Bloody Monday was a series of riots on August 6, 1855, in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, an election day, when Protestant mobs attacked Irish and German Catholic neighborhoods. These riots grew out of the bitter rivalry between the Democrats and the Nativist

Know-Nothing Party The American Party, known as the Native American Party before 1855 and colloquially referred to as the Know Nothings, or the Know Nothing Party, was an Old Stock nativist political movement in the United States in the 1850s. Members of the m ...

. Multiple street fights raged, leaving twenty-two people dead, scores injured, and much property destroyed by fire. Five people were later indicted, but none were convicted, and the victims were not compensated.

Causes

Bloody Monday was sparked by the

Know Nothing The American Party, known as the Native American Party before 1855 and colloquially referred to as the Know Nothings, or the Know Nothing Party, was an Old Stock Americans, Old Stock Nativism in United States politics, nativist political movem ...

political party (officially known as the American Party), fed in large part by the radical, inflammatory anti-immigrant writings, especially those of the editor of the '' Louisville Journal'', George D. Prentice. Irish and Germans were recent arrivals and now comprised a third of the city's population. Like other major cities on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers,

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

grew rapidly in the previous two decades because of heavy immigration from Ireland and Germany. There were 11,000 immigrants out of a white population of 36,000. Most were

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, but there was also a large German

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

element. The vast majority were Democrats.

Election day

According to the ''Louisville Daily Journal'', by Monday morning, the city was "in possession of an armed mob, the base passions of which were infuriated to the highest pitch by the incendiary appeals of the newspaper organ and the popular leaders of the Know Nothing party." The Know-Nothings formed armed groups to guard the polls on election day. Hundreds were deterred from voting by direct acts of intimidation and others through fear of consequences. In the Sixth Ward, William Thomasson, a former US Representative from the district, appealed to the maddened crowd to cease its acts of disorder and violence but was struck from behind and beaten. In the afternoon, a general row occurred on Shelby Street, extending from Main to Broadway. Some fourteen or fifteen men were shot, including Officer Williams, Joe Selvage and others. Two or three were killed, and a number of houses, chiefly German coffee houses, broken into and pillaged by Know Nothings. About 4 o'clock, a vast crowd of Know Nothings, armed with shotguns, muskets, and rifles, was proceeding to attack the new German parish of St. Martin of Tours, on Shelby Street. Mayor John Barbee, himself a Know-Nothing, assuaged them, and the mob returned to the First Ward polls. An hour afterwards, the large brewery on Jefferson Street, near the junction of Green, was set on fire. Rev. Karl Boeswald was fatally injured by a hail of flying stones while on his way to visit a dying parishioner. Late in the afternoon, three Irishmen going down Main Atreet, near Eleventh, were attacked by Know Nothings, and was one knocked down. Irish in the neighborhood responded by firing repeated volleys from the windows of their houses on Main street. Mr. Rodes, a river-man, was shot and killed by one in the upper story, and a Mr. Graham met with a similar fate. An Irishman who discharged a pistol at the back of a man's head was shot and then hung but survived. After dusk, a row of frame houses on Main street between Tenth and Eleventh, the property of Mr. Quinn, a well known Irishman, were set on fire. The flames extended across the street and twelve buildings were destroyed. These houses were chiefly tenanted by Irish, and upon any of the tenants venturing out to escape the flames, they were immediately shot down. Those badly wounded by gun shot could not escape from the burning buildings.

Aftermath

Only by Louisville Mayor John Barbee's intervention, despite his being a Know-Nothing, were the bloodshed and the property destruction brought to an end, including his personal intervention that saved the Cathedral of the Assumption from destruction by the mob. Immediately after Bloody Monday. Louisville Bishop Martin John Spalding and Protestant leaders called for calm, rather than revenge.Article in two parts: * * When it was over, more than 100 businesses, private homes, and tenements had been vandalized, looted and/or burned, including a block long row of houses known as Quinn's Row.Mittlebeeler, Emmet V. (1992). "The Aftermath of Louisville's Bloody Monday Election Riot of 1855". ''Filson Club History Quarterly'', 66 (2): 197–219. Historians estimate the death toll at 19–22, and Catholics, including Bishop Spalding, set the death toll at well over 100, with entire families consumed in the fires. Weapons, arms, and later bodies of the dead were stored in Louisville Metro Hall (the old Jefferson County Courthouse, now the Mayor's Office), a Know-Nothing stronghold at the time. Sporadic violence and attacks had occurred in the year and months leading up to August 6 and continued for some time afterward.Deusner, Charles E. (1963). "The Know Nothing Riots in Louisville". Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 61: 122–47. No one was ever prosecuted in connection with the riots. The elected Whig mayor, James Stephens Speed, had been ousted in June by a court order. Speed, who upon his marriage had converted to Catholicism, left Louisville for

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, never to return.

Legacy

The riots had a profound impact on emigration from Louisville by causing more than ten thousand citizens to pack and leave for good, most to

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, Chicago, and

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, and a large group left in 1856 for Prairie City, Kansas. Only the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, with the trade and the commerce that it represented halted the trend. The loss of population caused dozens of local businesses to close, affecting arts, education, and charitable causes with the loss of members and money. Empty storefronts were the norm on once-bustling commercial corridors, and many of the destroyed and charred ruins lay untouched for years afterward, as a silent reminder of that terrible day. According to the journalist Peter Smith, some scholars consider the exodus of immigrants fleeing or avoiding Louisville as having weakened the city economically causing it to be eclipsed by St. Louis and Cincinnati, although others disagree. That year also saw scattered violence in Chicago, St. Louis, Columbus,

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, and

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. However, within ten years, Louisville elected a German-born man, Philip Tomppert as mayor. A series of commemorations was held to mark the 150th anniversary of Bloody Monday. According to one of the organizers, Vicky Ullrich, whose German-speaking Swiss ancestors fled to Indiana, "with another influx of immigrants increasing the diversity of Louisville, it's important that Bloody Monday be remembered so that a similar event does not happen again." In 2006, the Louisville

Ancient Order of Hibernians The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH; ) is an Irish Catholic fraternal organization. Members must be male, Catholic, and either born in Ireland or of Irish descent. Its largest membership is in the United States, where it was founded in New Yo ...

, and the German-American Club raised the funds to erect an historic marker at the site of Quinn's Row, which was the site of a small commemoration on March 17, 2015.

Notes

References

* Baker, David L. "The Joyce Family Murders: Justice and Politics in Know-Nothing Louisville." ''Register of the Kentucky Historical Society'' 102.3 (2004): 357–382
online
* Baldwin, Thomas D. "George D. Prentice, the Louisville Anzeiger, and the 1855 Bloody Monday Riots." ''Filson Club History Quarterly'' 67 (1993): 482–95. *
online
** Mallalieu, William C. "George D. Prentice: A Reappraisal Reappraised." ''Register of the Kentucky Historical Society'' 64.1 (1966): 44–50
online
*
online
* Fischer, Greg. ''Germans in Louisville: A History'' (Arcadia Publishing, 2008). * Harper, Leslie Ann. "Lethal Language: The Rhetoric of George Prentice and Louisville's Bloody Monday." ''Ohio Valley History'' 11.3 (2011): 24–43
excerpt
*
online
* * * O’Toole, William, and Charles E. Aebersold. "Research Note: Louisville’s Bloody Monday Riots from a German Perspective." ''Filson Club History Quarterly'' 70 (1996): 419–425. *

External links

* — Article by Civil War historian/author Bryan S. Bush (archived) {{Coord, 38, 15, 28, N, 85, 46, 02, W, type:event_region:US-KY, display=title Incidents of anti-Catholic violence 1855 riots 1855 in Kentucky Persecution by Christians Anti-Catholic riots in the United States Anti-German sentiment in the United States Anti-Irish sentiment Religiously motivated violence in the United States Riots and civil disorder in Kentucky Crimes in Louisville, Kentucky Know Nothing German-American culture in Louisville, Kentucky Irish-American culture in Louisville, Kentucky Monday Massacres in the United States Massacres of Catholics History of Louisville, Kentucky August 1855 Catholic–Protestant sectarian violence 19th century in Louisville, Kentucky