John Barbee (September 16, 1815 – December 22, 1888) was the tenth

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

from 1855 to 1857 and chiefly remembered for his part in the anti-immigrant riots known as "Bloody Monday".

Life

He was born in

Pewee Valley, Kentucky Pewee Valley is a home rule-class city in Oldham County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 1,456 at the 2010 census. History The site of present-day Pewee Valley was first settled as a stop on the Louisville and Frankfort Railroad in 1 ...

, and, after his parents died, moved to Louisville at age 14. In 1841, he was elected by the city council as a collector of revenues, and after a brief foray back into the private sector, he was elected to the city council in 1849 and 1851. In 1855, as a member of the anti-Catholic, anti-foreigner

Know Nothing The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...

party, he was elected Mayor over James S. Speed, who did not run for re-election, believing the election was invalid, but his appeal was denied eventually by the

Kentucky Supreme Court The Kentucky Supreme Court was created by a 1975 constitutional amendment and is the state supreme court of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Prior to that the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky. The Kentucky Court of ...

Bloody Monday

The most notable event of his term was "

Bloody Monday Bloody Monday was a series of riots on August 6, 1855, in Louisville, Kentucky, an election day, when Protestant mobs attacked Irish and German Catholic neighborhoods. These riots grew out of the bitter rivalry between the Democrats and the Nat ...

", an uprising against (mostly Catholic) German and Irish immigrants on August 6, 1855. The day was election day, and despite the likelihood of riots, Barbee would not provide any security at voting booths. Know-Nothings prevented naturalized German and Irish from voting, and riots erupted on the streets of the Butchertown district of Louisville. Germans were beaten and some were killed as the riots spilled into the Irish-dominated Eighth Ward, burning a large row of houses (Quinn's Row). Barbee finally intervened to prevent rioters from destroying the city's Catholic cathedral. Officially, 22 people were killed in the riots, although some sources place the number of deaths at 100 or more. After Barbee's term as mayor, he served again on the city council from 1858 to 1861. He became a Democrat after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. He is buried in

Cave Hill Cemetery Cave Hill Cemetery is a Victorian era National Cemetery and arboretum located at Louisville, Kentucky. Its main entrance is on Baxter Avenue and there is a secondary one on Grinstead Drive. It is the largest cemetery by area and number of buri ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbee, John 1815 births 1888 deaths Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery Kentucky city council members Mayors of Louisville, Kentucky People from Pewee Valley, Kentucky Kentucky Know Nothings