Firefighters and a Funeral Procession: The Boston Riot of 1837

this episode of the history guy brought to you by nordvpn [Music] [Applause] [Music] on the afternoon of june 11th 1837 a group of drunken volunteer firefighters stumbled into a funeral procession on boston's broad street exactly what happened next is a matter of some dispute as the boston post reported at the time there are almost as many rumors in circulation as to the origin of the disturbance as there were parties engaged in it and if that's true it would have been an awfully large number of rumors because the broad street riot of 1837 included as many as 15 000 people and by the time the dust and feathers had settled the city of boston would never be the same it is history that deserves to be remembered thank you to the good folks at nordvpn for supporting the history guy and sponsoring this episode you know my life's on the internet i imagine most of your lives are on the internet too and i personally know how important it is that you protect your data as well as how convenient 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share large files with no hassle thanks to hundreds of secure p2p servers and you get instant access to hundreds of streaming websites worldwide one of the things that that allows you to do is to see shows on netflix that are available in other countries but not the u.s you can ask so much programming without having to subscribe to all sorts of streaming services for example if you're a fan of the show 24 it isn't on netflix in the united states but you can watch it on netflix germany using nordvpn and nordvpn is so easy to use it's just a single click as simple and intuitive as making your morning coffee and one account which you connect up to six devices so go to nordvpn.com the history guy and use the code the history guy and get that exceptional deal a two-year plan plus an additional month at a huge discount all completely risk-free because of nordvpn's 30-day money-back guarantee the city of boston underwent a period of expansion in the early part of the 19th century with its population more than doubling from around 25 000 and 1800 to more than 60 thousand in 1830 a significant percentage of this growth came from immigration much of that came from ireland after the final defeat of napoleon in june 1815 britain despite being the victor found itself deeply in debt as europe fell into economic recession the british response was multi-fold but the effect was especially felt in ireland the price of foreign cereal grains decreased after the end of the war this was perceived to be a threat to the english wheat market and imports on cheap that is so blows fertile price foreign grains were banned with corn laws the initial impact was to increase the price of food which led to opposition and unrest in the public but another impact was that it increased the profitability and therefore the political power that was associated with land ownership this change in the political and economic value of land then spurred in ireland greater use of a 1773 act called the enclosure act the act gave landowners the ability to enclose land and remove commoners access to that land while the process was supposed to be a cooperative process with a procedure the landowners were often able to manipulate the committees making decisions and the impact of the corn laws gave him more incentive to use and abuse the process the result was a wave of irish immigration thomas o'connor a professor emeritus of history at boston university described the effect in his 1995 book the boston irish of political history in ireland the passage of the corn laws that kept up the prices of local grains the protective tariffs that made it impossible for manufacturers to maintain full-scale production and the far-reaching acts of enclosure that turned poor farmers off the land all had crippling effects on an already depressed economy the sparing of a prosperous future growing numbers of craftsmen tradesmen shopkeepers and small businessmen decided to abandon their shops in their work rooms gather up their meager savings and move with their families to america but the wave was not just craftsmen it was also poor farmers when they turned off their land by the enclosure laws o'connor continues joining their countrymen in this post-war exodus came a number of immigrants from the farming areas in the south many of them young men in their 20s and 30s who could see little future there was a reason that the people fleeing ireland often chose the united states the new republic had a unique appeal o'connor writes when the first wave of immigrants wrote home to their friends and relatives of how new laws and state constitutions and that young republic enabled roman catholics to enjoy equal rights the rush was on to leave ireland and go to america and many of those coming to america chose the city of boston the city was in the midst of a period of growth between 1823 and 1828 legendary mayor josiah quincy iii undertook an ambitious plan to expand the city and revitalize neighborhoods notably creating the marketplace around faneuil hall still called quincy market the improvement of roads sewers in the dock area and the economic growth involved meant that there were many jobs for the new irish immigrants and many neighborhoods especially in the area of the bustling boston dockyard became irish neighborhoods while not all the irish immigration was catholic the irish catholic population boomed o'connor notes the numbers from only a few hundred when the first congregation was formed the number of irish catholics in boston had risen to some 2000 by 1820 into more than 5000 by 1825. by 1830 it had passed the 7000 mark that means that by 1830 nearly one in nine bostonians was an irish catholic large-scale immigration often engenders a nativist response as cultures collide but in boston that was initially relatively muted because these new irish immigrants at first weren't particularly involved in politics but that all changed with the rise of a new politician the war hero and populist andrew jackson jackson won a plurality of the electoral vote in the presidential election of 1824 but was denied the office because of the corrupt bargain between henry clay and john quincy adams the outrage of the bargain partly propelled jackson to a landslide victory in 1828 the rise of jackson represented a new entry into politics for the irish population of boston o'connor argues that jackson's populism and rustic virtues appealed to the boston irish and they started becoming more politically active that in turn inflamed the growing nativist opposition to the rising influence of the irish voter o'connor contends the increasing number of irish catholics during the late 1820s and early 1830s combined with what some observers saw as their expanding influence in political affairs was more than enough to rekindle old fears about the supposed threat of roman catholicism to anglo-saxon traditions slowly that nativist opposition turned into rising violence in 1825 the boston advertiser reported disgraceful riots taking place almost every night by gangs who broke windows damaged furniture and destroyed several small houses in the irish sections of the city a notable example occurred in the august 11th 1834 ursulin convent riots where a mob of protestant working men spurred by rumors that catholics and unitarians were conspiring against the working class ransacked and then burned a convent in school run by catholic ursuline nuns in the nearby city of charleston to the ground an official church history called the arson the most disgraceful outrage ever perpetrated in new england and the most tragic event in the history of the church here the children and nuns escaped unharmed but the building was destroyed while eight men were brought to trial for the capital offense of arson none were convicted but this conflict wasn't only grounded in differences in culture or religion the working-class people of boston saw these new irish immigrants as workforce competition and that would become even more important in 1837 when the economic boom that had attracted so much irish immigration came to an abrupt halt the panic of 1837 was originally spurred when the bank of england raised interest rates in order to rebuild cash reserves after a period of speculation this caused a rippling financial crisis that was magnified by decreasing cotton prices interconnected trade and banking compelled u.s banks to also increase rates decreased lending and the cash of cotton prices spawned a wider panic the situation became a crisis on may 10th when banks in new york suspended payments in specie that is gold and silver causing a devaluation of paper currency banks failed profits and wages went down and unemployment with up now the working class of boston was struggling for work and it was easy to blame the irish who were competing for wages additionally many people blamed andrew jackson who had perhaps escalated the problem by refusing to recharge the nation's central bank in 1832 as the boston irish were now associated with jackson they were similarly seen as responsible for the downturn and a center of nativist anti-irish sentiment in boston was with boston's volunteer fire companies jack tajer professor of history at the university of massachusetts amherst wrote in his 2000 book boston riots three centuries of social violence that like other american cities boston had a small group of paid firemen who managed one or two engines plus several volunteer fire companies who competed to put out fires the volunteer fire companies had begun back in the 18th century and as taser notes by the 1830s volunteer companies had evolved into elaborate social clubs where drinking and brawling were as important as answering fire alarms the companies which competed over which could reach a fire first were often the center of disorderly conduct tater notes that undisciplined they often caused civil disorders but they were not just poorly trained and undisciplined they were almost exclusively composed of yankees coming as a catholic church history described them chiefly from those poor strata of the population among whom hostility to the catholics and the irish was fiercest and so the men who fought the fires in boston had common cause with and some of them might have even been the same people who had committed arson at the ursuline convent in 1834 and this tension between the boston irish and the yankee volunteer firefighters would boil over 184 years ago today on june 11 1837 the men of engine company number 20 had returned from fighting a fire on roxbury street many of the men apparently went home but some decided to stop at a nearby pub one that was it appears illegally open as it was sunday and it was against the law in boston at the time to sell liquor on sunday meanwhile a group of some 100 irishmen were assembling for a funeral procession when the yankee firemen stumbled into the irish mourners according to a june 15 1837 edition of the new york herald the land of steady habits lost all its peaceable character the bangor daily wig and courier of bangor maine gave a surprisingly tepid description of the state of the trouble engine number 20 encountered an irish funeral procession and somewhat interrupting its progress warm words ensued peter f stevens news and features editor of boston irish magazine wrote in his 2008 book hidden history of the boston irish that the instigator might have been an man from company 20 named george fay who had lingered longer than his comrades over his cups a cigar dangling from his lips he either shoved several the irishmen or insulted them in 1888 donahoe's magazine a catholic publication wrote the collision resulted in a bloody and fierce fight which says the reporter extended its fiery track through purchase street to the corner abroad it began through who should take the sidewalk the fight over the sidewalk turned into a general melee as the men of the engine company jumped to support faye but the fire company being greatly outnumbered was pushed back to their station there are at least two stories as to what happened next but some accounts the irish broke in and took control of the station but by others the crowd dispersed and the event would have ended had not company 24 men w miller not lost his head completely but the men of company 20 the new york herald reported prepared to resent their defeat rang their own bell and sent a man to ring reverend mr young's bell as if for an alarm a fire the bells called out the nearby fire companies thinking there was a fire the herald continues the plan was immediately successful in calling out number 14 cataract which accidentally fell in with the procession at the corner of summer and sea streets but as the hearse was not in sight at that point the company was not appraised that the large amount of people they ran in among were connected with a funeral the irishman however supposed that they had come to renew their former conflict and commenced an attack on the men at the ropes at first the fire company seemed to have been outnumbered but the herald said the firemen defended themselves as well as they could but other companies began to arrive and the yankees were joined by other working class bostonians the riot gained steam the herald wrote the missiles flew in every direction and clubs and chiles were wielded right manfully handcarts were used to convey ammunition in the shape of bricks to the scene of action in the meantime the irish women and children were shrieking and wringing their hands and this together with the oaths and menaces ferocious aspects of the combatants the cries of victory and the groans of defeat presented a spectacle of confusion of riot and bloodshed which was never before witnessed in this city taiger noted that the scope of the riot was eventually huge the broad street riot of 1837 involved nearly 15 000 people almost one-fifth of the city's population although the majority were cheering a core of maybe 800 brawlers eventually the yankee numbers grew donna hoes reported the irish maintained their ground and only yielded inch by inch to overwhelming numbers retiring pursued by the multitude o'connor expounded for more than two hours the battle raged up and down the streets of the lower part of the city where the immigrants lived with an estimated 10 000 people watching 800 men fight it out with sticks and stones bricks and cudgels this would have been significant enough event but as the fire companies started to break off and return to their stations donahoe's described a frightening shift in the fighting as a different class of combatants taking their places mingled in the afrai this new group which the boston post described as lads about 16 and 18 years of age then engaged in what the paper described as an outrageous attack as the irish gave ground the dwellings occupied by their countrymen were attacked and windows and every movable article were demolished the paper lamented there is no reason whatever to believe that the houses thus assailed were occupied by the irishman thus engaged in the afraid feather beds were ripped open and their contents poured out the windows forming exact imitation of a snow storm the daily wig and courier wrote of a very worthy and unoffending citizen who was sitting in his chamber engaged in reading when the noise of the rioters drew him to the window the man rushed downstairs and bolted the door but the writers broke in the paper continued everything in that house is now in ruins not a single article escaped even a cooking stove was thrown down and broken in pieces donahoe's noted the usual recklessness and disregard of life exhibited in all such scenes were displayed in every direction finally donahoe's recalled the mayor samuel a elliott was seasonably on the spot and called out the military portions of several regular companies were assembled at faneuil hall when the militia units arrived the post reported they cleared the streets instantly and no further violence was committed after their appearance but the damage had been terrible the daily wig and courier described the scene the following day the street was covered ankle deep in the feathers and straw from the beds that had been sacked and the furniture destroyed and thrown from the windows loose stones and brick bats cover the pavement and immense quantities many houses are left without a pane of glass in the window sash the paper estimated the total loss to be over 3 000 and reported peculiar cases of suffering are numerous 29 families have been more or less afflicted by this lawless attack upon their houses they're at least 122 people composing these families 79 of whom are women and children and the greater part of those having been deprived of their clothing saved those articles they happen to be wearing at the time of the attack surprisingly despite the size of the riot and the amount of the damage no one is known to have died in the broad street riot although tater notes that the lack of records from the police departments and the hospitals means that the number of people who might have died later of their injuries can never really be determined even in bringing the peace the boston irish were still victimized as o'connor notes most of the militia units that were called up were yankees so 36 irishmen were arrested but only four yankees all four yankees were acquitted by yankee juries but three of the irishmen were convicted and sentenced to several months of hard labor and then the boston city council later determined that they didn't have the authority to reimburse victims of the riot the riot had a significant effect on city policy first it spelled the end of the volunteer departments taiger notes the elite's response was to mitigate the threat that was posed by the volunteers by ending the system in september mayor elliott announced the establishment of a professional paid fire department thus ending the long rule of the volunteer companies moreover the city had no municipal police department at the time employing just a city marshal and a few watchmen in 1838 partly because of the broad street riot a bill was passed in the general court that allowed the city to appoint police officers paving the way for the creation of a formal police department but perhaps the largest impact of the riots and period of violence against the boston irish was that it resulted in a unique political culture in a city where today people of irish descent are the single largest ethnic group thomas o'connor said of the irish of boston it fled the poverty of ireland survived the atlantic crossing made it safely ashore and established new routes and a new land like it or not they were going to stay right where they were and no one was going to make them leave o'connor contends that it was the years of bitter and unyielding conflict between yankees and irish catholic immigrants that eventually led to the irish political dominance over the city of boston he says irish politicians developed a distinct political philosophy that often shifted from traditional democratic leadership to local neighborhood populism i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide short snippets of forgotten history and if you did enjoy feed the algorithm by making a comment or clicking that like button if you have suggestions for future episodes please send those to our suggestions email box check out our webpage at thehistoryguy.net and of course we're on facebook instagram and twitter you can book a special message from the history guy on cameo and check out our merchandise teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes of forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe [Music] you

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 92,945

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, boston, irish american, us history, broad street riot, Massachusetts

Id: giVPgPE9fjk

Length: 19min 29sec (1169 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 11 2021