buckshot war.jpg

A depiction of events from "The Tired Soldier," published in 1839.

(Courtesy of the Internet Archive)

Reporters note: This is the second in an occasional series of interesting bits of Pennsylvania's history based on the biographies of legislators. Last week we wrote about the state's first speaker, whose father was a United Empire Loyalist during the Revolutionary War. You can find the Legislature's historical biographies here. (h/t to Erik Arneson)

Charles Bingham Penrose, a state Senator who played a key role in the "Buckshot War."

This week we're examining the life of Charles Bingham Penrose, who was Speaker of the Senate during the 1839 legislative session, and a key figure in what would become known as the "Buckshot War," or "that time the outgoing governor might have tried to seize power by ordering the militia to Harrisburg."

Penrose was born near Philadelphia in 1798, a member of a high-profile family whose grandfather was a former member of the state Senate and whose ancestors were among the city's first pioneers. After serving in the war of 1812, Penrose returned to Pennsylvania and opened his law practice in Carlisle. Of local interest: He was an investor in the Cumberland Valley Railroad and "obtained" Pine Grover Furnace in 1838.

His biography describes him as "pro-improvement." As a legislator he backed the expansion of the Cumberland Valley Railroad between Chambersburg and Harrisburg, backed laws regarding public schooling, and helped repeal Pennsylvania's property and personal tax laws.

In 1838 he was elected speaker of the Senate, during a fascinating (if largely forgotten) period of Pennsylvania's history.

Pennsylvania's gubernatorial election of 1838 was a bitterly fought struggle between the Anti-Mason Whig party and the Democratic Party (there's a frightfully interesting backstory there as well, but for brevity I am not including it. Maybe it will be its own story). Incumbent Gov. Joseph Ritner, an Anti-Mason Whig, had apparently lost to his opponent Democrat David R. Porter in a narrow victory of some 5,000 votes amid allegations of rampant voter fraud in Philadelphia (sound familiar?).

According to William Henry Egle, writing some 60 years later for the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, after the election the vitriol continued, with Anti-Mason Whig extremists exhorting their followers to "treat the election held on the 9th of October as if it had never taken place" and to take steps to ensure "that Porter should never be governor."

When it became time to seat the Legislature after the election to certify the results (and either Porter's or Ritner's victory), these tensions and allegations boiled over into what would become known as the "Buckshot War." In a nutshell, control of both houses of the Legislature and the executive branch hinged upon the results of the election in Philadelphia which, as previously mentioned, were rife with allegations of voter fraud.

In the state House, these allegations caused two sets of results to be read into the record, with two sets (one Anti-Mason Whig, one Democrat) of delegates from Philadelphia being seated at once. Both parties thus believed they held a majority and, calling to order two separate instances of the House at the same time, elected their own set of leaders.

In the state Senate, where Penrose was speaker, a similar thing occurred, with fraudulent results being read into the record. Because the election was so contentious, a large crowd of men had traveled to Harrisburg to support their respective parties (some estimates say as many as 50,000 people had flocked to Harrisburg). On the day the Legislature convened, the visitors had crowded into both houses to witness the proceedings and were described by Egle as a crowd of "excited and enraged citizens."

The fraudulent results (which favored the Anti-Mason Whig party) were challenged on the floor by a Democratic senator and "the scene now become one of fearful confusion, disorder and terror." Penrose, whose party had endorsed the bad results, was forced to leave his post, and with two other men escaped through a window. The Legislature was thus left in chaos, with mobs of angry men roaming the streets of Harrisburg.

"Determined and desperate men were there on both sides, threats were made, defiance hurled back and forth, and to the timid the aspect of affairs appeared alarming," wrote Egle, describing the scene outside the Capitol.

That night Gov. Ritner issued a proclamation calling for order by -- among other things -- asking the state militia to come to Harrisburg. Supporters of Ritner and the Anti-Mason Whig party then seized the state arsenal, after which, again according to Egle, "a polyglot crowd flocked to the arsenal, determined to prevent the ammunition from being seized by the governor."

Robert Patterson, portrait made during Mexican-American War

Speeches by local dignatries calmed the crowds, at least for the moment. However the next day Ritner called upon Major-General Robert Patterson (who commanded a portion of the state militia) to move his troops from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, an order Patterson complied with.

With state troops now in the capital, a fascinating exchange (according to Egle) then took place between Patterson and Ritner. Meeting at the governor's house two days after the Legislature fell into chaos, Patterson told Ritner he had not come to Harrisburg for political purposes, and would not support either party. Patterson said he would also only obey orders given by the governor (not Penrose or any other man) and only those orders he deemed lawful -- i.e. orders related to the safety of the public and the preservation of public order.

Further, Patterson told the governor that if he was asked to clear the Capitol and install either of the disputed parties he would not do it. Nor would he comply with orders to fire upon those the governor had termed "rebels," unless in self-defense.

Reflect for a moment upon that exchange.

Ritner, who may or may not have been re-elected, was apparently sounding out Patterson to see if he would take control of the state government to support Ritner's party (and quite possibly, his governorship). But for Patterson's principals, we could be living in a rather different Pennsylvania today.

Ritner did not like Patterson's answers, and ordered him and his troops to return home. He then turned around and called upon troops from Carlisle to come to Harrisburg, which they did. Egle notes that at no time were the soldiers necessary and, by the time the Carlisle troops arrived, "the soldiers regarded the trip as a frolic, and enjoyed themselves accordingly."

To make a rather long story short, roughly two weeks after the episode began several members of the Anti-Mason Whig party abandoned their party and joined the Democrats in the Legislature, which broke the deadlock in the houses and enabled the inauguration of Democrat David R. Porter -- not Ritner -- as governor.

Written the following year, a report by a state House committee to investigate the disturbances which became known as the Buckshot War characterized the events in this manner:

"The results represent a page in our history which the lover of his country would willingly obliterate forever. The astounding fact that in the capitol of the commonwealth, in a time of quiet and peace, and when her Legislature was occupying these sacred halls appropriated to the business of legislation, should be surrounded by bands of armed men, by the order of her Governor, is humiliating and mortifying ... They sought to advance their own selfish and sordid interests, at the expense of the honor and integrity of our beloved commonwealth."

Despite the entire affair Penrose went on to have a long and rather powerful career as a politician before dying, in office, in April of 1857.

Note: Main image from "The Tired Soldier," courtesy of the Internet Archive.