he spark, which ignited the Baltimore Riot of 1812 appears to have come when young boys began hurling stones at the house where Hanson and his defenders had gathered. When a man in the crowd (who actually, it appears, was trying to stop the boys) had his foot crushed by a stone the anger was unleashed. Hoping to reason with the surging crowd, Hanson addressed them from his second story window. However, no public discourse would calm the inflamed crowd. Their anger only increased and two hours later city authorities began to half-heartedly try to quiet the mob. However, with elections looming in the near future, Democratic officials were loath to risk votes. Eventually Hanson and his followers agreed to be escorted to the city jail for greater protection.

The following night the same mob gathered this time outside of the jail. Let in by a democratic turnkey, the real horror of the riot began. Tarring and feathering, beating and chanting, the crazed mob unleashed all types of brutalities upon the defenseless Federalists. One of the unhappy victims, John Thompson reported “I had left my coat in the gaol, and they tore my shirt and other clothing, and put the tar on my bare body, upon which they put feathers. They drew me along in the cart in this condition, and calling me traitor and tory and other scandalous names.”1

As they danced around a repugnant mound of naked, bleeding Federalist bodies the mob sang, “We'll feather and tar every d—d British tory. And this is the way for American glory.” Legitimating their actions by rhetorical appeals to the Revolution, the crowd continued their frenzied abuse. “One Federalist ruefully observed, the crowd could not have been 'more joyful at a dance, than they were at the abuse of the murdered... When the victims cried for mercy, the women 'bawled out kill the tories.'”2 One witness noted, “During this whole time the Mob continued to torture their mangled bodies, by beating first one and then the other; sticking penknives into their faces and hands, and opening their eyes and dropping hot candle grease into them.”3 Revolutionary War hero, Lingan was beaten to death and many other Federalists would have perished had not a local doctor taken pity on their plight and convinced the crowd that he ìneededî the bodies of the limp Federalists for medical experimentation. 

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Before the Riot
Hanson's ability to attract reprisal began as early as 1809. Though not in active duty, Hanson held a post in the Maryland militia. Hanson published an article in the Federal Republican encouraging the people of Maryland to disregard a recent mobilization of troops by the President (which occurred before the war was declared). In keeping with the rising political distrust between factions and the breakdown of discourse, Maryland governor Robert Wright ordered Hanson to be tried for mutiny. While never jailed because a Republican judge questioned the legality of such an action, this served to only further heighten tensions in the state.4

After the Riot
While this act to silence Hanson came from the government itself, the Federal Republican also experienced censorship from the postmasters in Baltimore. Hanson, in his usual bombastic way, described the subversion of the freedom of the press by the complicity of state and postmasters in refusing to deliver his papers.

In another article, the editors noted their inability to make the law enforce the delivery of the Federal Republican. “In every post-office in the United States, newspapers, as well as letters, are carried out by those officers, except the Federal Republican in Baltimore.”5 As well, the Federal Republican reported that in the floor of the House the reporter for the Federal Republican was denied a seat with the stenographers. The House later passed a resolution calling for more seats to be set up for future stenographers. However, this was never done and so the Federal Republican lost its ability to report directly from the affairs of the House for a time.6

1 “An exact and authentic narrative, of the events which took place in Baltimore, on the 27th and 28th of July last. Carefully collected from some of the sufferers and eyewitnesses. To which is added a narrative of Mr. John Thomson, one of the unfortunate sufferers...,” American Memory: The Capital and the Bay: Narratives of Washington and the Chesapeake Bay Region, ca. 1600-1925, Washington D.C., 43.

2 Frank A.Cassell, “The Great Baltimore Riot of 1812,” Maryland Historical Magazine 70.3 (1975): 256.

3 “An exact and authentic narrative,” 28.

4 Jeffrey L. Pasley, The Tyranny of the Printers: Newspaper Politics in the Early American Republic (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001), 282.

5 Federal Republican, Vol. VI, August 19, 1812, No. 854.

6 Federal Republican, Vol. VIII October 8, 1813, No. 1030.