The Black Horse Cavalry was a corrupt bipartisan group in the New York state legislature. During the last quarter of the 19th century, it preyed particularly on

corporations A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

and usually blackmailed by introducing bills against the corporations ( strike bills) that would be killed if sufficient money were forthcoming. The group included around thirty state legislators whose votes could be purchased from the highest bidder. The Black Horse Cavalry is presumed to have been frequent visitors of

William M. Tweed William Magear Tweed (April 3, 1823 – April 12, 1878), often erroneously referred to as William "Marcy" Tweed (see below), and widely known as "Boss" Tweed, was an American politician most notable for being the political boss of Tammany ...

at his Delevan House lodgings in Albany while he served as a state senator.

References

*''Dictionary of American History'' by

James Truslow Adams James Truslow Adams (October 18, 1878 – May 18, 1949) was an American writer and historian. He was a freelance author who helped to popularize the latest scholarship about American history and his three-volume history of New England is well r ...

, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940 Political history of New York (state)
THE ORIGIN OF THE "BLACK HORSE CAVALRY"; How the Sinister Name Came to be Applied to Certain of the Legislators at Albany. The New York Times, June 26, 1910
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