Tensions Between The Nativists Essay

December 1853 German and Irish immigrants continued to flood into the city of Cincinnati during the fall and early winter of 1853 to the consternation of the original Ohio settlers. Tensions between the Ohio “Nativists” as they were called and the immigrants were becoming more and more hostile and the breaking point would come when word came that Archbishop Bedini, an emissary of Pope Pius IX, would be coming to Cincinnati, Ohio, during his visit to the United States. The German Protestant immigrants who came to Cincinnati after the Revolution of 1848, identified the Archbishop with the cruelty of the royal rulers in their old countries. Their unlikely allies the anti-Catholic Nativist or “Know-Nothing” Political Party members in Cincinnati also singled out the Archbishop out as a target for attack. Meanwhile German and Irish Catholic immigrants like Stanislaus and Karolina and their families welcomed him. On Christmas Day, the Archbishop preached at the Saint Peter in Chains Cathedral while his opponents were meeting to prepare a demonstration later that
evening to march within the city. Five hundred ”Nativist” men and German Protestant immigrants marched through the city streets towards the cathedral holding clubs and a wooden scaffold hanging an effigy of the Archbishop and followed by over 100 women carrying banners and placards reading "No Priests, No Kings." "Down with the Butchers of Rome!" "Down with the Papacy!" The Catholic leaders of Cincinnati countered the demonstrators by building barricades on the Miami and Erie Canal bridges separating the city from the “Over the Rhine” neighborhood.
Stanislaus was recruited by the Catholic leaders to help build and man the barricades. He kissed his wife goodbye while she recalled when he left to join the Baden revolutionaries several years before. She warned him to take care of himself and he nodded as he went out the door. Along with his wife’s cousin Heinrich, they ran to the nearest bridge over the canal to begin building the barricades before any of the Anti-Catholic marchers would reach their neighborhood. An old cannon had been found and placed in front of the main barricade. This cannon fired a single shot over the heads of rioters as they came closer to the canal. The Cincinnati police were advancing to meet the demonstrators and a brawl broke out between
them. Karolina was huddling in the home she shared with her cousin’s family next to her two boys along with her cousin’s wife and son. They were all in the back bedroom of the house, afraid to even peer through the windows as rocks and stones were being thrown by the rioters at the houses known to belong to Catholic families. As they grew closer, Karolina heard several shots ring out and she feared for her husband at the barricade. More and more shots were heard and the rioters were chanting “Kill the Catholics!” “Down with the Papists!” Suddenly, there was a pounding on the front door of their home, and the crowd demanding the occupants open the doors. Karolina grew ever more frightened and her cousin's wife began weeping and crying out for her husband. The children were more and more frightened and hid underneath the bed in the small room. Just as the front door began splintering from the rocks and clubs of the rioting crowd, Karolina heard a familiar voice through the back window of the small bedroom. “Karolina, hurry, gather your belongings, we must go!” She saw it was Johannes from Baden and he was holding the window open and beckoning for her to follow him. She grabbed her children by the hand and pointed to the window opening. They climbed through the window opening and jumped down to the ground. Karolina gathered a small bag of warm clothing and provisions she had hidden under the bed and threw it through the window to Johannes. Her cousin’s wife was still whimpering in the corner and she shoved her and pointed to the open window. Her wife’s cousin stopped crying and steered her son through the open window and followed him in short order. Last, Karolina squeezed through the window right when she heard the front door fall down with a crash and shouts of “Hurrah” from the crowd echoed from the street. She gave Johannes a quick hug and ran with her children to the closest barricades in the street where her husband was stationed. Johannes hurried after her after making sure no one was following the group. When they had got behind the safety of the barricades, Stanislaus recognized Johannes in surprise and grabbed him. “Where on earth did you come from?” He shouted at him in German above the din. Johannes just shook his head and told him it was a long story and now they had to get somewhere safe. He pointed at a wagon at the far end of the street containing a black woman and her two children. “There, go there!” He shouted above the noise of the crowd. Stanislaus turned and grabbed his children while Karolina gathered up the small bag of belongings. She pointed out the wagon to her cousin and his wife standing next to Stanislaus. They both shook their heads and told her that would be staying. She thanked them for their kindness and hugged her cousin one last time. He told her to go and ducked back down under the barricade as more rocks and stones were being thrown at them. Karolina crouched low and ran to the wagon and caught up with the rest of her family. Johannes had climbed into the driver’s seat and snapped the reins for the horses to go forward. He headed out of the city and yelled at the horses to go faster. The noise of the rioting crowd began to subside behind them when they reached the end of the city limits and the whole group in the wagon became quiet. Karolina’s two boys began to peer out from the blankets draped over them by their parents as protection from the rocks and stones as the city slowly disappeared behind them. Karolina nodded to the black woman soothing her two children as she climbed over her husband and two children into the driver’s seat of the wagon next to Johannes. He turned to look at her with a smile on his face. She smiled back at him and said “Thank you for coming. You saved our lives!” She asked where the black woman and her two children came from and Johannes told her he had rescued them in New Orleans and was bringing them to her husband, Joseph. The last time the black woman had heard from her husband was that he was driving a carriage for a family somewhere in New York City. Johannes explained they planned to visit Karolina and Stanislaus for Christmas and then continue onto New York when they stumbled upon the riot. He pulled the letter from the Dowager Duchess Stéphanie de Beauharnais from his vest pocket and gave it to Karolina. “Merry Christmas. Some Christmas present!” He said to Karolina as she looked at the envelope from the Dowager Duchess in wonder. She just grabbed his arm and gave it a big squeeze. “Johannes”, she said seriously after a few moments. “I am going to have another child, and if it is a boy we would like to name it after you”. She rubbed the bump in her abdomen and tightened the shawl around her shoulder against the cold. Johannes just grunted and stared at the horses. Meanwhile, Stanislaus asked loudly from the back of the wagon “How did you know where to find us? Johannes just turned to him, laughed and pointed at Karolina. “Your wife was kind enough to leave some breadcrumbs for me to follow.” And he slapped the horse’s reins. Stanislaus just shook his head not comprehending his meaning and sat next to his sons on the floor of the wagon. As they got further and further from the city of Cincinnati, Johannes spoke up, “Where are we going now? He said to no one in particular. Karolina turned to look at her husband and spoke loudly. “West, to a town called Delphos! Her husband just smiled.