Bullets, Clubs, and Bricks Did Fly: 19th Century Street Gangs

One thing that plagued almost every large city and town in 19th Century America was street gangs. Hordes of juvenile delinquents traveled the streets, causing mischief and sometimes even deadly violence. They bore names like the "Dead Rabbits", the "Bowery Boys", the "Baxter Street Dudes", the "Butcher Dogs", and the "Daybreak Boys". These gangs were mostly made up of poor neglected adolescents, rowdy firemen, runaway children seeking a new way of life, and homeless vagrants with little else to do. These groups of rowdy "street Arabs", as they were known, were incredibly common.

Gangs in America's cities started as early as the 1830's, when large slum areas began to be increasingly more common. Perhaps the most famous slum was Five Points in New York. Five Points was a large and notoriously brutal slum in Manhattan that had been set up on the location of a pond that had been drained in 1820. Only the low-income population remained in Five Points, so it became a haven for hoodlums, thiefs, robbers, vagrants, and prostitutes. Five Points holds the record for the highest murder rate of any slum in the world. Pigs lived in the streets, plaster crumbled, children played in the streets in their own filth, and gangs roamed the alleys. This neighborhood was the home of at least three rival gangs: The Dead Rabbits, The Roach Guards, and The Bowery Boys. In the year 1862 alone, ten percent of New York's population was arrested for involvement with these gangs.

The gang members were not only adolescent boys. Some of the ages of gang members are shocking. Some were as young as nine. Even more shocking was the fact that several New York gangs were composed of all girls. They had names like the "Forty Little Thieves" and the "Lady Locusts". In many instances, female gangs were equally as violent as male gangs. The Forty Little Thieves, like many other New York gangs, was composed almost completely of Irish imigrants.

Several of the New York gangs were involved in the draft riots, which went on from July 11 to July 16, 1863. As a protest to the draft into the Union army, they attacked the Provost Marshall's office on July 11 and set it ablaze. Fire Zouaves from the New York Fire Department were involved with the riot, as well as gang menbers of the Five Points gang called the Dead Rabbits. The same day, the mob burned the Bull's Head Hotel on Fifth Avenue simply because it would not serve alcohol. By Wednesday, July 13, 800 US troops had been sent to New York city to stop the rioting and order was restored after a bloody conflict at Gramercy Park on the previous day.

The New York draft riots were perhaps the largest example of gang violence in the 19th century. Not to mention, they were (or at least they started as) a political protest. It was not unusual for gangs to inject politics into their views. In Baltimore, a gang called the Plug Uglies sided with the Know-Nothing Party in the 1850's. The Plug Uglies were involved in several election riots in Baltimore. Most gangs during that period held a political or social stance, unlike the bank-robber gangs of the 20th century.

It seems that most of the gang violence that occurred in the 19th century was small knock-down-drag-out type fights. Two rival gangs would square off against each other and then a brawl would erupt. One song, titled "The Dead Rabbits Fight With the Bowery Boys", says:

"They had a dreadful fight, upon last Saturday night,
The papers gave the news accordin ;
Guns, pistols, clubs and sticks, hot water and old bricks,
Which drove them on the other side of Jordan"

For more research and information on nineteenth century gangs, visit the website of theThe Daybreak Boys, a living history association dedicated to recreating the Daybreak Boys gang and others in the New York area.

Comments

[Sandy]

Oh my goodness! I knew there were gangs way back then, but I didn't know about the terrible violence. Excellent post! You had me hanging on every word!

[william]

Thanks!

[Sandy]

William, there is a blog that I read called "This Old Crack House". He is restoring an old home, and the other day he had a post about reenactment. Here is a quote from his blog: "So you want to know what Point Pleasant, West Virginia is famous for? Well I won't go into great lengths to explain things because there is much written about the place. The first thing it is famous for is the battle that took place there in 1774. If you believe in conspiracy theories then this is a very important battle. If you are a native American then the place is the burial place of a great warrior who happened to be murdered while a prisoner at Fort Randolph during the Revolutionary War. We were in Point Pleasant for a reenactment at the reconstructed Fort Randolph in Krodel Park." My question is this: Would you care if I put the path to your blog there so that other people interested in the Civil War could find you? If not, then I will respect your wishes.

I think you put so much into your blog and I wish others were reading it. What do you think?

[william]

Sure. I would not mind at all. I have read the Old Crack House Blog in the past and enjoyed it thoroughly. I am currently working on getting more traffic and I am sure that that would be very helpful. Thanks.

P.S.- That post is interesting. My first real interest in history was the Revolutionary War, so I would love to go see Point Pleasant some time.

[Sandy]

Thank you! I have posted the path to your spot. I am hoping you get some positive traffic!

[william]

Thanks!

[Ajlouny]

Looks like not alot has changed with gang violence. Wish the trend would just become extinct. Thanks for the wonderful read. I thoroughly enjoyed every word.

[William]

Thanks!