The Plug Uglies were an American Nativist criminal street gang, sometimes referred to loosely as a political club, that operated in the west side of

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, from 1854 to 1865. The Plug Uglies gang name came from the enormous oversized plug hats they stuffed with wool and leather, pulling them down over their ears for head protection as primitive helmets when going into gang battles. Also, the term ''plug ugly'' was used to identify an extremely tough ferocious fighter who could give a sound beating to an opponent. The name Plug Uglies was used to refer to a number of criminal gangs in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

as well as

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The Plug Uglies took part in the 1856 Baltimore

Know-Nothing Riot The term Know-Nothing Riot has been used to refer to a number of political uprisings of the Nativist American Know Nothing Party in the United States of America during the mid-19th century. These anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic protests culminate ...

. They allied themselves with the New York City Irish

Dead Rabbits The Dead Rabbits was the name of an Irish American criminal street gang active in Lower Manhattan in the 1830s to 1850s. The Dead Rabbits were so named after a dead rabbit was thrown into the center of the room during a gang meeting, prompting s ...

gang in looting New York City during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

in the Draft Riots of 1863. However, this latter alleged association is disputed, as the Plug Uglies, a Nativist gang, were anti-Irish.

History

The Plug Uglies coalesced in the 1850s shortly after the creation of the

Mount Vernon Hook-and-Ladder Company Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish ...

, a

Baltimore Fire Department The Baltimore City Fire Department (BCFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1797 and established in 1859, the Baltimore City Fire Department covers an area of ...

volunteer fire company located in the

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is ...

area. They were originally runners and rowdies affiliated with Mount Vernon. Plug Ugly captains included John English and James Morgan. Other prominent members were Louis A. Carl, George Coulson, George "Howard" Davis, Henry Clay Gambrill,

Alexander Levy Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

, Erasmus "Ras" Levy,On April 26, 1860, Erasmus Levy led the mob which broke up the Maryland Republican Convention. James Wardell, and Wesley Woodward. The gang associated with the emerging American Party, also known as the Nativist

Know Nothing The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...

s, in Baltimore. Like similar associations in Baltimore and other U.S. cities during this period, the Plug Uglies' street influence made them useful to party politicians anxious to control the polls on election days. The Plug Uglies were the central figures in the first election Know-Nothing Riot in Baltimore in October 1855. Together with the Rip Raps, they were also actively involved in deadly rioting at the October 1856 municipal election in Baltimore and in similar violence at the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, in June 1857. At the Washington riot, the National Guard was called out to quell the fighting. Accounts of the Washington riot appeared in newspapers nationally and gained widespread notoriety for the Plug Uglies. Besides election-day fighting, the gang was involved in several assassinations and shootings in Baltimore. Most notably, Plug Ugly Henry Gambrill was implicated in the murder of a Baltimore police officer in September 1858. Gambrill's trial (presided over by judge

Henry Stump Henry Stump (1795–1865) served as Judge of the Criminal Court, 5th Judicial Circuit in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, from 1851 to 1860, one of the most lawless and politically violent decades in Baltimore history. He presided over the in ...

) and the subsequent deadly violence relating to it, made the crime one of the most sensational of the era. The violence of the Plug Uglies and other political clubs had an important impact on Baltimore. It was largely responsible for the creation of modern policing and a paid, professional fire department, as well as court and electoral reforms. These reforms, together with the election of a Reform municipal administration in October 1860 and then the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same 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 polic ...

, led to the breaking up of the Plug Uglies. The Plug Uglies were featured in

Herbert Asbury Herbert Asbury (September 1, 1891 – February 24, 1963) was an American journalist and writer best known for his books detailing crime during the 19th and early-20th centuries, such as ''Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago U ...

's book ''Gangs of New York'', Asbury, ''Gangs of New York'' (1927) and

Lucy Sante Lucy Sante (formerly Luc Sante; born May 25, 1954) is a Belgium-born American writer, critic, and artist. She is a frequent contributor to ''The New York Review of Books''. Her books include '' Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York'' (1991) ...

's chronicle of old New York, ''Low Life''. They are also mentioned in Chapter XIII of MacKinlay Kantor's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Andersonville" (1955). On July 16, 1863, during the New York City draft riots, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reported that Plug-Uglies and Bloody Tubs gang members from Baltimore, as well as the

Schuykill Rangers under

Jimmy Haggerty James "Wild Jimmy" Haggerty (died January 25, 1871) was an American criminal and well-known underworld mob figure in Philadelphia and later in New York City during the mid-to late 19th century. Jimmy Haggerty was the leader of the Schuylkill ...

and other rowdies of Philadelphia," had come to New York to participate in the riots alongside the

and other New York gangs. The ''Times'' said that "the scoundrels cannot afford to miss this golden opportunity of indulging their brutal natures, and at the same time serving their colleagues the Copperheads and secesh ecessionistsympathizers."

Notes

* {{cite book , last=Asbury , first=Herbert , author-link=Herbert Asbury , title=The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld , publisher=Alfred A. Knoff , location=New York , orig-year= , isbn=0-09-943674-4 , year=1927 , ref=Asbury, Gangs of New York

References

*Haskins, James., ''Street Gangs'', New York: Hastings House, 1974. *Sifakis, Carl. ''The Encyclopedia of American Crime'' (3rd ed.). New York: Facts on File Inc., 2005. *Tracy Matthew Melton, ''Hanging Henry Gambrill: The Violent Career of Baltimore's Plug Uglies, 1854–1860'' (2005).

External links

The Legend of Old Smoke Morrissey
by John William Tuohy Former gangs in Baltimore Culture of Baltimore Former gangs in New York City

History

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links