Natives at the Battle of Five Points. February 16, 1846.
The Natives were an American gang founded in 1845 by American Protestant working-class men who were opposed to the Catholic Scotch-Irish immigrants.
History[]
The Natives were founded by Bill "the Butcher" Cutting, a rich man who was opposed to the Irish immigration following the Great Famine. The gang was made up of working-class Americans in the Five Points neighborhood, who wanted to keep their jobs from the immigrants. On February 16, 1846, in the Battle of the Five Points, they killed off most of the Dead Rabbits gang and took over the neighborhood from the Irish, outlawing the name "Dead Rabbits". Cutting became rich through racketeering, and by 1862, he was the most powerful gangster in the Five Points, gaining police protection through Jack Mulraney. People respected/feared Cutting, and he was an ally of William M. Tweed, a politician who wanted to win the elections in 1863. Ergo, he ruled the neighborhood, and lawlessness was accepted for him.
The Natives Gang were destroyed in July 1863 during the New York Draft Riots when Cutting was killed by shrapnel from Union ships bombarding the harbor, and Amsterdam Vallon, son of deceased Dead Rabbits leader Priest Vallon, stabbed him, taking back the Points.