Discrepant news print showing a battle scene from the second series of anti-Catholic riots in Philadelphia in July 1844 that stemmed from the defensive arming of St. Philip de Neri Catholic Church in preparation of a July 4 Nativist party parade. Shows the melee around the city militia under attack from the Protestant rioters depicted as gentlemen in top hats and coats. In the foreground, a rioter picks up a brick as his compatriots fire at a charging band of militiamen near an illuminated lamppost. One soldier lays fallen on the ground as a rioter collapses over him. To the right, a mother flees with her children as men fight hand-to-hand in front of a group of onlookers. The crowd watches another band of militia attempt to guard the targeted Catholic church that is marked "I.H.S. A.D., 1840." In the background, rioters and the militia fire cannons at one another. In actuality, rioters gained control and set the church on fire by the morning of July 7, causing the militia to try and clear a neighboring street on which the combat and cannon fire occurred. The riot, which killed 15, was quelled by the state militia late that evening., Not in Wainwright., Philadelphia on Stone, POS 650, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Bb 892 B 921, LCP exhibit catalog: Made in America, entry #63.
Creator
Bucholzer, H., artist
Date
[1844]
Location
Historical Society of Pennsylvania HSP Bb 892 B 921
