Dead Rabbits Riot
Encyclopedia
The Dead Rabbits Riot was a two-day civil disturbance in New York City
resulting from what was originally a small-scale street fight between members of the Dead Rabbits
and the Bowery Boys
into a citywide gang war which lasted from July 4–5, 1857. Taking advantage of the disorganized state of the city's police force, brought about by the conflict between the Municipal and Metropolitan police
, the fighting would spiral into widespread looting and damage of property by gangsters and other criminals from all parts of the city. It is estimated that between 800 and 1,000 gang members took part in the riots, along with several hundred others who used the disturbance to loot the Bowery
area. It was the largest disturbance since the Astor Place Riot
in 1849, and the biggest scene of gang violence, unsurpassed until the New York Draft Riots of 1863. Order was restored only by the New York State Militia, supported by detachments of city police, under Major-General Charles W. Sandford
.
The riot was a culmination of the gang violence between the Five Pointers
and the Bowery gangs, fueled by the decade-long conflict between the Democratic-supported Tammany Hall
and the nativist Know Nothing Party, dating as far back as the 1840s. It also caused serious and far-reaching political changes including the downfall of Captain Isaiah Rynders
as a ward boss of the "Bloody Ould Sixth" in favor of John Morrissey
.
During the next few years, between the time of the Dead Rabbits Riot and the New York Draft Riots, the power of the older "Paradise" and "Chatham Square" street gangs would decline and break up in the post-American Civil War
era.
, members of the Dead Rabbits
led a coalition of street gangs from the Five Points
, with exception of the Roach Guards
with whom they had been fighting, into The Bowery to raid a clubhouse occupied by the Bowery Boys
and the Atlantic Guards. They were confronted outside the building by their rivals and were driven back after vicious street fighting, the Five Pointers retreating to Paradise Square. Some fighting continued as far away as Pearl
and Chatham Streets, in the northern half of Park Row
, but no police were dispatched. With the exception of a few nearby Metropolitan patrolmen, who were seriously injured, each police faction claimed the responsibility lay with the other. Police inactivity caused the situation to escalate in the next few hours.
The following morning, the Five Pointers returned to the Bowery with the Roach Guards and attacked the Green Dragon, a popular Broome Street resort and meeting place for the Bowery Boys and other local criminals. They managed to surprise the Bowery gangsters inside the building and, armed with iron bars and large paving blocks, they proceeded to wreck the bar room, rip up the floor of the dance hall and drink all the alcohol in the place. News of the incident quickly reached the Bowery Boys, who then called upon other gangs of the Bowery to join them and confronted the Five Pointers at Bayard Street where one of the largest street gang battles in the city's history occurred.
At around 10:00 a.m., in the midst of savage fighting, a lone patrolman used his club to move through the gangsters in an attempt to take the ring leaders into custody. He was knocked down and attacked by the crowd however, stripped of his uniform and beaten with his own nightstick. He managed to crawl back to the sidewalk and, wearing only his cotton drawers, he ran towards the Metropolitan headquarters on White Street, where he informed the precinct of the fighting before he collapsed. A small police squad was sent out to break up the fighting but, upon reaching Centre Street
, the gangs turned against the police, who were forced to retreat after several officers were injured. They made a second attempt, this time fighting their way into the mob, and arrested two men believed to be the leaders. The gangsters responded by storming into the low houses lining Bowery and Bayard Streets, forcing out the residents, and climbed to the rooftops where they proceeded to shower the Metropolitan officers with stones and brick bats until they fled from the area.
When the police left without their prisoners, the fighting stopped for a few moments. This temporary truce lasted only an hour or two as fighting resumed near The Tombs
, supposedly brought about by a group of women from the Five Points who had provoked the Dead Rabbits into attacking the Bowery gangs. Bringing reinforcements with them, the participants were estimated at between 800–1,000 and armed with bludgeons, paving stones, brick bats, axes, pitchforks and other weapons. Several hundred other criminals also arrived in the area, mostly burglars and thieves, who were not affiliated with either side and simply took the opportunity for looting. Attacking homes and shops all along the Bowery as well as Bayard, Baxter, Mulberry
and Elizabeth Street
s, residents and store owners were forced to barricade their buildings and protect themselves with pistols and muskets.
Fighting continued until early afternoon when a larger police force arrived, sent by Police Commissioner Simeon Draper
, and marched in close formation towards the mob. After hard fighting, they cleared the streets forcing both the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys into the buildings and to the rooftops once again. The police followed the gangsters, using their clubs at every opportunity, and began arresting large numbers of men. Some refused to surrender to police such as one man who, while fighting police, fell off the roof of a Baxter Street tenement fracturing his skull
. He was promptly killed by Bowery gangsters on the ground who stomped him to death. Two leaders of the Dead Rabbits were finally arrested by police, despite heavy resistance by gang members, who took them to a nearby police precinct followed by a group of Bowery Boys.
In spite of this, fighting resumed as soon as the police left. Barricades were set up with push carts and stones from which gangsters fired weapons, hurled bricks and used clubs against their enemies. One of these, a giant Dead Rabbit, stepped in front of his barricade used his pistol to kill two Bowery Boys and wound two others despite heavy fire. He was finally knocked unconscious by a small boy, whose brother was fighting with the Bowery Boys, crawling along the barricade and hitting him with a brick bat from behind.
The police returned to the area but were unable to re-enter, forced to retreat several times with heavy losses, and that evening called upon Captain Isaiah Rynders
to use his influence to stop the battle. Rynders, then the political boss
of the Sixth Ward, was long associated with the underworld and it was thought he could force them to stop. He agreed and, upon his arrival between 6:00–7:00 p.m., he addressed the gangsters from the barricades. Though he tried to reason with them by telling them the futility of fighting amongst themselves, they refused to listen, and Rynders was forced to escape in the company of his henchmen when the mob responded by throwing rocks at him. He then traveled to the Metropolitan Police Headquarters where he advised Draper to call in the military. Meanwhile, fires had been set to two or three houses while residents remained under siege by looters and thugs.
At around 9:00 p.m., the Eighth and the Seventy-First Regiments of the New York State Militia under Major-General Charles W. Sandford
marched down White and Worth Streets
with fixed bayonets
. Accompanied by two police detachments of 75 men each, they moved ahead of the guardsmen clubbing gangsters and rioters. Although neither regiment was at full strength, their show of force was enough to panic the gangsters to flee back to their hideouts. The fighting ceased from then on, with 500 men remaining at the City Arsenal until 4:00 a.m., although police and national guardsmen continued to patrol the district for the rest of the night and into the next day.
Afterwards, occasional violence against Bowery Boys who ventured into the Five Points was reported, although none of these attacks reached the levels seen during the riots. The most serious of these incidents occurred the day following the riot when a group of Bowery Boys fought members of the Kerryonians
in Centre Street; however they were chased back to the Bowery and Chatham Square by the time police arrived. Sporadic fighting continued for another week, most being confined in German-American neighborhoods in the East Side
and the East River
by younger criminals emulating the Irish gangs. Many of the Five Points gangs, most notably the Dead Rabbits, resented the implications made by police and newspapers that they had been committing criminal acts. The gang went so far as to have the New York Times print a statement denying such claims.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
resulting from what was originally a small-scale street fight between members of the Dead Rabbits
Dead Rabbits
The Dead Rabbits were a gang in New York City in the 1850s, and originally were a part of the Roach Guards. Daniel Cassidy claimed that the name has a second meaning rooted in Irish American vernacular of NYC in 1857 and that the word "Rabbit" is the phonetic corruption of the Irish word ráibéad,...
and the Bowery Boys
Bowery Boys
The Bowery Boys were a nativist, anti-Catholic, and anti-Irish gang based north of the Five Points district of New York City in the mid-19th century. They were primarily stationed in the Bowery section of New York, which was, at the time, extended north of the Five Points...
into a citywide gang war which lasted from July 4–5, 1857. Taking advantage of the disorganized state of the city's police force, brought about by the conflict between the Municipal and Metropolitan police
New York City Police Riot
The New York City Police Riot of 1857, known at the time as the Great Police Riot, was a conflict which occurred between the recently dissolved New York Municipal Police and the newly formed Metropolitan Police on June 16, 1857...
, the fighting would spiral into widespread looting and damage of property by gangsters and other criminals from all parts of the city. It is estimated that between 800 and 1,000 gang members took part in the riots, along with several hundred others who used the disturbance to loot the Bowery
Bowery
Bowery may refer to:Streets:* The Bowery, a thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York City* Bowery Street is a street on Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y.In popular culture:* Bowery Amphitheatre, a building on the Bowery in New York City...
area. It was the largest disturbance since the Astor Place Riot
Astor Place Riot
The Astor Place Riot occurred on May 10, 1849 at the now-demolished Astor Opera House in Manhattan, New York City and left at least 25 dead and more than 120 injured...
in 1849, and the biggest scene of gang violence, unsurpassed until the New York Draft Riots of 1863. Order was restored only by the New York State Militia, supported by detachments of city police, under Major-General Charles W. Sandford
Charles W. Sandford
Major-General Charles W. Sandford was an American militia and artillery officer, lawyer and businessman. He was a senior officer in the New York State Militia for over thirty years and commanded the First Division in every major civil disturbance in New York City up until the American Civil War,...
.
The riot was a culmination of the gang violence between the Five Pointers
Five Points, Manhattan
Five Points was a neighborhood in central lower Manhattan in New York City. The neighborhood was generally defined as being bound by Centre Street in the west, The Bowery in the east, Canal Street in the north and Park Row in the south...
and the Bowery gangs, fueled by the decade-long conflict between the Democratic-supported Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
and the nativist Know Nothing Party, dating as far back as the 1840s. It also caused serious and far-reaching political changes including the downfall of Captain Isaiah Rynders
Isaiah Rynders
Captain Isaiah Rynders was an American businessman, sportsman, underworld figure and political organizer for Tammany Hall...
as a ward boss of the "Bloody Ould Sixth" in favor of John Morrissey
John Morrissey
John Morrissey , also known as Old Smoke, was an Irish bare-knuckle boxer and a gang member in New York in the 1850s and later became a Democratic State Senator and U.S. Congressman from New York, backed by Tammany Hall...
.
During the next few years, between the time of the Dead Rabbits Riot and the New York Draft Riots, the power of the older "Paradise" and "Chatham Square" street gangs would decline and break up in the post-American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
era.
Events
On the evening of July 4, 1857, while the rest of New York was celebrating Independence DayIndependence Day (United States)
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
, members of the Dead Rabbits
Dead Rabbits
The Dead Rabbits were a gang in New York City in the 1850s, and originally were a part of the Roach Guards. Daniel Cassidy claimed that the name has a second meaning rooted in Irish American vernacular of NYC in 1857 and that the word "Rabbit" is the phonetic corruption of the Irish word ráibéad,...
led a coalition of street gangs from the Five Points
Five Points, Manhattan
Five Points was a neighborhood in central lower Manhattan in New York City. The neighborhood was generally defined as being bound by Centre Street in the west, The Bowery in the east, Canal Street in the north and Park Row in the south...
, with exception of the Roach Guards
Roach Guards
The Roach Guards were an Irish street gang in New York City's Five Points neighborhood during the early 19th century. Originally formed to protect New York liquor merchants in Five Points, the gang soon began committing robbery and murder....
with whom they had been fighting, into The Bowery to raid a clubhouse occupied by the Bowery Boys
Bowery Boys
The Bowery Boys were a nativist, anti-Catholic, and anti-Irish gang based north of the Five Points district of New York City in the mid-19th century. They were primarily stationed in the Bowery section of New York, which was, at the time, extended north of the Five Points...
and the Atlantic Guards. They were confronted outside the building by their rivals and were driven back after vicious street fighting, the Five Pointers retreating to Paradise Square. Some fighting continued as far away as Pearl
Pearl Street (Manhattan)
Pearl Street is a street in the Lower section of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running northeast from Battery Park to the Brooklyn Bridge, then turning west and terminating at Centre Street...
and Chatham Streets, in the northern half of Park Row
Park Row (Manhattan)
Park Row is a street located in the Financial District of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It was previously called Chatham Street and during the late 19th century it was nicknamed Newspaper Row, as most of New York City's newspapers located on the street to be close to the action at New...
, but no police were dispatched. With the exception of a few nearby Metropolitan patrolmen, who were seriously injured, each police faction claimed the responsibility lay with the other. Police inactivity caused the situation to escalate in the next few hours.
The following morning, the Five Pointers returned to the Bowery with the Roach Guards and attacked the Green Dragon, a popular Broome Street resort and meeting place for the Bowery Boys and other local criminals. They managed to surprise the Bowery gangsters inside the building and, armed with iron bars and large paving blocks, they proceeded to wreck the bar room, rip up the floor of the dance hall and drink all the alcohol in the place. News of the incident quickly reached the Bowery Boys, who then called upon other gangs of the Bowery to join them and confronted the Five Pointers at Bayard Street where one of the largest street gang battles in the city's history occurred.
At around 10:00 a.m., in the midst of savage fighting, a lone patrolman used his club to move through the gangsters in an attempt to take the ring leaders into custody. He was knocked down and attacked by the crowd however, stripped of his uniform and beaten with his own nightstick. He managed to crawl back to the sidewalk and, wearing only his cotton drawers, he ran towards the Metropolitan headquarters on White Street, where he informed the precinct of the fighting before he collapsed. A small police squad was sent out to break up the fighting but, upon reaching Centre Street
Centre Street (Manhattan)
Centre Street runs north-south in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Centre Street runs from Park Row and continues north to Delancey Street where it merges with Lafayette Street....
, the gangs turned against the police, who were forced to retreat after several officers were injured. They made a second attempt, this time fighting their way into the mob, and arrested two men believed to be the leaders. The gangsters responded by storming into the low houses lining Bowery and Bayard Streets, forcing out the residents, and climbed to the rooftops where they proceeded to shower the Metropolitan officers with stones and brick bats until they fled from the area.
When the police left without their prisoners, the fighting stopped for a few moments. This temporary truce lasted only an hour or two as fighting resumed near The Tombs
The Tombs
"The Tombs" is the colloquial name for the Manhattan Detention Complex, a jail in Lower Manhattan at 125 White Street, as well as the popular name of a series of preceding downtown jails, the first of which was built in 1838 in the Egyptian Revival style of architecture.The nickname has been used...
, supposedly brought about by a group of women from the Five Points who had provoked the Dead Rabbits into attacking the Bowery gangs. Bringing reinforcements with them, the participants were estimated at between 800–1,000 and armed with bludgeons, paving stones, brick bats, axes, pitchforks and other weapons. Several hundred other criminals also arrived in the area, mostly burglars and thieves, who were not affiliated with either side and simply took the opportunity for looting. Attacking homes and shops all along the Bowery as well as Bayard, Baxter, Mulberry
Mulberry Street (Manhattan)
Mulberry Street is a principal thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York. The street was listed on maps of the area since at least 1755. The "Bend" in Mulberry in which the street changes direction from southwest to northeast to a northerly direction was to avoid the wetlands surrounding the Collect Pond...
and Elizabeth Street
Elizabeth Street
Elizabeth Street can refer to:* Elizabeth Street, Brisbane, Australia* Elizabeth Street, Hobart, Australia* Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, Australia* Elizabeth Street, Sydney, Australia* Elizabeth Street School, Worcester, Massachusetts...
s, residents and store owners were forced to barricade their buildings and protect themselves with pistols and muskets.
Fighting continued until early afternoon when a larger police force arrived, sent by Police Commissioner Simeon Draper
Simeon Draper
Simeon Draper was an American politician from New York.-Life:...
, and marched in close formation towards the mob. After hard fighting, they cleared the streets forcing both the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys into the buildings and to the rooftops once again. The police followed the gangsters, using their clubs at every opportunity, and began arresting large numbers of men. Some refused to surrender to police such as one man who, while fighting police, fell off the roof of a Baxter Street tenement fracturing his skull
Skull fracture
A skull fracture is a break in one or more of the bones in the skull usually occurring as a result of blunt force trauma. If the force of the impact is excessive the bone may fracture at or near the site of the impact...
. He was promptly killed by Bowery gangsters on the ground who stomped him to death. Two leaders of the Dead Rabbits were finally arrested by police, despite heavy resistance by gang members, who took them to a nearby police precinct followed by a group of Bowery Boys.
In spite of this, fighting resumed as soon as the police left. Barricades were set up with push carts and stones from which gangsters fired weapons, hurled bricks and used clubs against their enemies. One of these, a giant Dead Rabbit, stepped in front of his barricade used his pistol to kill two Bowery Boys and wound two others despite heavy fire. He was finally knocked unconscious by a small boy, whose brother was fighting with the Bowery Boys, crawling along the barricade and hitting him with a brick bat from behind.
The police returned to the area but were unable to re-enter, forced to retreat several times with heavy losses, and that evening called upon Captain Isaiah Rynders
Isaiah Rynders
Captain Isaiah Rynders was an American businessman, sportsman, underworld figure and political organizer for Tammany Hall...
to use his influence to stop the battle. Rynders, then the political boss
Political boss
A boss, in politics, is a person who wields the power over a particular political region or constituency. Bosses may dictate voting patterns, control appointments, and wield considerable influence in other political processes. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves...
of the Sixth Ward, was long associated with the underworld and it was thought he could force them to stop. He agreed and, upon his arrival between 6:00–7:00 p.m., he addressed the gangsters from the barricades. Though he tried to reason with them by telling them the futility of fighting amongst themselves, they refused to listen, and Rynders was forced to escape in the company of his henchmen when the mob responded by throwing rocks at him. He then traveled to the Metropolitan Police Headquarters where he advised Draper to call in the military. Meanwhile, fires had been set to two or three houses while residents remained under siege by looters and thugs.
At around 9:00 p.m., the Eighth and the Seventy-First Regiments of the New York State Militia under Major-General Charles W. Sandford
Charles W. Sandford
Major-General Charles W. Sandford was an American militia and artillery officer, lawyer and businessman. He was a senior officer in the New York State Militia for over thirty years and commanded the First Division in every major civil disturbance in New York City up until the American Civil War,...
marched down White and Worth Streets
Worth Street (Manhattan)
Worth Street is a two-way street in the Manhattan borough of New York City. It runs from Hudson Street, TriBeCa, in the west to Chatham Square in the east. Past Chatham Square, the roadway continues as Oliver Street, which runs one-way north- and westbound. Between West Broadway and Church Street,...
with fixed bayonets
Bayonet
A bayonet is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit in, on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear...
. Accompanied by two police detachments of 75 men each, they moved ahead of the guardsmen clubbing gangsters and rioters. Although neither regiment was at full strength, their show of force was enough to panic the gangsters to flee back to their hideouts. The fighting ceased from then on, with 500 men remaining at the City Arsenal until 4:00 a.m., although police and national guardsmen continued to patrol the district for the rest of the night and into the next day.
Aftermath
During the two-day rioting eight men were killed and between thirty to a hundred others injured, roughly half of these requiring to be hospitalized. It was believed that many gang members were carried off by their friends and, over the next few days, those who were killed in the fighting were buried in cellars, hidden passageways and other locations in the Five Points and Paradise Square. Indeed, many known "sluggers" from both sides were noticeably absent from the area following the riot. According to underworld legend, these sites would be used for secret burials by street gangs for the next several decades.Afterwards, occasional violence against Bowery Boys who ventured into the Five Points was reported, although none of these attacks reached the levels seen during the riots. The most serious of these incidents occurred the day following the riot when a group of Bowery Boys fought members of the Kerryonians
Kerryonians
The Kerryonians were an early-19th-century New York street gang made up mostly of recent Irish immigrants from County Kerry, Ireland. One of the first gangs, along with the 40 Thieves, to occupy the Five Points area, the Kerryonians particularly targeted those of British descent...
in Centre Street; however they were chased back to the Bowery and Chatham Square by the time police arrived. Sporadic fighting continued for another week, most being confined in German-American neighborhoods in the East Side
East Side (Manhattan)
The East Side of Manhattan refers to the side of Manhattan Island which abuts the East River and faces Brooklyn and Queens. Fifth Avenue, Central Park, and lower Broadway separate it from the West Side....
and the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
by younger criminals emulating the Irish gangs. Many of the Five Points gangs, most notably the Dead Rabbits, resented the implications made by police and newspapers that they had been committing criminal acts. The gang went so far as to have the New York Times print a statement denying such claims.
In popular culture
- A poetryPoetryPoetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
bookBookA book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
by Richard Griffin, The Dead Rabbit Riot, A.D. 1857: And Other Poems, was published in 1915. - The Dead Rabbit Riot was featured in the History Channel documentary television series History's MysteriesHistory's MysteriesHistory's Mysteries is an American documentary television series on the History Channel.-Overview:The 154 episodes of the series were produced from 1994-2006. Each season consisted of 12 to 14 one-hour episodes that focused on historical events or subjects considered to be mysterious by the general...
in 1998. - The Dead Rabbits, the Five Points, and a large riot are portrayed in the movie "Gangs of New YorkGangs of New YorkGangs of New York is a 2002 historical film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. It was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan. The film was inspired by Herbert Asbury's 1928 nonfiction book, The Gangs of New...
", though the motivation for the violence was the Civil War draft.
Further reading
- Clark, Emmons. History of the Seventh Regiment of New York, 1806–1889. Vol. I. New York: The Seventh Regiment, 1890.
- Francis, Augustus Theodore. History of the 71st Regiment, N.G., N.Y., American Guard. New York: The Veterans Association, 1919.