Gangs from the American Party (Know Nothings) and the Democrats (Southern sympathizers) clash throughout Baltimore during national and state elections. The fighting, killing 17 gang members and injuring 67 on both sides, is the most intense violence in any city during the Know Nothing Era. Several widespread riots occur from September through November of 1856.
The nationwide Know Nothing Party (known for its silence about its politics) grew in the 1850s. Hostility intensified toward the growing immigrant population, especially Catholics, as they were thought to be taking jobs from Americans.
Baltimore, with a quarter of its population foreign born, is known as “Mobtown.” Street gangs with names like “Blood Tubs” and “Rip-Raps” are associated with volunteer fire companies, who have a habit of street fighting. They regularly riot during elections and other events. The 1856 violence in the city makes national headlines.
Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison begins his career in Baltimore
William Lloyd Garrison begins his abolitionist career, writing and coediting the newspaper, The Genius of Universal Emancipation in Baltimore in 1829. He is the most famous white American to devote his life to freeing the slaves. Photo shows Garrison (center) with two other abolitionists, Wendell Phillips and Englishman George Thompson.
