USA > New York > New York City > History of New York City : embracing an outline sketch of events from 1609 to 1830, and a full account of its development from 1830 to 1884, Volume I > Part 34
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
In most of the strong Democratic wards, where the voting was largely on one side, there was quiet, but in the Sixth Ward, where there was a large alien population, a storm soon gathered and burst in fury. It was evident mob law reigned in the vicinity of the polls there. Men were gathered in a mass, velling and threatening in the vicinity of the Whig committee-room.
Some were seen brandishing clubs, and even knives. The tumult grew louder and louder. At length some roughs, led by an ex-akder- man, made a rush for the committee-room, where their opponents were gathered in a considerable number. Before these could offer resist- ance, so sudden and fierce was the attack that in a few minutes nearly twenty had been felled bleeding to the floor, and one was carried out in a dying condition. Some of those who escaped to the street were hatless, and with torn garments. The mob tore down all the political banners, destroyed the ballots, and made a wreck of everything.
The outrages fearfully excited the opposition party, and it was deter- mined to take vigorous measures for the defence of the ballot-boxes and the voters on the morrow. A call was issued for a meeting of the Whigs at Masonic Hall that evening. The room was crowded. Four thousand Whigs were there. General Bogardus was called to the chair, and the following preamble and resolutions were adopted by unanimous vote :
" Whereas, The authority of the police of the city has been set at defiance by a band of hirelings, mercenaries, and bullies in the Sixth Ward, and the lives of our citizens put in jeopardy ; and whereas, it is evident we are in a state of anarchy, which requires the prompt and efficient interposition of every friend of good order who is disposed to sustain the Constitution and laws ; therefore be it
" Resolved, That, in order to preserve the peace of the city, and especially of the Sixth Ward, the friends of the Constitution and the liberties of the citizen will meet at this place [Masonic Hall] to-morrow (Wednesday) at half. past seven o'clock A.r., and repair to the Sixth Ward poll for the purpose of keeping it open to all voters, until such time as the official authorities shall procure a sufficient number of special constables to keep the peace.
" Resolved, That while at the Sixth Ward poll. those who are not residents thereof will not take part in the election, but simply aet as conservators of the peace, until such time as the majesty of the laws shall be acknowledged and respected."
This preamble and the resolutions were adopted by acclamation and the most significant demonstrations of approval. But the resolutions proposed no specific action the next day that promised to be efficient : only the passive attendance of the Whigs in numbers sufficient to over- awe the turbulent element. A bolder and more effective course was proposed by the editor of the Courier and Enquirer. Colonel Webb
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arose, after the adoption of the resolutions, and reminded the thou- sands present that action was more necessary than talking, and he in- vited less than three hundred resolute and patriotic citizens to meet him at the Whig headquarters the next morning at six o'clock.
At the appointed time Colonel Webb was met by more men than he needed. They were all armed for defence, if necessary. Accompanied by about two hundred, he marched to the City Hall, where they were all sworn in by the sheriff as special constables, and appropriate badges were distributed among them. They then marched to the Sixth Ward poll, where they found the Irish assembled. Colonel Webb made a speech to them, reminding them of their conduct on the previous day, and told them he and his associates were there as officers of the law, and were armed, not to interfere with the legal rights of any man. but to protect the rights of all, and should only use their arms to preserve the peace, and to secure to all the free exercise of their right to vote. The crowd swore and threatened, but the special constables showing a determined front, they confined their demonstrations to oaths and menaces.
There were two doors to the polling-room, the one for the entrance of voters, the other for their egress. To each of the doors Colonel Webb formed a double line of determined men, and every voter was compelled to pass through the lane thus formed to the door of entrance and the ballot-box, and when the voters had deposited their ballots a body of special constables conducted them to the door of exit, and com- pelled each voter, separate and alone, to pass into the street. Thus, in the midst of much loud talking and threatening, everybody was pro- tected in the exercise of the precious right to vote without illegal hindrance. Colonel Webb marched back to headquarters at Masonic Hall the special constables not wanted at the Sixth Ward poll, and onjoined them to be in readiness for action in case they were needed anywhere.
That night came the crisis. Thousands of rioters paraded the streets, threatening violence and creating universal anxiety and alarm in the city. An enormous mob assembled in the City Hall Park, threatening vengeance upon everybody, especially the mayor and common council then in session. It was soon reported to that body that at the Sixth Ward poll, near the City Hall, the Irish had erected a very large cross, which bore a banner, and on it was inseribed, in large letters, " Dowy WITH THE COURIER AND ENQUIRER BUILDING ;" and after the fashion in Ireland in such cases the people were marched by it, when each one tonehed the cross, and by so doing was sworn to do what the banner
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proclaimed. In adroit speeches to the mob in the Park, demagogues urged the rioters to proceed to Wall Street and destroy the obnoxious building and its contents.
The danger was imminent. The common council became alarmed, and appointed James G. King (of the firm of Prime, Ward & King, bankers) and his brother, Charles King # (afterward president of Co- lumbia College), a deputation to go to the office of the Courier and Enquirer and warn Colonel Webb of his peril. They performed the mission, and as the city government could afford Webb no protection, these gentlemen requested that he would close the office and leave it to its fate, as resistance and bloodshed would only increase the general danger.
The office of the Courier and Enquirer was on the first floor of No. 58 Wall Street. These gentlemen found it all lighted up as usual, the doors wide open, for the evening was warm, and piles of printing paper in bundles were arranged in each of the two large windows, six feet in height. Colonel Webb told the deputation to say to the mayor and the common council that he had not asked for nor did he want their protection ; that his usual hour for closing his office was ten o'clock, but that on this occasion it would be kept open, with all the lights burning, all night ; that he had in the building seventy muskets and plenty of ammunition, a hundred pistols (no revolvers then), and at that moment not less than thirty of the best-known young merchants, who had volunteered to stand by him, were in the office. He told them also that he had on the roof of his five-story building five loads of paving-stones, any one of which dropped on the head of a rioter in the street was as certain to disable him as a musket-ball.
* Charles King, LL.D., a journalist and scholar, was born in the city of New York March 16, 1789. He was a son of the eminent Rufus King. While his father was United States minister in London, he was sent to Harrow School and to a preparatory school in Paris. On the return of his father to America he was placed in a banking- house in Amsterdam. He returned to New York in 1806, and in 1810 he married a daughter of the eminent merchant Archibald Gracie, and became associated with his father-in-law in business. In 1813 he was a member of the New York Legislature, and the next year he was a volunteer in the army. Mr. King became connected with Galian C. Verplanck in the publication of the New York American in 1823. Mr. Verplanck retired in 1827, and Mr. King remained sole editor for twenty years. In 1849 he was chosen president of Columbia College, which post he resigned in 1864. Mr. King died near Rome, Italy, September 27, 1867. He was sent to England after the war of 1812 to investigate the treatment of American captives in Dartmoor prison. He did not hesitate to exonerate the British authorities from all censure in the matter, and thereby he drew upon himself a storm of indignation from his countrymen, which was not allayed for long years afterward.
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The Messrs. King assured Colonel Webb that they felt certain what his answer would be, or they would not have consented to bear to him the message of the common council.
After much speaking and threatening in the City Hall Park, the mob moved down William Street toward Wall Street. Colonel Webb had his agents out, who reported to him from time to time. For a while their reports were simply that the rioters were advancing. but when they reached Maiden Lane the front files, cowards, as all rioters are, rapidly fell off and passed to the rear. When they had reached Pine Street the rear had become the front, and when the crowd reached Wall Street, instead of wheeling for the Courier office the mob crossed the street, moved into Pearl Street, and when they had again reached Wall Street appeared entirely demoralized. A large crowd passed up the street to the Courier office, when Colonel Webb simply closed the door and awaited events.
The dense crowd filled the street in front, which was quite brightly lighted by a lamp, and began groaning, threatening, and knocking their clubs, banner staves, and missiles of all kinds against the building, exciting themselves to a dangerous degree, when Colonel Webb seized a musket, broke it through a pane of glass, and gave notice that when he found it covered a rioter he should fire. He then passed the muzzle of the gun slowly up the street, when away scampered the cowards. IIe then slowly turned it down Wall Street, with the same notice, and it was amusing to see how rapidly the street was cleared of the redoubt- able Irishmen. A portion of the mob passed up-town to Colonel Webb's residence, in Bleecker Street, but contented themselves with groans, yells, and ringing his door-bell.
In the forenoon of the next day (April 10th) there was a fierce col- lision between the sailors with the little frigate Constitution which was used to convey voters to the polls, and their opponents, near Masonic Hall, in Broadway. Hearing the affray, many Whigs went out of the hall to assist the seamen, and a severe battle with fists and missiles oceurred. Word being sent to the Sixth Ward poll, a large number of fighting men there rushed up Duane Street and drove the Whigs back into their headquarters. The mob then attacked the building, smash- ing its windows and attempting to force an entrance. Mayor Lee was sent for. He came, with one or two aldermen, and mounting the steps of the building, raised his staff of office. The crowd, maddened with liquor and aroused passions, gave no heed to the symbol of authority. but hurled missiles at the magistrate. One of these knocked him down, and he was quite severely beaten.
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840.
A rumor was now circulated at Masonic Hall that rioters were attempting to break open the arsenal, situated on the corner of White and Ehn streets, to procure arms. There was a cry, " To the arsenal ! To the arsenal !" and the Whigs rushed from the hall toward the menaced building, pell-mell. It was not far to go. The excited crowd scaled the fences, and the more active among them mounting the shoulders of others climbed into the second-story windows. But this movement of the rioters had been anticipated, and a guard of Colonel Webb's special constables, under the direction of the late Simeon Draper, was already there when the Whigs from the hall and the rioters came. The latter were astonished to find on parade a large body of men with muskets, prepared to keep the peace.
The mayor had applied to the Brooklyn Navy-Yard for a company of marines the day before, to assist his police in suppressing the riotous spirit in the city, but they were refused by the commodore, on the ground that he had no authority to send them. A similar request sent to the military commander at Governor's Island met with a refusal for the same reasons. Then he directed General Sandford to order out some of the city militia, and soon infantry and cavalry appeared.
On hearing that the arsenal was in the possession of one of the polit- ical parties, the mayor ordered the Twenty-seventh Regiment of the National Guard, Colonel Linus W. Stevens, to proceed thither. Mr. Draper and his men had only been placed there to defend it from a mob until relief should come. The Whigs readily gave it up to the military and retired. Three hundred members were on duty at the arsenal and patrolled the streets until the next morning.
Commissary-General Arcularius, who had charge of the arsenal at the time, made a most ridiculous report of the matter. Not knowing the name of Mr. Draper, who was active in keeping back the mob in front of the arsenal after the arrival of his political friends, alluded to him repeatedly in his report as the " man with a claret-colored coat on." This description of the then popular young politician so amused his friends and the wits of the town that it became long a phrase in political circles in the city.
After the exciting election was over, the ballot-box of the Sixth Ward (which at that time received the title of " the bloody Sixth") was taken to the City Hall under a strong guard, followed by a turbu- lent multitude, and locked up for the night. But the excitement did not end with the election. It was intense until the result was known. almost thirty-six hours afterward. All the next day business was nearly as much neglected as during the election. It was estimated
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that at one time there were over ten thousand citizens in a crowd in Wall Street awaiting the conclusion of the canvass. When it was finally announced, and it was ascertained that the Democrats had barely missed a most signal defeat, the opposition party felt jubilant. The Democrats had elected their candidate for mayor by a small majority ; the Whigs had carried the common council. This event the latter celebrated at a mass-meeting held in Castle Garden, where Daniel Webster, who had been sent for to make a speech, appeared, and was supported by several of the finest speakers of the city of New York.
The election riot of 1834 was the first of four riots which occurred in New York during this decade-1830-40.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE Twenty-seventh Regiment National Guard, called out at the T time of the election riots in 1834, is now the famous Seventh Regiment New York State National Guard of the City of New York. Its services on that occasion, as an active guardian of the peace of the city, were the second they had rendered in that capacity, the first having been given to preserve the peace at the execution of James Reynolds, November 19, 1825. The mayor thanked them for their promptness and efficiency, and from that time until now that regiment has acted and been relied upon as a sure defender of public order in the metropolis.
The Twenty-seventh Regiment was not an original organization, but the offspring of the Eleventh Regiment of Artillery, created in 1812. The pedigree of the Eleventh Regiment may be traced back to the period of the old war for independence.
In 1824 the Eleventh Regiment consisted of two battalions, one artillery proper, and the other infantry, four companies each. On the 16th of August of that year General the Marquis de Lafayette arrived at New York, the guest of the nation, and the citizen soldiery then turned out in full force, under General Jacob Morton, to give him a hearty welcome. They were reviewed at the Battery by the illustri- ous soldier. While awaiting the arrival of the distinguished visitor, the officers of the infantry battalion of the Eleventh Regiment then on duty fell into conversation on a subject which had frequently occupied their thoughts, namely, the independent organization of their battalion.
The choice of a name had been a difficult problem. Some one of the officers having made allusion to Lafayette's connection with the National Guard of Paris. Major John D. Wilson immediately asked :
" Why will not National Guard be a good name for the proposed corps ?"
The idea was received with enthusiasm by every officer present, and every member of the battalion heartily approved it.
A few evenings afterward (August 25, 1-24) these officers met at the Shakespeare Tavern, on the south-west corner of Fulton and Nassau
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streets, and adopted a resolution to form an independent battalion, composed of the four companies of infantry of the Eleventh Regiment, to be thereafter "known and distinguished by the name of the National Guard." The captains of the four companies were Irad Hawley, John Telfair, William B. Curtis, and Howard B. Simmons.
Having obtained permission of the proper authorities to create the proposed organization, the important question arose, What shall be our uniform ? Philetus Holt, a private in the Fourth Company who was present, was dressed in a neatly-fitting single-breasted gray office-coat, that attracted the attention of Acting Brigade Major Prosper M. Wet- more. He suggested Holt's coat as a suitable model, and at a meeting at the Shakespeare, not long afterward, Major J. D. Wilson exhibited a pattern suit, which was adopted by unanimous consent.
To the four companies were presently added two others, raised and commanded respectively by Captains Linus W. Stevens and Oliver M. Lownds. In June of the following year Governor De Witt Clinton issued an order instituting the battalion of the National Guard. It was, unfortunately, consolidated with the artillery battalion. Difficul- ties arose, and in October, 1825, a separation was effected, and the battalion of six companies was made an independent corps. Another company, under Captain Van Buren, was added at about this time.
* The Shakespeare Tavern, where the new battalion of National Guards was organized, was the headquarters of the Eleventh and of the Twenty-seventh regiments for many years, and remained so until the building was demolished, when Fulton Street was widened, in 1836. It was not a tavern-a place for the entertainment of travellers -- in the American sense of that term, but was a place of resort of some of the better class of city residents. It was a sort of club-house, where choice wines and quiet, excellent sup- pers might be obtained. It was originally built after the model of an English alehouse. It was a low, old-fashioned, and rather massive edifice, two stories in height, with dormer windows. It was erected by John Leake before the Revolution. On the second story there was a room for military drills and public meetings, and there were appointments for social or political gatherings. It was a great resort for literary men sixty years ago. It is said that in a room in that tavern the young poet, Robert C. Sands, recited to Gulian C. Verplanck and two or three literary friends his last and most remarkable poem, entitled " The Dead of 1832." In that poem his theme was the triumphs of Death and Time over the eminent men who had died that year, and closing with these words :
" All earth is now their sepulchre, The Mind their monument sublime- Young in eternal fame they are- Sure are your triumphs, Death and Time."
This poem was published in the Commercial Advertiser only a few days before Sands's own sudden death, in December, 1832.
The Shakespeare was known for several years as " Stoneall's," James C. Stoneall being its proprietor.
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FIRST DECADE, 1830-1810.
Prosper M. Wetmore was elected lieutenant-colonel, and Linus W. Stevens major.
Another company would raise the battalion to the dignity of a regiment. Measures were taken to form one. This work was accomplished on the 4th of May, 1826, when the eighth company, commanded by Captain Andrew Warner (now the recording secretary of the New York Historical Society) was admitted into the corps. Two days afterward Governor Clinton issued an order constituting the battalion the Twenty-seventh Regiment of Artillery.
At a meeting of the officers of the Twenty-seventh at the Shake- speare Tavern on May 23, 1826, Prosper M. Wetmore was chosen colonel, Linus W. Stevens lieutenant-colonel, and John Telfair major. The National Guard paraded as a regiment for the first time on May 31st, when they received an elegant stand of colors from Mayor Philip Hone. Sergeant Asher Taylor, a beloved veteran of the National Guard, gives the following account, in his curious illustrated volume entitled " Notes on the Colors of the National Guard, with some Inci- dental Passages of the History of the Regiment," printed on an " amateur press for private circulation" in 1863 :
" When the corps was detached as a separate command, the subject of providing suitable colors for it engaged the early attention of the board of officers, and Captain John Telfair, Captain James T. Flinn, Lieutenant Charles B. Spicer, Adjutant Andrew Warner, and Surgeon Edward P. Marcellin were appointed a committee to procure a standard which should be the banner of the National Guard. The committee spent some time bowing around and flirting and coquetting among their fair friends, in the hope of eliciting an offer from some of them to embroider and present a standard ; and Young Moustache will be amused to learn that all their efforts were in vain, as they reported (March 29, 1826) that ' the expectations hitherto entertained on that sub- jest had not been realized'-a humiliating admission that would well- nigh ' burst the kids' of half the gallant and irresistible fellows of the regiment of the present day. Subscription papers for the requisito funds were circulated through the ranks of the corps, and promptly filled up."
The colors consisted of the regimental standard of red silk, bearing the coat-of-arms of the regiment, described below, and a State standard of blue silk. The design of the arms on the regimental standard was traced out on the silk by Sergeant Taylor, and was very beautifully embroidered in natural colors, under his supervision, by Mirs. Windsor.
A coat-of-arms and a motto having primarily been designed by
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Sergeant Taylor. Major Wetmore employed Dr. Alexander Anderson. the pioneer wood-engraver, to reproduce it on wood, and presented it to the corps. The arms consisted of an escutcheon quartered. The first grand quarter was the shield of the United States, the second the shield of the State of New York, the third the shield of the city of New York, and the fourth the initials of the New York State Artil- lery. On an in-escutcheon of gold were the initials of the National Guard in cipher. The crest was a spread-eagle, and the motto was Pro Patria et Gloria and the words " National Guard."
Late in November, 1830, the regiment bore a conspicuous part among the military of the city of New York in a grand parade of citi- zens and soldiers as an expression of sympathy with those who had effected a revolution in France, driven one king from the throne and set another, more acceptable, upon it. On February 7, 1832, at a meeting of the board of officers of the regiment, Major Catlin sug- gested the propriety of presenting a gold medal to the Marquis de Lafayette.
On the 22d of that month the centennial anniversary of the birth of Washington was celebrated by the regiment. The late G. W. P. Custis, the adopted son of Washington, who possessed the patriot's war-tent, lent it to the regiment for that occasion, and under it the officers were assembled, while thousands of spectators viewed the inter- esting relic. In that tent Lieutenant-Colonel Morgan L. Smith offered the following resolution :
" Resolved, That on this auspicious day, while assembled beneath the ample folds of the tent that sheltered Washington and Lafayette during the Revolution, the officers of this regiment desire to express their humble thanks to Almighty God for the blessings which have grown out of the Revolution, and that we deem this a most appropriate occasion to honor one of His instruments by causing a medal of gold to be struck and presented to the surviving hero, General Lafayette, commemorative of our abiding friend- ship for him, and also that existing between France and America."
This resolution was adopted, and a committee of field officers, con- sisting of Colonel Stevens, Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, and Major Cat- lin, was appointed to accomplish the object. In July following the medal was completed and exhibited to the members of the regiment at Camp Putnam, near New Haven. It was sent to James Fenimore Cooper, the novelist, to present to Lafayette. Mr. Cooper was absent from Paris then and for several months afterward. On his return, in November, he gave a dinner to Lafayette, at which were General Wool, several other Americans of distinction, and representatives of European nations, as guests. On that occasion the medal was pre-
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