate of the current fusion mayor is best expressed by Gustavus Myers, who states: “Seeking to satisfy all parties, Mayor Tiemann failed to satisfy any,” 53 and most likely, Daniel F. Tiemann is more than happy to go back to what he does best: manufacturing paint. On November 26, the New-York Times reports of a ratification meeting at Tammany Hall that passes the following resolution:

“Resolved, That from the numerical force of parties in this City, the struggle is virtually between Wm. F. Havemeyer, whose mercantile, official and political career has been pure, frank and disinterested, and a candidate recklessly unscrupulous and corrupt, and whose success would be disastrous to the City and disgraceful to the Democratic Party.”

So once again, Tammany Hall taps William F. Havemeyer. The Republican candidate for mayor is George Opdyke, a successful clothing manufacturer, Assemblyman, and former member of the Free Soil Party.

On December 2, John Brown hangs. Brown’s death does indeed unify the North. In 1861, set to the melody of an 18th century American camp meeting hymn, a Union marching song is published that begins:

“John Brown’s body lies a mouldering in the grave,John Brown’s body lies a mouldering in the grave,John Brown’s body lies a mouldering in the grave,His soul’s marching on!

Glory Hally, Hallelujah! Glory Hally, Hallelujah! Glory Hally, Hallelujah!His soul’s marching on!”

The Battle Hymn of the Republic is subsequently set to the same melody.

In his biography of John Brown, James Redpath give the following account of Brown’s last moments. Many of the eyewitness reports in the national press fail to corroborate Redpath: “As he stepped out of the door, a black woman, with a little child in her arms, stood near his way. The twain were of the despised race for whose emancipation and elevation to the dignity of children of God he was about to lay down his life. His thoughts at that moment none can know except as his acts interpret them. He stopped for a moment in his course, stooped over, and, with the tenderness of one whose love is as broad as the brotherhood of man, kissed it affectionately.“ 54

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An engraving by Thomas Hovenden based on Redpath’s account.After a painting by the artist, from the collection of the Library of Congress.

As demonstrated by the following editorial in the New-York Herald of December 6, James Gordon Bennett Sr. shows no compunction for expressing how he feels about the inhabitants of America who are of African descent, nor Tammany Hall’s nominating for mayor one who is concerned with their plight:

“Tammany Turned Anti-Slavery At Last.—Who would have supposed that after struggling for so many years against the anti-slavery element in this city and State, that Tammany would succumb and fall into the embrace of the nigger worshipper and the nigger at last? The two principle agitators in 1848 who were conspicuous in denouncing the ‘slave oligarchy’ are now up for office as the nominees of Tammany Hall. Havemeyer was a candidate on the Buffalo anti-slavery platform for Presidential elections in 1848, and Tilden drew up the resolutions denouncing the ‘slave oligarchy’ which are now a war cry of the abolitionists and black republicans.”

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In addition to William Havemeyer, the other “principle agitator” is Samuel J. Tilden, the Tammany nominee for Corporation Council.

On December 6, the New York City Charter election is held. In a three-way race, Fernando Wood is swept back into the Mayor’s office, with Tammany nominee Havemeyer coming in second, and Republican George Opdyke coming in third. In the race for Corporation Council, fellow Mozart Hall nominee Greene C. Bronson defeats Samuel J. Tilden. Interestingly, Bronson is a Soft Shell like Tilden, but no mention is made of this in the New-York Herald. As noted earlier in this chapter, Bronson is a spoiler in the 1854 Governor’s race.

On December 7, the New-York Times gives its take on the Charter election:

“The Republican leaders, to whom Fernando Wood’s reëlection is mainly due, have the consolation that Tammany Hall has been essentially beaten. Fernando is the John Brown of the Democratic party,—but unlike his prototype he has come off victorious. The rebel and insurrectionist has routed the regular forces, and instead of meeting his political death on the gibbet erected for him, he enjoys the satisfaction of seeing his enemies dangling at the end of the rope.”

On January 10, the New-York Times reports of the annual celebration of the forty-fifth anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans held at Tammany Hall. A perfunctory cheer is made for James Buchanan, and with the conclusion of the dinner thoughts turn to what is on everyone’s mind: secession:

“The dinner over, the first toast announced, ‘The Day we Celebrate,’ was responded to by SAMUEL J. TILDEN, Esq., who referred at some length to the history of the country, and considered the present aspect of our affairs as gloomy in the extreme.”

The article then prints a lengthy letter to Tammany Sachem Isaac V. Fowler from Tennessee Senator Alfred O. P. Nicholson, who sends his regrets at not being able to attend the celebration. What follows are some excerpts from the letter:

“It ought not to surprise you to find the Southern people earnestly counting the value of a Union, many of whose substantial obligations, they honestly believe, have been systematically and flagrantly violated through a long succession of unfraternal and unfriendly acts of omission and commission. The surprise rather ought to be, that the Southern people have submitted so long without efficient resistance to the long series of breaches of plighted faith, and constitutional obligation, which, year by year, have been producing alienation of feelings, until the people of the two sections now regard each other with sentiments rapidly approaching to personal hostility. It is impossible that this unnatural state of alienation can progress much further without splitting asunder the Confederacy. It rests mainly with the people of the North to decide whether the Union is to be broken up or not. The southern people will look on with deep anxiety at the conflicts which are to settle this momentous question.”

The letter concludes with some wishful thinking:

“I cannot allow myself to doubt that when the society of Tammany meets to celebrate the forty-sixth anniversary of the Battle of New-Orleans, they will meet under the same glorious old flag that now floats over a united people. Very respectfully, your obedient servant.A.O.P. NICHOLSON.”

Senator Nicholson will go on to withdraw from the United States Senate on March 4, 1861.

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The early spring of 1860 sees Tammany Hall, despite being left “dangling at the end of the rope” by Fernando Wood, determined to prevent the new mayor from taking control of the delegates bound for the Democratic National Convention. As reported in the New-York Times of April 3:

“The Mayor’s pocket-organ in this City yesterday devoted one of its most solemn and tremendous strains to expose the machinations of some mysterious colossus, whom it describes as the “Tammany Cyclops,” and who is exerting himself, in company with “the Antaeus of the State Capital,” to oust the Mayor from his natural control of the coming Charleston Convention.”

The “Mayor’s pocket-organ” most likely is the New-York Daily News (a predecessor to the current New York Daily News founded in 1919) that is published and edited by Benjamin Wood, Fernando’s brother. 55 Like Cyclops, Antaeus is a character in Greek mythology, and it is unclear to whom the News is ascribing this title to, but clearly Ben Wood has a penchant for the mythological Greek Giants.

On April 23, the Democratic National Convention convenes in Charleston, South Carolina. Mozart Hall and Tammany Hall both arrive in the Palmetto State, each seeking to install their own delegation. On April 24, the New-York Times reports of Tammany Hall asserting its influence, and the reaction of key Southern States:

“A resolution requesting the Chairman to nominate a Committee upon Credentials was then adopted. Upon a resolution to exclude the New-York Tammany delegates from the Committee, a vote was taken, which resulted 44 Ayes to 241 Noes. A vote requesting them to refrain from participation, in the proceedings until the Committee had reported, was rejected by a vote almost identical. These votes are regarded as indicating the strength of Mr. DOUGLAS in the Convention; and as predetermining the nomination. The Convention adjourned to meet this morning at 10 o’clock. It is understood that a portion of the men only from Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana, are preparing to bolt, and name a straight-out Southern candidate.”

The Convention lasts until May 3. It does not end well, and will foreshadow events of the next five years. Stephen A. Douglas leads the pack of nominees that includes Tammany Hard Shell Daniel A. Dickinson, but the Deep South—the Fire-Eaters—are committed to thwarting Douglas’ nomination. This includes the States of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The main reason they are opposed to Douglas is his invoking the Freeport Doctrine during his debate at Freeport, Illinois with Abraham Lincoln in 1858. Taken to task by Lincoln, Douglas, in essence, rejects the Supreme Court’s 1857 Dred Scott decision in favor of popular sovereignty with regard to slavery. In that case the Chief Justice Roger B. Taney rules that African-Americans are not, and never will be American citizens, thereby having no standing in Federal Court. The Fire-Eaters do indeed bolt, withdrawing one by one April 30, and Douglas is left hanging. On May 3, the following resolution is passed:

“Resolved, That when this Convention adjourns to-day, it adjourns to re-assemble at Baltimore, Md., on Monday, the 18th day of June, and that it be respectfully recommended to the Democratic party of the several States to make provision for supplying all vacancies in their respective delegations to this Convention when it shall re-assemble.” 56

William Yancey, leader of the Fire-Eaters, former Congressman, and delegate to the Convention from Alabama explains the Fire-Eaters withdrawal with a speech in Memphis, Tennessee on August 14, 1860:

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Precursor to War “Why did they leave it? Because, as I will show you before I close, the great Democratic principle of the equality of the States, and of the- people of the States in the common Territories, of the Union, had been willfully violated, by Mr. Douglas and his friends, and that was done with the view that the States I refer to should be: driven out of that Convention. We did not ask the Convention to add any new plank to the Democratic platform; but as Mr. Douglas had construed the Cincinnati platform, to mean no protection to the constitutional rights of the South; as he had thus violated that platform by his construction of the Kansas act, as since determined in the Dred Scott decision.” 57

Douglas’ “friends” include the Tammany Soft Shell delegation.

On May 9, the short-lived Constitutional Union Party holds its first and only national convention in Baltimore. Made up of former conservative Whigs and Know-Nothings, its politics can be summed up in one word: denial. In refusing to take a stand for or against slavery, they hope that the issue will simply go away and secession avoided. In what will shape up to be a four-way race in the general election, former Tennessee Senator John Bell is nominated for President, and Edward Everett, former Governor and Senator from Massachusetts, and Secretary of State under Millard Fillmore, is nominated for Vice President.

On May 14, for the first time in many years, the New-York Times reports of the:

“ANNIVERSARY OF TAMMANY SOCIETY. The seventy-first anniversary of the organization of Tammany Society was celebrated in Tammany Hotel on Saturday evening. None but members were admitted.”

“In about two weeks there will be another meeting for the election of a Grand Sachem to preside over their deliberations. ISAAC V. FOWLER is the present incumbent, and it is said he will be reelected.””The principal order of business, as reported in the Times, is the installation of the newly elected Sachems, including former Senator and Barnburner John Adams Dix, Sheriff of New York County John Kelly, and New York State Senator Richard Connolly. The celebration being a secret affair, it is unclear if Grand Sachem Fowler is actually there. The next day he disappears, having been removed as Postmaster of New York City on May 10.

On May 15, with Fowler’s misdeeds finally catching up with him, the New-York Times reports:

“The mysterious rumors which have been floating for some time between Washington and New-York, of serious defalcations chargeable to the account of a leading Federal officer in this City, yesterday took shape and substance. Mr. ISAAC V. FOWLER, who for nearly eight years has administered the affairs of the Post-office in this City, left his residence on Sunday, and has not since been seen.”

The “serious defalcations” that Fowler is formally charged with is embezzling $155,000 during his eight-year appointment as Postmaster—$3,400,000 in 2015 dollars, as measured by the GDP deflator. Fellow Society of St. Tammany member and United States Marshal Isaiah Rynders is ordered to arrest Fowler at his hotel, but Rynders lingers at the hotel bar purposely letting everyone know of his errand, which allows Fowler to escape. 58 Fowler will remain abroad until after the Civil War. President Buchanan subsequently appoints John Adams Dix Postmaster.

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America Through the Eyes of St. TammanyBetween May 16 and May 18, the Second Republican National Convention is held in Chicago, Illinois. What had been little more than a village with a population of 200 when it is founded in 1833 becomes a key transportation hub with advent of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, opened in 1848, connecting the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. Much as the Erie Canal benefited New York City, this Canal allows a rapid rise in commerce, as well as the population of Chicago, which stands at 112,000 in 1860. By contrast, New York City’s population in 1860 is 1,175.000. Because Chicago grows so quickly, it lacks a Hall of sufficient size to accommodate the hundreds of delegates and attendees for the Convention, so a temporary wooden one is constructed. Whether it is a genuine nod to the indigenous people of the Great Plains, or an ironic swipe at Tammany Hall is unclear, but the name of this temporary Hall is the Wigwam.

Frontispiece from The Convention That Nominated Lincoln, by P. Orman Ray.From the public domain.

Former Missouri Congressman Edward Bates, Pennsylvania Senator Simon Cameron, Ohio Governor Salmon P. Chase, Former Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln, and New York Senator William H. Seward lead a crowded field of nominees for President. The majority of the Fire-Eater Southern States decline to send any delegates. Seward leads the first ballot, but on the second ballot Lincoln pulls even with Seward, and Lincoln captures the nomination on the third ballot. His running mate is Maine Senator Hannibal Hamlin. Unlike the Democratic Party, the Republicans show a united front, and Bates, Cameron, Chase, and Seward go on to become key members of Lincoln’s first administration, although Cameron, future Secretary of War, will resign in disgrace. Edwin Stanton, friend and colleague of Tammany Hard Shell and renowned lawyer James T. Brady will replace Cameron.

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Precursor to WarOn June 8, the New-York Times reports of a mass rally of Republicans at Cooper Union, the object of which is to ratify the nomination of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin. The article states that:

“The rear of the platform was decorated with American flags, and a number of transparencies, on which were such inscriptions as the following:

‘TALL ABE - GIVE HIM ROOM TO STRETCH.’ ‘POOR J.B. - LET HIM REST.’‘LONG, LANK, LEAN ABE.’ ‘TAMMANY ON ITS LAST LEGS.’‘ABE, THE GIANT-KILLER.’ ‘SEYMOUR DECLINES RUNNING.’‘ALL THE WAY FROM ILLINOIS.’ ‘LONG ABE.’ ‘HONEST ABE.’”

Cooper Union is a natural location for the rally, as Lincoln delivers one of his greatest speeches there on February 27, 1860.

On June 18, the Democratic Party reconvenes at the Front Street Theatre in Baltimore. With the credentials committee refusing to readmit the Fire-Eater delegates of Alabama and Louisiana, they move to the Maryland Institute across town and convene their own Convention, taking with them most of the delegates from the other Southern States. These delegates are replaced at the Front Street Theatre with Southern Democrats who are not so radical. As reported in the New-York Times of June 18:

“The New-York delegation seems to be, as the French say, master of the situation, and it is quite evident that its leading members intend to husband their influence by using it with caution. Nominally they are for DOUGLAS and their votes will probably be cast for him, as decidedly the strongest man whom the party can select for the Northern States.”

Douglas goes on to win the nomination. Not by the 202 votes needed, but having gained a 2/3 majority, declared the nominee by unanimous consent. Senator Benjamin Fitzpatrick of Alabama is nominated as Douglas’ running mate, but he refuses the honor. Douglas will eventually select Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson as his running mate. Fitzpatrick and Johnson go on to remain loyal to their native States in the coming conflict. The Southern Democratic become known as the “Breckinridge Democrats,” because they nominate Vice President John C. Breckinridge for President, and Oregonian Joseph Lane for Vice President. Demonstrating the Douglas Democrats muddled feelings about slavery, they adopt the following resolution as part of their platform:

“Resolved, That the enactments of the State Legislatures to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law are hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in their effect.” 59

The Breckinridge Democrats, showing their commitment to the slave owners, adopt the identical resolution.

On July 2, the New-York Herald reports:

“Mr. Douglas Appointed to Open the Campaign in Old Tammany this Evening.—Mr. Douglas is to speak in the Old Wigwam tonight. Their case being somewhat desperate the sachems have sent for him.”

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America Through the Eyes of St. TammanyIn fact, only a meeting to ratify Stephen Douglas’ nomination for President is held at Tammany Hall. The throng then proceeds to the Fifth Avenue Hotel where Douglas is staying, where he addresses the crowd from the balcony. Speaking of New York City, as reported in the New York Herald of July 3, Douglas states:

“The whole country is the theatre for your commerce, your interests, and your influence, and you ought to sympathize with the people of the distant portions of the republic as with those that you come into immediate contact with you. Hence, I expect to find the democracy of New-York standing as a unit in favor of the great political principles which recognizes the rights and property of the citizens of every State and yet leaves every State perfectly free to manage its own affairs, mind its own business, and which leaves its neighbors alone.”

On July 6, the celebration of the Fourth of July at Tammany Hall is reported in the New-York Herald. The article prints a lengthy speech by Tammany Sachem John Cochrane, who lauds Stephen Douglas, calls for party unity, and cites the great past of Tammany Hall with its embrace of Presidents Jefferson, Madison, Jackson, Van Buren, and Polk. No mention is made of the Democratic Presidents of the 1850s. The article concludes with the:

“REMARKS OF HON. JOHN KELLY Mr. John Kelly, in response to repeated calls, came forward and spoke briefly. How, he asked, did they find themselves now in this old building dedicated to the democratic party? The found themselves a divided party. But although they should be beaten in this contest, that would not be the prostration of the democratic party. There would be a regeneration of that noble party which existed from the beginning of the government, and would exist to the end. (Bravo.) He hoped they would all sustain the regular organization of the party. (Applause.) Stephen A. Douglas had not been his own choice because he foresaw the very evils that had resulted in his nomination; but Mr. Douglas was now the regular candidate of the democratic party—(cheers)—and any opposition that might be offered him was a factious one”

Kelly will go on to gain the moniker “Honest John,” in part, for telling it like it is. In his remarks he predicts the outcome of the 1860 Presidential race. As to there being “a regeneration of that noble party,” it will take many decades for the Democrats to recover from the debacle of the 1850s.

On September 21, the New-York Times reports of a meeting of the Tammany Hall Judiciary Committee presided over by William M. Tweed. At the meeting, City Recorder George G. Barnard is nominated for Judge of the State Supreme Court, and City Judge John T. Hoffman is nominated to replace Barnard as City Recorder. Hoffman is the Judge that issues an arrest warrant for Fernando Wood during the Police Riots of 1857.

On October 1, the New-York Herald prints a letter from Isaiah Rynders calling for a torchlight procession to demonstrate Democratic unity in the face of the impending election:

“Democrats to the Rescue—The presidents and officers of every club and association in this city, and all who are opposed to the dangerous success of the sectional black republican party, are requested to meet on Tuesday evening, October 2, at half past seven o’clock, for the purpose of effecting a thorough organization of every ward in the city, and to make preparation for a grand torchlight procession. The present crisis in our country’s affairs admonishes us all to lay aside our personal and political prejudices for the accomplishment of a great and patriotic result. ‘Our country expects every man to do his duty.’”

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Precursor to WarOn October 3, the Republicans respond in kind, as reported in the New-York Times of October 4:

“THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN; GRAND WIDE-AWAKE DEMONSTRATION. The Whole City on Fire for Lincoln and Hamlin!

Twelve Thousand Torchmen in Procession.PANORAMIC SKETCH OF THE WHOLE AFFAIR.”

An early daguerreotype of Abraham Lincoln, by Nicholas H. Shepherd.From the collection of the Library of Congress.

Every schoolchild knows what occurs on November 6. What is not generally remembered is that Democrat Stephen Douglas comes in last in the four-way race, with Constitution Union candidate John Bell coming in third, and Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge coming in second. So the die is cast. Abraham Lincoln is the next President.

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A daguerreotype of Stephen A. Douglas by Mathew Brady.From the collection of the Library of Congress.

On November 7, the New York Times reports of:

“HOW THE NEWS WAS RECEIVED; TAMMANY DISCONSOLATE. Marshal Rynders, in an Irreverent Manner, Concedes the Victory to Lincoln.”

The article continues:

“Tammany was abysmal. Tammany, in fact, was nowhere, till about eight o’clock, when the gas in the large room was partially lighted, and a tolerable crowd, in some twenty minutes, found admission. And then, where was the pride of Tammany? Three or four hundred men, and an equal number of boys, constituted the audience who were to listen to, approve and applaud the speakers.”

Isaiah Rynders finally address the crowd, including the following remarks, which the Times manages to only term “Irreverent:”

“I say that I have made every effort that I could, and if the Democratic Party has fallen to the ground, I cannot help it. If there are any Black Republicans here, and they have won the ticket, let them ride the nigger if they like -- a real black nigger, a woolly-head, with pouty lips -- and if she is a nigger wench weighing 250 pounds, she will spoil GREELEY’s white hat.”

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Precursor to WarIn the New York State elections, it is a sweep for the whole Republican ticket. Tammany Hard Shell James T. Brady, the Breckinridge Democratic candidate, and a former State Senator by the name of William Kelly, the Douglas Democratic candidate, lose to incumbent Governor Edwin Morgan. In the election for State Assembly, the Republicans prevail over the Democrats 93 to 35. In the election for Congress the New York Republicans send 23 to Washington, with the Democrats sending 10.

On November 23, the New-York Times reports that supported by William M. Tweed, George G. Barnard is elected Judge of the State Supreme Court, and that John T. Hoffman is elected City Recorder. Hoffman will become the Democratic Mayor of New York City in 1866, and Governor of New York in 1869. His rise in the 1860s will coincide with William Tweed’s, and that will thwart his chances for a presidential run in 1872.

On December 20, South Carolina, being the State with the highest percentage of slaves, adopts the ordinance of secession that is unanimously voted for in the General Assembly on December 17. With it, South Carolina becomes the first State to formally secede from the United States of America.

A lithograph by Currier & Ives of The Secession Movement.It depicts South Carolina, atop a sow, leading the Southern States over a cliff.

From the Library of Congress.

On December 21, the New-York Times reports of a meeting at Tammany Hall. The meeting unanimously adopts an address of which follows is an excerpt:

“The unfortunate election of ABRAHAM LINCOLN to the Presidency, as the candidate of a sectional and aggressive organization, has been accomplished, notwithstanding our utmost efforts, according to the forms of the Constitution, and is a result to which we must therefore submit without reserve, much as it is to be regretted. We realize as fully, if not as keenly, as the people of the South do or can that they have great and just causes of complaint in respect to warfare waged against them upon the question of Slavery; but we can assure them that any apprehension, whether of danger, or of further wrongs to their rights, from the action of a majority of the Northern people, is without real foundation and we ask them to attach to our assurance the weight due to a solemn declaration of the National Democracy of the City of New-York, made in Tammany Hall, from which sacred edifice there has never been during the period of nearly half a century which has elapsed since its election, a single authorized expression unfriendly to their rights or interests.”

This olive branch extended by the Society of St. Tammany to the South, of course, will be for naught.

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America Through the Eyes of St. TammanyNOTES ON CHAPTER 8

1 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) p. 1612 http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_William_R_King.htm(accessed December 2, 2015)3 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) p. 1944 Dennis W. Johnson, The Laws that Shaped America, Fifteen Acts of Congress and Their Lasting Impact (Routledge 2009) pp. 61-635 Michael F. Holt, Franklin Pierce: The American Presidents Series: The 14th President, 1853-1857 (Macmillan 2010) p. 516 Green Berry Raum, History of Illinois Republicanism (Rollins Publishing Company 1900) p. 267 Obituary - Daniel Ullman (The New York Times, September 21, 1892)8 Humphrey J. Desmond, The Know-Nothing Party, a Sketch (The New Century Press 1904) pp. 51-529 Ibid. p. 13410 Jerome Mushkat, Fernando Wood: A Political Biography (Kent State University Press 1990) p. 3411M.R. Werner, Tammany Hall (Doubleday, Doran & Company 1928) p. 7912 Edwin G. Burrows & Mike Wallace, Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford University Press 1999) p. 83013 Ibid.14 Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1928) pp. 85-9015 M.R. Werner, Tammany Hall (Doubleday, Doran & Company 1928) p. 6916 http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Wise_Henry_A_1806-1876#start_entry (accessed January 27, 2016)17 Robert J. Scarry, Millard Fillmore (McFarland & Company 2001) pp. 281-28218 The Crime Against Kansas. The Apologies for the Crime. The True Remedy. Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner in the Senate of the United States, 19 and 20th May, 1856 (John P. Jewett & Company 1856) pp. 5-919 Williamjames Hull Hoffer, The Caning of Charles Sumner: Honor, Idealism, and the Origins of the Civil War (Johns Hopkins University Press 2010) p. 8220 Frank A. Flower, History of the Republican Party, Its Origin, Growth, and Mission (Union Publishing Company 1884) p. 14921 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) p. 17622 Ibid.23 Vance R. Kincade, Jr. Heirs Apparent: Solving the Vice Presidential Dilemma (Praeger Publishers 2000) p. 724 Edwin G. Burrows & Mike Wallace, Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford University Press 1999) p. 83625 Our Municipal Government for 1857 (The New-York Daily Times, February 6, 1857)26 Jerome Mushkat, Fernando Wood: A Political Biography (Kent State University Press 1990) p. 6827 John J. Hickey, Our Police Guardians (Self Published 1925) p. 828 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) p. 18229 Alfred Connable and Edward Silberfarb, Tigers of Tammany, Nine Men Who Ran New York (Holt Rinehart and Winston 1967) p. 13030 An Old Militia Leader, Death of Major-Gen. Sandford (The New York Times, July 26, 1878)31 J.T. Headley, Pen and Pencil Sketches of the Great Riots (E.B. Treat 1877) p. 13032 Who Is Street Commissioner? (The New-York Daily Times, August 7, 1857)33 J. Franklin Jameson, The American Historical Review: Volume XXIV October 1918 to July 1919: Diary and Memoranda of William L. Marcy, 1857, contributed by Thomas M. Marshall (The Macmillan Company 1919) p. 65234 Obituary, John N. Wilder (The New-York Daily Times, July 17, 1858)35 J.T. Headley, The Great Riots of New York, 1712 to 1873 (E.B. Treat 1873) pp. 132-13336 Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1928) pp. 104-105

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Precursor to War37 No More Rioting. Two More Deaths—Making Eight in All. (The New-York Daily Times, July 7, 1857)38 Charles Dickens, American Notes for General Circulation (Chapman and Hall 1855) p. 5539 Edwin G. Burrows & Mike Wallace, Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford University Press 1999) p. 84240 Full List of Passengers by the Lost Central America. (The New-York Daily Times, October 17, 1857)41 Edwin G. Burrows & Mike Wallace, Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford University Press 1999) pp. 842-18542 Ibid. p. 84943 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party (Charles H. Kerr & Company 1888) p. 3544 Edwin G. Burrows & Mike Wallace, Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford University Press 1999) p. 85045 F.G. Adams, Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society, Volume 5 (Press of the Kansas State Printing Company 1896) pp. 421-43046 Important Political Movement—The New York Anti-Lecompton Democracy to the Rescue. (New-York Herald, February 11, 1858)47 Thomas Keneally, American Scoundrel: The Life of Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group 2003) p. 6648 James A. Hessler, Sickles at Gettysburg (Casemate Publishers 2010) p. 549 The Sickles Tragedy (The New-York Times, April 11, 1859)50 James Redpath, The Public Life of Capt. John Brown (Thayer and Eldridge 1860) p. 19551 Ibid. p. 23952 Robert Alonzo Brock, Virginia and Virginians (H.H. Hardesty 1888) p. 22753 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) p. 19254 James Redpath, The Public Life of Capt. John Brown (Thayer and Eldridge 1860) p. 28855 Alfred Connable and Edward Silberfarb, Tigers of Tammany, Nine Men Who Ran New York (Holt Rinehart and Winston 1967) p. 12956 Official Proceedings of the Democratic National Convention, Held in 1860, At Charleston and Baltimore (Nevins’ Print, Plain Dealer Job Office 1860) p. 9657 Speech of Hon. William L. Yancey of Alabama (Memphis Daily Avalanche, August 17, 1860) p. 558 Gustavus Myers, The History of Tammany Hall (Boni & Liveright, Inc. 1917) p. 19559 J.F. Cleveland, The Tribune Almanac and Political Register for 1861 (The Tribune Association 1861) p. 31