Astor Place Riot - The Riot

The Riot

On May 7, 1849, three nights before the riot, Forrest's supporters bought hundreds of tickets to the top level of the Astor Opera House, and brought Macready's performance of Macbeth to a grinding halt by throwing at the stage rotten eggs, potatoes, apples, lemons, shoes, bottles of stinking liquid and ripped up seats. The performers persisted in the face of hissing, groans and cries of "Shame, shame!" and "Down with the codfish aristocracy!", but were forced to perform in pantomime, as they could not make themselves heard over the crowd. Meanwhile, at Forrest's May 7 performance, the audience rose and cheered when Forrest spoke Macbeth's line "What rhubarb, senna or what purgative drug will scour these English hence?"

After his disastrous performance, Macready announced his intention to leave for Britain on the next boat, but he was persuaded to stay and perform again by a petition signed by 47 well-heeled New Yorkers – including authors Herman Melville and Washington Irving – who informed the actor that "the good sense and respect for order prevailing in this community will sustain you on the subsequent nights of your performance." On May 10, Macready once again took the stage as Macbeth.

On the day of the riot, police chief George Washington Matsell having informed him that there was not sufficient manpower to quell a serious riot, Caleb S. Woodhull, the new Whig mayor, called out the militia. General Charles Sandford assembled the state's Seventh Regiment, along with mounted troops, light artillery and hussars, in Washington Square Park, a total of 350 men, who would be added to the 100 policemen outside the theater in support of the 150 inside. Additional policemen were assigned to protect the homes in the area of the city's "uppertens", the wealthy and elite.

On the other side, similar preparations took place. Determined to embarrass the newly ensconced Whig powers, Tammany Hall man Captain Isaiah Rynders, a fervent backer of Forrest who had been one of those behind the mobilization against Macready on May 7, distributed handbills and posters in saloons and restaurants across the city, inviting working men and patriots to show their feelings about the British, asking "SHALL AMERICANS OR ENGLISH RULE THIS CITY?" Tickets to Macready's May 10 show were handed out, free, as well as plans for where people should deploy.

By the time the play opened at 7:30, as scheduled, up to 10,000 people filled the streets around the theater. Among those who supported Forrest cause, one of the most prominent was Ned Buntline, a dime novelist who was Rynders' chief assistant. Buntline and his followers had set up relays to bombard the theater with stones, and fought running battles with the police. They and others inside tried, but failed, to set fire to the building; many of the anti-Macready ticket-holders having been screened and prevented from coming inside in the first place. As the theater fell in on their heads, the audience was in a state of siege; nonetheless, Macready finished the play, again in "dumb show", and only then slipped out in disguise.

Fearing they had lost control of the city, the authorities called out the troops, who arrived at 9:15, only to be jostled, attacked and injured. Finally, the soldiers lined up and, after unheard warnings, opened fire, first into the air and then several times at point blank range into the crowd. Many of those killed were innocent bystanders, and almost all of the casualties were from the working class; seven of the dead were Irish immigrants. Dozens of injured and dead were laid out in nearby saloons and shops, and the next morning mothers and wives combed the streets and morgues for their loved ones.

The New York Tribune reported that "As one window after another cracked, the pieces of bricks and paving stones rattled in on the terraces and lobbies, the confusion increased, till the Opera House resembled a fortress besieged by an invading army rather than a place meant for the peaceful amusement of civilized community."

The next night, May 11, a meeting was called in City Hall Park which was attended by thousands, with speakers crying out for revenge against the authorities whose actions they held responsible for the fatalities. During the melee, a young boy was killed. An angry crowd headed up Broadway toward Astor Place and fought running battles with mounted troops from behind improvised barricades, but this time the authorities quickly got the upper hand.