Bloody Monday was the name given the election riots of August 6, 1855, in Louisville, Kentucky. These riots grew out of the bitter rivalry between the Democrats and supporters of the Know-Nothing Party. Rumors were started that foreigners and Catholics had interfered with the process of voting. A street fight occurred, twenty-two persons were killed, scores were injured and much property was destroyed by fire. This article is about the political process. ... is the 218th day of the year (219th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1855 (MDCCCLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Louisville redirects here. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  Politics Portal      Further information: Politics of the United States#Organization of American political parties The Democratic... The Know-Nothing movement was a nativist American political movement of the 1850s. ...

Bloody Monday was sparked by the Know-Nothing political party (officially known as the American Party), an off shoot of the shattered Whig Party and fed in large part by the radical, inflammatory anti-immigrant writings of the editor of the Louisville Journal, George D. Prentice and others. Immigration from Ireland and Germany was changing the face of much of America and Louisville was no exception. By 1850, Louisville was the 10th largest city in the country and nearly 40% of its population was native born German. The rioters, led by Know-Nothing political figures who bolstered their ranks with paid thugs brought to Louisville for the express purpose of causing trouble, targeted Irish Catholics and Germans (primarily Catholics but Protestants and even German Jews were also caught up in the melee — the key being that they were German). By the time it was over, more than one-hundred businesses, private homes and tenements had been vandalized, looted and/or burned, including a block long row of houses known as Quinn's Row. Conservative estimates place the death toll at 22, while more realistic estimates, including those of Bishop Martin Spalding of Louisville, placed the death toll at well over 100 with entire families consumed in the fires. Citizens were dragged from their homes, attacked on the streets and in their place of work. 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. A political party by the name of the American Party has existed several times in the United States: The ante-bellum American Party grew out of the Know-Nothing movement and was based on Nativism. ... This article is about the British Whig party. ... The Courier-Journal, nicknamed the C-J, is the main newspaper for the city of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. According to the 1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook, the paper is the 48th largest daily paper in the United States and the single largest in Kentucky. ... George Dennison Prentice was a newspaper editor in Louisville, Kentucky. ... Irish Catholics is a term used to describe Irish people or people of Irish descent who adhere to the Roman Catholic faith. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... ... Archbishop Martin John Spalding (May 23, 1810 - February 7, 1872) was the seventh Roman Catholic archbishop of Baltimore, Maryland from 1864 to 1872. ... Jefferson County Courthouse can refer to one of the following structures on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places: Jefferson County Courthouse (Alabama) Jefferson County Courthouse (Georgia) Jefferson County Courthouse (Idaho) Jefferson County Courthouse (Iowa) Jefferson County Courthouse (Kentucky) Jefferson County Courthouse (Montana) Jefferson County Courthouse (Nebraska) Jefferson County...

Only by Louisville Mayor John Barbee's intervention — himself a Know-Nothing — was the bloodshed and property destruction brought to an end, including his personal intervention that saved two Catholic churches, the new German parish of St. Martin and the Cathedral of the Assumption from destruction by the mob. No one was ever prosecuted in connection with the riots. The legitimately elected Mayor of Louisville, James S. Speed, had been ousted in June by a court order. Speed, who upon his marriage, had converted to Catholicism, would leave Louisville for Chicago never to return. John Barbee (September 16, 1815 — December 22, 1888) was the tenth Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky from 1855 to 1857. ... St. ... The Cathedral of the Assumption is the cathedral motherchurch of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. ... James Stephens Speed (1811 — 1860) was the ninth Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky. ... Nickname: Motto: Urbs in Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois Coordinates: , Country State Counties Cook, DuPage Settled 1770s Incorporated March 4, 1837 Government  - Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area  - City  234. ...

The riots had a profound impact on immigration to Louisville, causing literally more than ten thousand citizens to pack and leave for good, most to St. Louis, Chicago and Milwaukee, and a large group who left in 1856 for Prairie City, Kansas). Only the Civil War, with the trade and commerce it represented, halted this trend. This reverse immigration caused dozens upon dozens of businesses to close, affecting the arts, education and charitable causes with the loss of members, money and brain-power (primarily from the German '48ers). Empty storefronts were the norm on once bustling commercial corridors and much of the destroyed and charred ruins lay untouched for years afterward as a silent reminder of that terrible day. Nickname: Location in the state of Missouri Coordinates: , Country State County Independent City Government  - Mayor Francis G. Slay (D) Area  - City  66. ... For other places with the same name, see Milwaukee (disambiguation). ... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total...

1855 also saw scattered violence in Chicago, St. Louis, Columbus, Cincinnati and New Orleans. Within ten years, though, much had changed in the United States and Louisville. Immigrants brought new cultures and customs leaving their mark in this new land, and Louisville, sight of the nations worst anti-immigrant violence, elected a German born man, Philip Tomppert as Mayor. Nickname: Location in the state of Ohio, USA Coordinates: , Country State Counties Franklin, Delaware, and Fairfield Government  - Mayor Michael B. Coleman (D) Area  - City  212. ... “Cincinnati” redirects here. ... NOLA redirects here. ... Philip Tomppert (June 21, 1808 — October 29, 1873) was the fifteenth and seventeenth Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky in 1865 and 1867 to 1868. ...

See also

• Bloody Sunday
• Bloody Thursday
• Bloody Friday
• Bloody Saturday
• History of Louisville, Kentucky
• List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States
• List of riots
• Louisville riots of 1968

Bloody Sunday refers to several historical events (listed in chronological order): Bloody Sunday (1887), a demonstration in London against coercion in Ireland Bloody Sunday (1900), a day of high casualties in the Second Boer War Bloody Sunday (1905), a massacre in Saint Petersburg A violent event during the 1913 Dublin... The 1934 West Coast Longshore Strike lasted eighty-three days, triggered a strike by sailors and a four-day general strike in San Francisco, and led to the unionization of all of the West Coast ports of the United States. ... Bloody Friday can refer to various events in history that occurred on a Friday: Bloody Friday (1919), also known as the 1919 Battle of George Square Bloody Friday (1972) Bloody Sunday Bloody Monday Bloody Thursday Bloody Saturday Bloody Mary Category: ... Bloody Saturday was June 21, 1919, the culmination of the Winnipeg Strike. ... View of Main Street, Louisville, in 1846. ... The following is a list of major incidents of civil unrest, rioting and violent labor disputes in the United States. ... This is a chronological list of riots: // 121 BC - Roman Election Riot of 121 BC (Rome, Roman Empire) 113 BC - Roman Election Riot of 113 BC (Rome, Roman Empire) 390 - Hippodrome Revolt (Thessaloniki, Byzantine Empire). ... The Louisville riots of 1968 refers to riots in Louisville, Kentucky in May 1968. ...

References

• Dictionary of American History by James Truslow Adams, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940
• "Bloody Monday". The Encyclopedia of Louisville (1). (2001). 

James Truslow Adams (1878 - 1949) was a U.S. historian. ...

External links

• "Bloody Monday Riots: August 6, 1855" — Article by Civil War historian/author Bryan S. Bush