15. Known as Bloody Monday, anti-immigration supporters successfully disrupted the 1855 Louisville elections and led a violent mob against the homes and businesses of German migrants
Louisville, Kentucky, akin to other major cities on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, experienced dramatic growth during the 1830s and 1840s as a result of mass migration from Germany and Ireland. Predominantly Democratic voters, by the mid-1850s these migrants comprised one-third of the city’s white (and hence franchised) population. Inflaming Republican sentiment, the American Party sought to take advantage of the discord. Forming armed groups to “guard” the polling stations on election day on August 6, 1855, these Know-Nothings attempted, by force, to prevent immigrants from voting.
Rapidly escalating, by the afternoon rioters had murdered fifteen people and already attacked several homes of German migrants. Equipped with shotguns and rifles, the mob marched on the German parish of St. Martin of Tours. Persuaded by the Mayor of Louisville to not raise the settlement, the group subsequently roamed the streets, attacking any immigrants they encountered and burning houses and businesses. In total, at least twenty-two people were killed, along with dozens injured and countless properties gutted. Although five people were indicted, they were all acquitted at trial by Protestant juries and no compensation was paid to victims. In the riots’ aftermath, more than ten thousand individuals emigrated from the city, crippling its economy and reducing it in comparison to regional rivals St. Louis and Cincinnati.