Merry Walkers battle the New York Militia, 1869.
The Merry Walkers were an Irish street gang based in the Lower Manhattan area of New York City in the mid-nineteenth century. At this time, criminal gangs in Manhattan were often associated with political factions, and it is likely that the Merry Walkers' seizure and occupation of New York's City Hall was a consequence of the Conservative Party's victory in the 1868 Grand Council elections. The Merry Walkers remained in control of City Hall for two weeks until they were finally dislodged by the New York Provincial Militia. The Merry Walkers insurrection of 1869 inspired similar actions by other gangs in cities across the Confederation of North America.
Sobel's source for the Merry Walkers insurrection is Edward Hetherington's Urban Riot: The Northern Confederation Cities in the 1870s (London, 1956).