Rock Springs Massacre
Encyclopedia
The Rock Springs massacre, also known as the Rock Springs Riot, occurred on September 2, 1885, in the present-day United States
city of Rock Springs, Wyoming
, in Sweetwater County. The riot, between Chinese
immigrant miners and white
immigrant miners, was the result of racial
tensions and an ongoing labor dispute over the Union Pacific Coal Department's policy of paying Chinese miners lower wages than white miners. This policy caused the Chinese to be hired over the white miners, which further angered the white miners and contributed to the riot. Racial tensions were an even bigger factor in the massacre
. When the rioting ended, at least 28 Chinese miners were dead and 15 were injured. Rioters burned 75 Chinese homes resulting in approximately US$
150,000 in property damage ($ in present-day terms).
Tension between whites
and Chinese immigrants
in the late 19th century American West was particularly high, especially in the decade preceding the violence. The massacre in Rock Springs was the violent outburst of years of anti-Chinese
sentiment in the United States. The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act suspended Chinese immigration for ten years, but not before thousands of immigrants came to the American West. Most Chinese immigrants to Wyoming Territory
took jobs with the railroad at first, but many ended up employed in coal mines owned by the Union Pacific Railroad
. As Chinese immigration increased, so did anti-Chinese sentiment from whites. The Knights of Labor
, one of the foremost voices against Chinese immigrant labor, formed a chapter in Rock Springs in 1883, and most rioters were members of that organization. However, no direct connection was ever established linking the riot to the national Knights of Labor organization.
In the immediate aftermath of the riot, federal troops
were deployed in Rock Springs. They escorted the surviving Chinese miners, most of whom had fled to Evanston, Wyoming
, back to Rock Springs a week after the riot. Reaction came swiftly from the era's publications. In Rock Springs, the local newspaper endorsed the outcome of the riot, while in other Wyoming newspapers, support for the riot was limited to sympathy for the causes of the white miners. The massacre in Rock Springs touched off a wave of anti-Chinese violence, especially in the Puget Sound
area of Washington Territory
.
Chinese immigration to the United States at that time was neither uniform nor widespread. J.R. Tucker, writing for The North American Review in 1884, stated that the vast majority of the nearly 100,000 Chinese immigrants resided within the American West: California
, Nevada
, Oregon
, and Washington Territory
. The U.S. Minister to China, George Seward
, had asserted similar numbers in Scribner's Magazine
five years earlier.
The first jobs Chinese laborers took in Wyoming were on the railroad, working for the Union Pacific company
(UP) as maintenance-of-way
workers. Chinese workers soon became an asset to Union Pacific and worked along UP lines and in UP coal mines from Laramie
to Evanston. Most Chinese workers in Wyoming ended up working in Sweetwater County, but a large number settled in Carbon County
and Uinta counties. Most Chinese people in the area were men working in the mine. Racism
against Chinese immigrants was widespread and largely uncontroversial at the time. J.R. Tucker, in the aforementioned 1884 article, referred to Asian immigrants as "...the Asiatic race, alien in blood, habits, and civilization". He also noted, "Chinese are the chief element in this Asiatic population."
In 1874–75, after labor unrest disrupted coal production, the Union Pacific Coal Department hired Chinese laborers to work in their coal mines throughout southern Wyoming. Even so, Chinese population rose slowly at first; however, where there were Chinese immigrants, they were generally concentrated in one area. At Red Desert, a remote section camp in Sweetwater County, there were 20 inhabitants, of whom 12 were Chinese. All 12 were laborers who worked under an American foreman. To the east of Red Desert
was another remote section camp, Washakie. An American section foreman lived there amongst 23 others, including 13 Chinese laborers and an Irish crew foreman. In the various section camps along the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad, Chinese workers far outnumbered any other nationality. Though the 79 Chinese in Sweetwater County in 1870 represented only 4% of the total population, they were, again, concentrated. In Rock Springs and Green River, the largest towns along the UP line, there were no Chinese residents reported in 1870.
Throughout the 1870s, the Chinese population in Sweetwater County and all of Wyoming steadily increased. During the decade, Wyoming's total population rose from 9,118 to 20,789. In the 1870 U.S. Census, what the government today calls "Asian and Pacific Islander" represented only 143 members of the population of Wyoming. The increase during the 1870s was the largest percentage increase in the Asian population of Wyoming of any decade since; the increase represented a 539% jump in the Asian population. By 1880, most Chinese residents in Sweetwater County lived in Rock Springs. At that time, Wyoming was home to 914 "Asians"; that number fell significantly during the 1880s to 465.
Although most Chinese workers in 1880 were employed in the coal mines around Wyoming and Sweetwater County, the Chinese in Rock Springs worked mostly in occupations outside of mining. In addition to Chinese laborers and miners, a professional gambler, a priest, a cook, and a barber resided in the city. In Green River, Wyoming
, there was a Chinese doctor. Chinese servants and waiters found work in Green River and in Fort Washakie
. In Atlantic City
, Miner's Delight
, and Red Canyon, Wyoming
, Chinese gold miners were employed. However, the majority of the 193 Chinese residing in Sweetwater County by 1880 worked in the coal mines or on the railroad.
, Irish
, Swedish
, and Welsh
immigrants, believed lower-paid Chinese laborers drove down their wages.
The Chinese at Rock Springs were aware of the animosity and rising racial tension with white miners, but had not taken any precautions, as no prior events indicated there would be any race riots. Underlying the outbreak of violence were racism and resentment of the policies of the Union Pacific Coal Department. Until 1875, the mines in Rock Springs were worked by whites; in that year, a strike occurred, and the strikers were replaced with Chinese strikebreaker
s less than two weeks after the strike began. The company resumed mining
with 50 white miners and 150 Chinese miners in its employ. As more Chinese arrived in Rock Springs, bitterness from the white miners increased. At the time of the massacre, there were about 150 white miners and 331 Chinese miners in Rock Springs.
In the two years before the massacre, a "Whitemen's Town" was established in Rock Springs. By 1883, the Knights of Labor organized a chapter in Rock Springs. The Knights were one of the major groups which spearheaded opposition to Chinese labor during the 1880s; in 1882, the Knights had worked for the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act. No evidence has been uncovered to prove that the national Knights of Labor organization was behind the massacre at Rock Springs. In August 1885, notices were posted from Evanston to Rock Springs, demanding the expulsion of Chinese immigrants, and on the evening of September 1, 1885, one day before the violence, white miners in Rock Springs held a meeting regarding the Chinese immigrants. It was rumored that threats were made that night against the Chinese, according to immigrants then residing there.
At 7:00 a.m. on September 2, 1885, ten white men, in ordinary garb and miner's uniforms, arrived at coal pit number six at the Rock Springs mine. They declared that the Chinese laborers had no right to work in a particularly desirable "room" in the mine; miners were paid by the ton, thus location was important to the miners. A fight broke out, and two Chinese workers at pit number six were badly beaten. One of the Chinese workers later died due to his injuries. The white miners, most of whom were members of the Knights of Labor
, walked out of the mine.
After the work stoppage at pit number six, more white miners assembled near the town. They marched to Rock Springs by way of the railroad, carrying firearms. At about 10:00 a.m., the bell in the Knights of Labor meeting hall tolled, and the miners inside the building joined the already large group. There were white miners who opted to go to saloons instead of joining the gathering mob, but by 2:00 p.m., the saloons and grocers were persuaded by a Union Pacific official to close.
With the saloons and grocers closed, about 150 men, armed with Winchester rifle
s, moved toward Chinatown
in Rock Springs. They moved in two groups and entered Chinatown by crossing separate bridges. The larger group entered by way of the railroad bridge and was divided into squads, a few of which remained standing on the opposite side of the bridge outside Chinatown. The smaller group entered by way of the town's plank bridge.
Squads from the larger group broke off and moved up the hill toward coal pit number three. One squad took up a position at the pit number three coal shed; another, at the pump house. A warning party was sent ahead of the squads into Chinatown. They warned the Chinese they had one hour to pack up and leave town. After only thirty minutes, the first gunshots were fired by the squad at the pump house, followed by a volley from those at the coal shed. Lor Sun Kit, a Chinese laborer, was shot and fell to the ground. As the group at coal pit number three rejoined them, the crowd pressed on toward Chinatown, some men firing their weapons as they went. The smaller group of white miners at the plank bridge divided itself into squads and surrounded Chinatown. One squad stayed at the plank bridge to cut off any Chinese escape.
As the white miners moved into Chinatown, the Chinese became aware of the riot and that Leo Dye Bah and Yip Ah Marn, residents from the west and east sides of Chinatown, had already been killed. As the news of the murders spread, the Chinese fled in fear and confusion. They ran in every direction: up the hill behind coal pit number three; others, along the base of the hill at coal pit number four; others still, from the eastern end of town, fled across Bitter Creek
to the opposite hill; and more fled the western end of Chinatown across the base of the hill to the right of coal pit number five. The mob came from three directions by this time, from the east and west ends of town and from the wagon road. The Chinese immigrants present at the Rock Springs massacre presented their own grisly account of the mêlée
to the Chinese consul
in New York
:
By 3:30 p.m. the massacre was well under way. A group of women in Rock Springs had gathered at the plank bridge, where they stood and cheered on the rampage. Two of the women reportedly fired shots at the Chinese. As the riot wore on into the night, the Chinese miners scattered into the hills, lying in the grass to hide. Between four and nine p.m., rioters set fire to the camp houses belonging to the coal company. By nine p.m., all but one Chinese camp house was burned completely. In all, 79 Chinese homes were destroyed by fire. Damage to Chinese-owned property was estimated at around $147,000.
Some Chinese died on the banks of Bitter Creek as they fled, others near the railroad bridge as they attempted to escape Chinatown. The rioters threw Chinese bodies into the flames of burning buildings. Other Chinese immigrants, who had hidden in their houses instead of fleeing, were murdered, and then their bodies were burned with their houses. Those who could not run, including the sick, were burned alive in their camp houses. Many of the Chinese who were burned in their houses apparently tried "to dig a hole in the cellar to hide themselves. But the fire overtook them when about half way in the hole, burning their lower limbs to a crisp and leaving the upper trunk untouched." One remaining Chinese immigrant was found dead in a laundry house in Whitemen's Town, his home demolished by rioters.
The attacks at Rock Springs were extraordinarily violent, revealing a long-held, almost "feral
", hatred of the victims. The sheer brutality of the violence "startled" the entire country. Besides those who were burned alive, Chinese miners were scalped
, mutilated
, branded
, decapitated
, dismembered
, and hanged
from gutter spouts. One of the Chinese miners' penis and testicles were cut off and toasted
in a nearby saloon as a "trophy of the hunt". The events amounted to racial terrorism.
There were 28 confirmed deaths, and at least 15 miners were wounded. But various sources assert that 40 to 50 fatalities might be a more accurate number, as some of those who fled were never accounted for. The Chinese consul
in New York City compiled a detailed list of the massacre's victims.
In the days following the riot, surviving Chinese immigrants in Rock Springs fled and were picked up by Union Pacific trains. By September 5, almost all survivors were in Evanston, Wyoming
, 100 miles (160.9 km) west of Rock Springs. Once there, they were subjected to threats of murder and other crimes; Evanston was another area in Wyoming where anti-Chinese sentiment was high.
Rumors of the return of the Chinese to Rock Springs circulated since immediately after the riots. On September 3, the Rock Springs Independent published an editorial which confirmed the rumors of "the return", as a few Chinese began to trickle back into town to search for valuables. The Independent said of the return of Chinese laborers to Rock Springs, "It means that Rock Springs is killed, as far as white men are concerned, if such program is carried out." The massacre was defended in the local newspaper, and, to an extent, in other western newspapers. In general, however, Wyoming newspapers disapproved of the acts of the massacre while supporting the cause of white miners.
Wyoming's territorial Governor Francis E. Warren
visited Rock Springs on September 3, 1885, the day after the riot, to make a personal assessment. After his trip to Rock Springs, Warren traveled to Evanston, where he sent telegrams to U.S. President Grover Cleveland
appealing for federal troops. Back in Rock Springs, the riot had calmed, but the situation was still unstable. Two companies of the United States Army
's 7th Infantry
arrived on September 5, 1885. One company, under the command of a Lieutenant Colonel Anderson, was stationed in Evanston, Wyoming; the other, under a Colonel Chipman, was stationed in Rock Springs. At Camp Murray, Utah Territory
, Colonel Alexander McDowell McCook
was ordered to augment the garrison sent to Wyoming with six more companies.
On September 9, 1885, one week after the massacre, six companies of soldiers arrived in Wyoming
. Four of the six companies then escorted the Chinese back to Rock Springs. Once back in Rock Springs, the Chinese laborers found scorched tracts of land where their homes once stood. The mining company had buried only a few dead; others remained lying in the open, mangled, decomposing, and partially eaten by dogs, hogs, or other animals.
The situation in Rock Springs was stabilized as early as September 15, when Warren first requested the removal of federal troops, but the mines at Rock Springs remained closed for a time. On September 30, 1885, white miners, mostly Finnish immigrants who were members of the Knights of Labor, walked out of mines in Carbon County, Wyoming
, in protest of the company's continued use of Chinese miners. In Rock Springs, the white miners were not back at work in late September, because the company still used Chinese labor.
Rock Springs steadily became quieter, and, on October 5, 1885, emergency troops, except for two companies, were removed. However, the temporary posts of Camp Medicine Butte, established in Evanston, and of Camp Pilot Butte, in Rock Springs, remained long after the riot. Camp Pilot Butte closed in 1899 after the onset of the Spanish-American War
.
The labor strike was unsuccessful, and the miners went back to work within a couple of months. The national Knights of Labor organization refused to support the Carbon strike and the hold out by white miners in Rock Springs following the Rock Springs Riot. The organization avoided supporting the miners along the Union Pacific Railroad
, because it did not want to be seen as condoning the violence at Rock Springs. When the Union Pacific Coal Department reopened the mines, it fired 45 white miners connected to the violence.
, where they were held until after a Sweetwater County grand jury
refused to bring indictment
s. In explaining its decision, the grand jury declared that there was no cause for legal action, stating, in part: "We have diligently inquired into the occurrence at Rock Springs.... [T]hough we have examined a large number of witnesses, no one has been able to testify to a single criminal act committed by any known white person that day."
Those arrested as suspects in the riot were released a little more than a month later, on October 7, 1885. On their release, they were "...met... by several hundred men, women and children, and treated to a regular ovation
", according to The New York Times
. The defendants in the Rock Springs case enjoyed the same broad community consent that lynch mobs often received. No person or persons were ever convicted in the violence at Rock Springs.
After the riot, the U.S. government hesitated to make amends to the Chinese for the massacre. In China, the governor-general
of the Guangdong
region suggested that Americans in China might be the target of revenge for the events in Rock Springs. The American envoy to China, Charles Harvey Denby
, and others in the diplomatic corps reported rising anti-American sentiment in Hong Kong
and in Canton
, Guangdong
, following the riot. American diplomats warned their government that the backlash from the massacre could ruin U.S. trade with China; they also reported that British
merchants and newspapers in China were encouraging the Chinese to "stand up for their oppressed countrymen in America." Denby advised that U.S. Secretary of State Thomas Bayard
obtain compensation for the victims of the massacre.
The United States government agreed to pay compensation for the damaged property but not for the actual victims of the massacre, although Bayard was inclined to resist the requests for payments. In a letter to the minister of China's Washington legation
dated February 18, 1886, he expressed a personal view that the violence against Chinese immigrants was precipitated by their resistance to cultural assimilation
, and that racism against Chinese was typically found among other immigrants rather than the majority of the populace: Denby's predictions caused Bayard to seek a Congressionally appropriated indemnity
. At Bayard's urging, the U.S. Congress
provided US$
147,748.74 as an indemnity. The compensation was made as a monetary gift and not as a legal decree of responsibility for the massacre and the outcome amounted to a minor diplomatic victory for China.
Correspondence between Wyoming's territorial Governor, Francis Warren, and Union Pacific officials during Warren's term in office indicate that he petitioned the company for years to clear the titles on land he owned. He condemned the riot as "the most brutal and damnable outrage that ever occurred in any country."
After the riot, rhetoric and reaction came from publications and key political figures concerning the events. The New York Times blasted the city of Rock Springs in the first of at least two editorials on the topic, stating, "the appropriate fate for a community of this kind would be that of Sodom and Gomorrah
". In another Times editorial
on November 10, 1885, the paper continued to assail not only the residents of Rock Springs who were involved in the violence, but those who stood by and let the mob continue its behavior. Newspapers in Wyoming, such as the Cheyenne Tribune and the Laramie Boomerang
, reacted with sympathy toward the white miners. The Boomerang stated it "regretted" the riot but found extenuating circumstances surrounding the violence.
In addition to newspapers, anti-Chinese sentiment and stereotypes came from other publications. Religious publications, such as Baptist Missionary Magazine, depicted the Chinese as "heathens." The Chautauquan: A Weekly Newsmagazine characterized the Chinese as weak and defenseless, stating in its coverage of the massacre: "To murder an industrious Chinaman
is the same kind of fiendish work as the murder of women and children – it is equally a violation of the rights of the defenceless."
Knights of Labor
leader Terence Powderly wrote in a letter to W.W. Stone (excerpts of which he included in a report to the U.S. Congress) that, "It is not necessary for me to speak of the numerous reasons given for the opposition to this particular race – their habits, religion, customs and practices..."
Powderly blamed the "problem" of Chinese immigration on the failings of the 1882 Exclusion Act. He faulted lax law enforcement, not those involved in the riots, for the attacks at Rock Springs. Powderly wrote that the U.S. Congress should stop "winking at violations of this statute" and reform the laws which barred Chinese immigration, which he believed could have prevented incidents such as "the recent assault upon the Chinese at Rock Springs".
In December 1885, U.S. President Grover Cleveland
presented his State of the Union
report to Congress, and in it, his reaction to the Rock Springs massacre. Cleveland's report pointed out that the United States was interested in good relations with China. He stated, "All of the power of this government should be exhorted to maintain the amplest good faith towards China in the treatment of these men, and the inflexible sternness of the law... must be insisted upon ... race prejudice is the chief factor to originating these disturbances".
a mob of whites burned down the barracks of 36 Chinese coal miners. Throughout the Puget Sound
area, Chinese workers were driven out of communities and subject to violence in Washington cities and towns, including Tacoma, Seattle, Newcastle
, and Issaquah
. Chinese workers were driven out of other Washington towns, but sources indicated, as early as 1891, that the above events were specifically connected to the wave of violence touched off at Rock Springs.
The wave of anti-Chinese violence in the western United States following the Rock Springs Riot spread further, to the state of Oregon. Mobs drove Chinese workers out of small towns throughout the state in late 1885 and mid-1886. Other states reported incidents as well: As far away as Augusta, Georgia
, anger was expressed against the Chinese in response to the massacre at Rock Springs. According to The New York Times, the rioting in Rock Springs fueled the desire of anti-Chinese Georgians in Augusta to air their grievances.
and The New York Times. Among the events of anti-Chinese violence in the American west, the Rock Springs massacre is considered the most widely publicized.
Today, nearly all historian
s hold the view that the prime factor which contributed to the riot was race prejudice
. However, a 1990 work on the Rock Springs massacre, written by journalist Craig Storti, marginalized the racial factor and put a stronger emphasis on the economic factors which contributed to violence. His book, Incident at Bitter Creek: The Rock Springs Massacre, was widely criticized in reviews, though Storti stated he represented the historical record as it stood. There were labor considerations that contributed to the violence in Rock Springs, though they are generally seen as less significant. The use of Chinese workers by the railroad during an 1875 strike created widespread resentment among the white miners, which continued to build until the Rock Springs massacre. Storti's book described anti-Chinese racism as "pervasive" even while downplaying its significance to the riot. The view that the Chinese refused to
assimilate into American culture
was held historically and still carries some weight in present-day interpretations of the historical record.
Present-day Rock Springs has a population pushing 20,000. The former settlement is a full-fledged city. The area that once encompassed Camp Pilot Butte is located on the north bank of Bitter Creek, in the northwest part of the city. The camp covered 5½ acre
s of Union Pacific property; the parade ground was in the center of a present-day city block bounded by Soulsby Street on the west, Pilot Butte Avenue on the east, Bridger Avenue on the north and Elias Avenue on its south. In 1973, the area where the army post once existed was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
as an historic district
. At that time, there were only two remaining original structures. The two buildings were owned by the Saints Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church in Rock Springs. The buildings are no longer extant, and the property is no longer listed on the National Register. The area that was once Chinatown, just north of where Camp Pilot Butte once stood, had a public elementary school built over part of it. In general, the locations in Rock Springs associated with the massacre have been surrounded and absorbed by the city's growth.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
city of Rock Springs, Wyoming
Rock Springs, Wyoming
Rock Springs is a city in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 18,708 at the 2000 census. Rock Springs is the principal city of the Rock Springs micropolitan statistical area, which has a population of 37,975....
, in Sweetwater County. The riot, between Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
immigrant miners and white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
immigrant miners, was the result of racial
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
tensions and an ongoing labor dispute over the Union Pacific Coal Department's policy of paying Chinese miners lower wages than white miners. This policy caused the Chinese to be hired over the white miners, which further angered the white miners and contributed to the riot. Racial tensions were an even bigger factor in the massacre
Massacre
A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
. When the rioting ended, at least 28 Chinese miners were dead and 15 were injured. Rioters burned 75 Chinese homes resulting in approximately US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
150,000 in property damage ($ in present-day terms).
Tension between whites
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
and Chinese immigrants
Chinese immigration to the United States
Chinese American history is the history of Chinese Americans or the history of ethnic Chinese in the United States. Chinese immigration to the U.S. consisted of three major waves, with the first beginning in the 19th century. Chinese immigrants in the 19th century worked as laborers, particularly...
in the late 19th century American West was particularly high, especially in the decade preceding the violence. The massacre in Rock Springs was the violent outburst of years of anti-Chinese
Sinophobia
Sinophobia or anti-Chinese sentiment is the fear of or dislike of China, its people, overseas Chinese, or Chinese Culture...
sentiment in the United States. The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act suspended Chinese immigration for ten years, but not before thousands of immigrants came to the American West. Most Chinese immigrants to Wyoming Territory
Wyoming Territory
The Territory of Wyoming was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 25, 1868, until July 10, 1890, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Wyoming. Cheyenne was the territorial capital...
took jobs with the railroad at first, but many ended up employed in coal mines owned by the Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
. As Chinese immigration increased, so did anti-Chinese sentiment from whites. The Knights of Labor
Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations of the 1880s. Its most important leader was Terence Powderly...
, one of the foremost voices against Chinese immigrant labor, formed a chapter in Rock Springs in 1883, and most rioters were members of that organization. However, no direct connection was ever established linking the riot to the national Knights of Labor organization.
In the immediate aftermath of the riot, federal troops
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
were deployed in Rock Springs. They escorted the surviving Chinese miners, most of whom had fled to Evanston, Wyoming
Evanston, Wyoming
Evanston is a city in Uinta County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 12,359 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Uinta County.-Geography:Evanston is located at...
, back to Rock Springs a week after the riot. Reaction came swiftly from the era's publications. In Rock Springs, the local newspaper endorsed the outcome of the riot, while in other Wyoming newspapers, support for the riot was limited to sympathy for the causes of the white miners. The massacre in Rock Springs touched off a wave of anti-Chinese violence, especially in the Puget Sound
Puget Sound region
The Puget Sound region is an inland area of the Pacific Northwest in Washington , including Puget Sound, the Puget Sound lowlands, and the surrounding region roughly west of the Cascade Range and east of the Olympic Mountains.- History :...
area of Washington Territory
Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 8, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington....
.
Background
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, and Washington Territory
Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 8, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington....
. The U.S. Minister to China, George Seward
George Seward
George Frederick Seward was an insurance executive and United States diplomat during the late 19th century. He served as "Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary" to China from 1876 until 1880.-Minister to China:...
, had asserted similar numbers in Scribner's Magazine
Scribner's Magazine
Scribner's Magazine was an American periodical published by the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons from January 1887 to May 1939. Scribner's Magazine was the second magazine out of the "Scribner's" firm, after the publication of Scribner's Monthly...
five years earlier.
The first jobs Chinese laborers took in Wyoming were on the railroad, working for the Union Pacific company
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
(UP) as maintenance-of-way
Right-of-way (railroad)
A right-of-way is a strip of land that is granted, through an easement or other mechanism, for transportation purposes, such as for a trail, driveway, rail line or highway. A right-of-way is reserved for the purposes of maintenance or expansion of existing services with the right-of-way...
workers. Chinese workers soon became an asset to Union Pacific and worked along UP lines and in UP coal mines from Laramie
Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the . Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287....
to Evanston. Most Chinese workers in Wyoming ended up working in Sweetwater County, but a large number settled in Carbon County
Carbon County, Wyoming
Carbon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of 2010, the population was 15,885. Its county seat is Rawlins.- History :Carbon County was organized in 1868....
and Uinta counties. Most Chinese people in the area were men working in the mine. Racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
against Chinese immigrants was widespread and largely uncontroversial at the time. J.R. Tucker, in the aforementioned 1884 article, referred to Asian immigrants as "...the Asiatic race, alien in blood, habits, and civilization". He also noted, "Chinese are the chief element in this Asiatic population."
Red Desert (Wyoming)
The Red Desert is a high altitude desert and sagebrush steppe located in south central Wyoming, comprising approximately 9,320 square miles...
was another remote section camp, Washakie. An American section foreman lived there amongst 23 others, including 13 Chinese laborers and an Irish crew foreman. In the various section camps along the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad, Chinese workers far outnumbered any other nationality. Though the 79 Chinese in Sweetwater County in 1870 represented only 4% of the total population, they were, again, concentrated. In Rock Springs and Green River, the largest towns along the UP line, there were no Chinese residents reported in 1870.
Throughout the 1870s, the Chinese population in Sweetwater County and all of Wyoming steadily increased. During the decade, Wyoming's total population rose from 9,118 to 20,789. In the 1870 U.S. Census, what the government today calls "Asian and Pacific Islander" represented only 143 members of the population of Wyoming. The increase during the 1870s was the largest percentage increase in the Asian population of Wyoming of any decade since; the increase represented a 539% jump in the Asian population. By 1880, most Chinese residents in Sweetwater County lived in Rock Springs. At that time, Wyoming was home to 914 "Asians"; that number fell significantly during the 1880s to 465.
Although most Chinese workers in 1880 were employed in the coal mines around Wyoming and Sweetwater County, the Chinese in Rock Springs worked mostly in occupations outside of mining. In addition to Chinese laborers and miners, a professional gambler, a priest, a cook, and a barber resided in the city. In Green River, Wyoming
Green River, Wyoming
Green River is a city in and the county seat of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 11,808 at the 2000 census....
, there was a Chinese doctor. Chinese servants and waiters found work in Green River and in Fort Washakie
Fort Washakie
Fort Washakie was a U.S Army fort in what is now the U.S. state of Wyoming. The fort was established in 1869 and named Camp Augur afterGeneral Christopher C. Augur, commander of the Department of the Platte. In 1870 the camp was renamed Camp Brown in honor of Captain Frederick H. Brown who was...
. In Atlantic City
Atlantic City, Wyoming
Atlantic City is a census-designated place in Fremont County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 39 at the 2000 census. The community is a small mining settlement in a gulch near South Pass in southwestern Wyoming. It was founded as a mining camp following the 1867 gold rush in the region...
, Miner's Delight
Miner's Delight, Wyoming
Hamilton City, or Miner's Delight as it was commonly known, was a town in Fremont County, Wyoming, United States, during the mining boom in the 19th century. Today a few buildings stand as a reminder of an era gone past in Wyoming history.-Demographics:...
, and Red Canyon, Wyoming
Red Canyon (Fremont County, Wyoming)
Red Canyon is a canyon located in Fremont County, Wyoming in the United States. The uplift of the nearby Wind River Range 60 million years ago exposed sedimentary rocks that were eroded by streams. The canyon exposes a number of geologic formations including the Phosphoria Formation from the...
, Chinese gold miners were employed. However, the majority of the 193 Chinese residing in Sweetwater County by 1880 worked in the coal mines or on the railroad.
Causes
The riot was the result of a combination of race prejudice and general resentment against Union Pacific. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act required that "…from and after the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is hereby, suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come." In the years preceding the Rock Springs massacre, the importation of Chinese labor was seen as a "system worse than slavery". The white miners at Rock Springs, being mostly CornishCornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
immigrants, believed lower-paid Chinese laborers drove down their wages.
The Chinese at Rock Springs were aware of the animosity and rising racial tension with white miners, but had not taken any precautions, as no prior events indicated there would be any race riots. Underlying the outbreak of violence were racism and resentment of the policies of the Union Pacific Coal Department. Until 1875, the mines in Rock Springs were worked by whites; in that year, a strike occurred, and the strikers were replaced with Chinese strikebreaker
Strikebreaker
A strikebreaker is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who are not employed by the company prior to the trade union dispute, but rather hired prior to or during the strike to keep the organisation running...
s less than two weeks after the strike began. The company resumed mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
with 50 white miners and 150 Chinese miners in its employ. As more Chinese arrived in Rock Springs, bitterness from the white miners increased. At the time of the massacre, there were about 150 white miners and 331 Chinese miners in Rock Springs.
In the two years before the massacre, a "Whitemen's Town" was established in Rock Springs. By 1883, the Knights of Labor organized a chapter in Rock Springs. The Knights were one of the major groups which spearheaded opposition to Chinese labor during the 1880s; in 1882, the Knights had worked for the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act. No evidence has been uncovered to prove that the national Knights of Labor organization was behind the massacre at Rock Springs. In August 1885, notices were posted from Evanston to Rock Springs, demanding the expulsion of Chinese immigrants, and on the evening of September 1, 1885, one day before the violence, white miners in Rock Springs held a meeting regarding the Chinese immigrants. It was rumored that threats were made that night against the Chinese, according to immigrants then residing there.
Chronology
Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations of the 1880s. Its most important leader was Terence Powderly...
, walked out of the mine.
After the work stoppage at pit number six, more white miners assembled near the town. They marched to Rock Springs by way of the railroad, carrying firearms. At about 10:00 a.m., the bell in the Knights of Labor meeting hall tolled, and the miners inside the building joined the already large group. There were white miners who opted to go to saloons instead of joining the gathering mob, but by 2:00 p.m., the saloons and grocers were persuaded by a Union Pacific official to close.
With the saloons and grocers closed, about 150 men, armed with Winchester rifle
Winchester rifle
In common usage, Winchester rifle usually means any of the lever-action rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, though the company has also manufactured many rifles of other action types...
s, moved toward Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
in Rock Springs. They moved in two groups and entered Chinatown by crossing separate bridges. The larger group entered by way of the railroad bridge and was divided into squads, a few of which remained standing on the opposite side of the bridge outside Chinatown. The smaller group entered by way of the town's plank bridge.
Squads from the larger group broke off and moved up the hill toward coal pit number three. One squad took up a position at the pit number three coal shed; another, at the pump house. A warning party was sent ahead of the squads into Chinatown. They warned the Chinese they had one hour to pack up and leave town. After only thirty minutes, the first gunshots were fired by the squad at the pump house, followed by a volley from those at the coal shed. Lor Sun Kit, a Chinese laborer, was shot and fell to the ground. As the group at coal pit number three rejoined them, the crowd pressed on toward Chinatown, some men firing their weapons as they went. The smaller group of white miners at the plank bridge divided itself into squads and surrounded Chinatown. One squad stayed at the plank bridge to cut off any Chinese escape.
As the white miners moved into Chinatown, the Chinese became aware of the riot and that Leo Dye Bah and Yip Ah Marn, residents from the west and east sides of Chinatown, had already been killed. As the news of the murders spread, the Chinese fled in fear and confusion. They ran in every direction: up the hill behind coal pit number three; others, along the base of the hill at coal pit number four; others still, from the eastern end of town, fled across Bitter Creek
Bitter Creek (Wyoming)
Bitter Creek is an 80 mile long stream in the U.S. state of Wyoming. It passes through several Wyoming counties including Sweetwater, and Carbon.. The creek rises near the Delaney Rim on the western side of Wyoming's Red Desert in Carbon County. For most of its course, Bitter Creek parallels the...
to the opposite hill; and more fled the western end of Chinatown across the base of the hill to the right of coal pit number five. The mob came from three directions by this time, from the east and west ends of town and from the wagon road. The Chinese immigrants present at the Rock Springs massacre presented their own grisly account of the mêlée
Mêlée
Melee , generally refers to disorganized close combat involving a group of fighters. A melee ensues when groups become locked together in combat with no regard to group tactics or fighting as an organized unit; each participant fights as an individual....
to the Chinese consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
:
By 3:30 p.m. the massacre was well under way. A group of women in Rock Springs had gathered at the plank bridge, where they stood and cheered on the rampage. Two of the women reportedly fired shots at the Chinese. As the riot wore on into the night, the Chinese miners scattered into the hills, lying in the grass to hide. Between four and nine p.m., rioters set fire to the camp houses belonging to the coal company. By nine p.m., all but one Chinese camp house was burned completely. In all, 79 Chinese homes were destroyed by fire. Damage to Chinese-owned property was estimated at around $147,000.
Some Chinese died on the banks of Bitter Creek as they fled, others near the railroad bridge as they attempted to escape Chinatown. The rioters threw Chinese bodies into the flames of burning buildings. Other Chinese immigrants, who had hidden in their houses instead of fleeing, were murdered, and then their bodies were burned with their houses. Those who could not run, including the sick, were burned alive in their camp houses. Many of the Chinese who were burned in their houses apparently tried "to dig a hole in the cellar to hide themselves. But the fire overtook them when about half way in the hole, burning their lower limbs to a crisp and leaving the upper trunk untouched." One remaining Chinese immigrant was found dead in a laundry house in Whitemen's Town, his home demolished by rioters.
The attacks at Rock Springs were extraordinarily violent, revealing a long-held, almost "feral
Feral
A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...
", hatred of the victims. The sheer brutality of the violence "startled" the entire country. Besides those who were burned alive, Chinese miners were scalped
Scalping
Scalping is the act of removing another person's scalp or a portion of their scalp, either from a dead body or from a living person. The initial purpose of scalping was to provide a trophy of battle or portable proof of a combatant's prowess in war...
, mutilated
Mutilation
Mutilation or maiming is an act of physical injury that degrades the appearance or function of any living body, usually without causing death.- Usage :...
, branded
Human branding
Human branding or stigmatizing is the process in which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living person, with the intention that the resulting scar makes it permanent. This is performed using a hot or very cold branding iron...
, decapitated
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
, dismembered
Dismemberment
Dismemberment is the act of cutting, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise removing, the limbs of a living thing. It may be practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, as a result of a traumatic accident, or in connection with murder, suicide, or cannibalism...
, and hanged
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
from gutter spouts. One of the Chinese miners' penis and testicles were cut off and toasted
Toast (honor)
A toast is a ritual in which a drink is taken as an expression of honor or goodwill. The term may be applied to the person or thing so honored, the drink taken, or the verbal expression accompanying the drink. Thus, a person could be "the toast of the evening," for whom someone "proposes a toast"...
in a nearby saloon as a "trophy of the hunt". The events amounted to racial terrorism.
There were 28 confirmed deaths, and at least 15 miners were wounded. But various sources assert that 40 to 50 fatalities might be a more accurate number, as some of those who fled were never accounted for. The Chinese consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
in New York City compiled a detailed list of the massacre's victims.
Bodies found mutilated
- Leo Sun Tsung, 51: found in his hut with multiple wounds, including a bullet wound to the face
- Leo Kow Boot, 24: found between mines three and four with a bullet wound to the neck
- Yii See Yen, 36: found near Bitter Creek with a bullet wound to the temple
- Leo Dye Bah, 56: found near the plank bridge with a bullet wound to the chest
Bodies found burned
- Choo Bah Quot, 23: found in a hut adjoining Camp No. 34, partially burned
- Sia Bun Ning, 37: head, neck and shoulders found in a hut near the Chinese temple, the rest of the body had been burned off
- Leo Lung Hong, 45: upper torso found in hut near Camp No. 27, the rest of the body was burned off
- Leo Chih Ming, 49: head and chest found in his hut, rest of the body burned off
- Liang Tsun Bong, 42: upper torso found in his hut, rest of the body burned off
- Hsu Ah Cheong, 32: skull found in his hut, no other remains were available
- Lor Han Lung, 32: sole and heel of his left foot found in hut near Camp No. 34
- Hoo Ah Nii, 43: right half of his head and backbone found in his hut
- Leo Tse Wing, 39: lower half bones found in hut near Camp No. 14
Bone fragments only or no bodies found
- Leo Jew Foo, 35
- Leo Tim Kwong, 31
- Hung Qwan Chuen, 42
- Tom He Yew, 34
- Mar Tse Choy
- Leo Lung Siang
- Yip Ah Marn
- Leo Lung Hon
- Leo Lung Hor
- Leo Ah Tsun
- Leang Ding
- Leo Hoy Yat
- Yuen Chin Sing
- Hsu Ah Tseng
- Chun Quan Sing
Immediate aftermath
Evanston, Wyoming
Evanston is a city in Uinta County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 12,359 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Uinta County.-Geography:Evanston is located at...
, 100 miles (160.9 km) west of Rock Springs. Once there, they were subjected to threats of murder and other crimes; Evanston was another area in Wyoming where anti-Chinese sentiment was high.
Rumors of the return of the Chinese to Rock Springs circulated since immediately after the riots. On September 3, the Rock Springs Independent published an editorial which confirmed the rumors of "the return", as a few Chinese began to trickle back into town to search for valuables. The Independent said of the return of Chinese laborers to Rock Springs, "It means that Rock Springs is killed, as far as white men are concerned, if such program is carried out." The massacre was defended in the local newspaper, and, to an extent, in other western newspapers. In general, however, Wyoming newspapers disapproved of the acts of the massacre while supporting the cause of white miners.
Wyoming's territorial Governor Francis E. Warren
Francis E. Warren
Francis Emroy Warren was an American politician of the Republican Party best known for his years in the United States Senate representing Wyoming.-Early life and military service:...
visited Rock Springs on September 3, 1885, the day after the riot, to make a personal assessment. After his trip to Rock Springs, Warren traveled to Evanston, where he sent telegrams to U.S. President Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
appealing for federal troops. Back in Rock Springs, the riot had calmed, but the situation was still unstable. Two companies of the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
's 7th Infantry
7th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The United States Army's 7th Infantry Regiment, known as "The Cottenbalers" from an incident that occurred during the Battle of New Orleans, while under the command of Andrew Jackson, when soldiers of the 7th Infantry Regiment held positions behind a breastwork of bales of cotton during the...
arrived on September 5, 1885. One company, under the command of a Lieutenant Colonel Anderson, was stationed in Evanston, Wyoming; the other, under a Colonel Chipman, was stationed in Rock Springs. At Camp Murray, Utah Territory
Utah Territory
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah....
, Colonel Alexander McDowell McCook
Alexander McDowell McCook
Alexander McDowell McCook was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War.-Early life:...
was ordered to augment the garrison sent to Wyoming with six more companies.
On September 9, 1885, one week after the massacre, six companies of soldiers arrived in Wyoming
Wyoming Territory
The Territory of Wyoming was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 25, 1868, until July 10, 1890, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Wyoming. Cheyenne was the territorial capital...
. Four of the six companies then escorted the Chinese back to Rock Springs. Once back in Rock Springs, the Chinese laborers found scorched tracts of land where their homes once stood. The mining company had buried only a few dead; others remained lying in the open, mangled, decomposing, and partially eaten by dogs, hogs, or other animals.
The situation in Rock Springs was stabilized as early as September 15, when Warren first requested the removal of federal troops, but the mines at Rock Springs remained closed for a time. On September 30, 1885, white miners, mostly Finnish immigrants who were members of the Knights of Labor, walked out of mines in Carbon County, Wyoming
Carbon County, Wyoming
Carbon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of 2010, the population was 15,885. Its county seat is Rawlins.- History :Carbon County was organized in 1868....
, in protest of the company's continued use of Chinese miners. In Rock Springs, the white miners were not back at work in late September, because the company still used Chinese labor.
Rock Springs steadily became quieter, and, on October 5, 1885, emergency troops, except for two companies, were removed. However, the temporary posts of Camp Medicine Butte, established in Evanston, and of Camp Pilot Butte, in Rock Springs, remained long after the riot. Camp Pilot Butte closed in 1899 after the onset of the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
.
The labor strike was unsuccessful, and the miners went back to work within a couple of months. The national Knights of Labor organization refused to support the Carbon strike and the hold out by white miners in Rock Springs following the Rock Springs Riot. The organization avoided supporting the miners along the Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
, because it did not want to be seen as condoning the violence at Rock Springs. When the Union Pacific Coal Department reopened the mines, it fired 45 white miners connected to the violence.
Arrests
After the riot in Rock Springs, sixteen men were arrested, including Isaiah Washington, a member-elect to the territorial legislature. The men were taken to jail in Green RiverGreen River, Wyoming
Green River is a city in and the county seat of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 11,808 at the 2000 census....
, where they were held until after a Sweetwater County grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
refused to bring indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
s. In explaining its decision, the grand jury declared that there was no cause for legal action, stating, in part: "We have diligently inquired into the occurrence at Rock Springs.... [T]hough we have examined a large number of witnesses, no one has been able to testify to a single criminal act committed by any known white person that day."
Those arrested as suspects in the riot were released a little more than a month later, on October 7, 1885. On their release, they were "...met... by several hundred men, women and children, and treated to a regular ovation
Ovation
The ovation was a lower form of the Roman triumph. Ovations were granted, when war was not declared between enemies on the level of states, when an enemy was considered basely inferior or when the general conflict was resolved with little to no bloodshed or danger to the army itself.The general...
", according to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. The defendants in the Rock Springs case enjoyed the same broad community consent that lynch mobs often received. No person or persons were ever convicted in the violence at Rock Springs.
Diplomatic and political issues
Governor-General
A Governor-General, is a vice-regal person of a monarch in an independent realm or a major colonial circonscription. Depending on the political arrangement of the territory, a Governor General can be a governor of high rank, or a principal governor ranking above "ordinary" governors.- Current uses...
of the Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
region suggested that Americans in China might be the target of revenge for the events in Rock Springs. The American envoy to China, Charles Harvey Denby
Charles Harvey Denby
Colonel Charles Denby was a U.S. Union officer in the Civil War and diplomat. He was the father of Edwin C. Denby, a U.S. Representative from Michigan, and later Secretary of the Navy, and Charles Denby, Jr., a diplomat....
, and others in the diplomatic corps reported rising anti-American sentiment in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and in Canton
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
, following the riot. American diplomats warned their government that the backlash from the massacre could ruin U.S. trade with China; they also reported that British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
merchants and newspapers in China were encouraging the Chinese to "stand up for their oppressed countrymen in America." Denby advised that U.S. Secretary of State Thomas Bayard
Thomas F. Bayard
Thomas Francis Bayard was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, who served three terms as U.S. Senator from Delaware, and as U.S. Secretary of State, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.-Early life and family:Bayard was born in...
obtain compensation for the victims of the massacre.
The United States government agreed to pay compensation for the damaged property but not for the actual victims of the massacre, although Bayard was inclined to resist the requests for payments. In a letter to the minister of China's Washington legation
Legation
A legation was the term used in diplomacy to denote a diplomatic representative office lower than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an Ambassador, a legation was headed by a Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary....
dated February 18, 1886, he expressed a personal view that the violence against Chinese immigrants was precipitated by their resistance to cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
, and that racism against Chinese was typically found among other immigrants rather than the majority of the populace: Denby's predictions caused Bayard to seek a Congressionally appropriated indemnity
Indemnity
An indemnity is a sum paid by A to B by way of compensation for a particular loss suffered by B. The indemnitor may or may not be responsible for the loss suffered by the indemnitee...
. At Bayard's urging, the U.S. Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
provided US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
147,748.74 as an indemnity. The compensation was made as a monetary gift and not as a legal decree of responsibility for the massacre and the outcome amounted to a minor diplomatic victory for China.
Correspondence between Wyoming's territorial Governor, Francis Warren, and Union Pacific officials during Warren's term in office indicate that he petitioned the company for years to clear the titles on land he owned. He condemned the riot as "the most brutal and damnable outrage that ever occurred in any country."
Reaction
Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah were cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis and later expounded upon throughout the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and Deuterocanonical sources....
". In another Times editorial
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
on November 10, 1885, the paper continued to assail not only the residents of Rock Springs who were involved in the violence, but those who stood by and let the mob continue its behavior. Newspapers in Wyoming, such as the Cheyenne Tribune and the Laramie Boomerang
Laramie Boomerang
The Laramie Boomerang is the only daily newspaper in Laramie, Wyoming. It was established in 1881 by Edgar Wilson Nye, who named the paper after his mule, Boomerang...
, reacted with sympathy toward the white miners. The Boomerang stated it "regretted" the riot but found extenuating circumstances surrounding the violence.
In addition to newspapers, anti-Chinese sentiment and stereotypes came from other publications. Religious publications, such as Baptist Missionary Magazine, depicted the Chinese as "heathens." The Chautauquan: A Weekly Newsmagazine characterized the Chinese as weak and defenseless, stating in its coverage of the massacre: "To murder an industrious Chinaman
Chinaman
Chinaman is a contentious term referring to a Chinese person* whether of Han Chinese ethnicity* or a citizen of China, Chinese people.Or the term may also refer to:* A colloquial term for a square hay baler overhead feeding plunger...
is the same kind of fiendish work as the murder of women and children – it is equally a violation of the rights of the defenceless."
Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations of the 1880s. Its most important leader was Terence Powderly...
leader Terence Powderly wrote in a letter to W.W. Stone (excerpts of which he included in a report to the U.S. Congress) that, "It is not necessary for me to speak of the numerous reasons given for the opposition to this particular race – their habits, religion, customs and practices..."
Powderly blamed the "problem" of Chinese immigration on the failings of the 1882 Exclusion Act. He faulted lax law enforcement, not those involved in the riots, for the attacks at Rock Springs. Powderly wrote that the U.S. Congress should stop "winking at violations of this statute" and reform the laws which barred Chinese immigration, which he believed could have prevented incidents such as "the recent assault upon the Chinese at Rock Springs".
In December 1885, U.S. President Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
presented his State of the Union
State Of The Union
"State Of The Union" is the debut single from British singer-songwriter David Ford. It had previously been featured as a demo on his official website, before appearing as a track on a CD entitled "Apology Demos EP," only on sale at live shows....
report to Congress, and in it, his reaction to the Rock Springs massacre. Cleveland's report pointed out that the United States was interested in good relations with China. He stated, "All of the power of this government should be exhorted to maintain the amplest good faith towards China in the treatment of these men, and the inflexible sternness of the law... must be insisted upon ... race prejudice is the chief factor to originating these disturbances".
Post-massacre violence
The massacre at Rock Springs led to other incidents of anti-Chinese aggression, primarily in Washington Territory, though there were incidents in Oregon and other states as well. Near Newcastle, WashingtonNewcastle, Washington
Newcastle is an Eastside city in King County, Washington, United States. Its population was 10,380 at the 2010 census.Although Newcastle was not incorporated until 1994, it has been an important settlement and town since the late 19th century and played a major role in the development of Seattle...
a mob of whites burned down the barracks of 36 Chinese coal miners. Throughout the Puget Sound
Puget Sound region
The Puget Sound region is an inland area of the Pacific Northwest in Washington , including Puget Sound, the Puget Sound lowlands, and the surrounding region roughly west of the Cascade Range and east of the Olympic Mountains.- History :...
area, Chinese workers were driven out of communities and subject to violence in Washington cities and towns, including Tacoma, Seattle, Newcastle
Newcastle, Washington
Newcastle is an Eastside city in King County, Washington, United States. Its population was 10,380 at the 2010 census.Although Newcastle was not incorporated until 1994, it has been an important settlement and town since the late 19th century and played a major role in the development of Seattle...
, and Issaquah
Issaquah, Washington
Issaquah is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 30,434 at the 2010 census.Based on per capita income, Issaquah ranks 25th of 522 areas in the State of Washington to be ranked....
. Chinese workers were driven out of other Washington towns, but sources indicated, as early as 1891, that the above events were specifically connected to the wave of violence touched off at Rock Springs.
The wave of anti-Chinese violence in the western United States following the Rock Springs Riot spread further, to the state of Oregon. Mobs drove Chinese workers out of small towns throughout the state in late 1885 and mid-1886. Other states reported incidents as well: As far away as Augusta, Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
, anger was expressed against the Chinese in response to the massacre at Rock Springs. According to The New York Times, the rioting in Rock Springs fueled the desire of anti-Chinese Georgians in Augusta to air their grievances.
Significance and context
The Rock Springs massacre was seen by observers at the time, and by historians today, as the worst, most significant instance of anti-Chinese violence in the 19th century United States. The riot received widespread media coverage from publications such as The National Police GazettePolice Gazette
The National Police Gazette, commonly referred to as simply the Police Gazette, was an American magazine founded in 1845 by two journalists, Enoch E. Camp, also an attorney, and George Wilkes, a transcontinental railroad booster...
and The New York Times. Among the events of anti-Chinese violence in the American west, the Rock Springs massacre is considered the most widely publicized.
Today, nearly all historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
s hold the view that the prime factor which contributed to the riot was race prejudice
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
. However, a 1990 work on the Rock Springs massacre, written by journalist Craig Storti, marginalized the racial factor and put a stronger emphasis on the economic factors which contributed to violence. His book, Incident at Bitter Creek: The Rock Springs Massacre, was widely criticized in reviews, though Storti stated he represented the historical record as it stood. There were labor considerations that contributed to the violence in Rock Springs, though they are generally seen as less significant. The use of Chinese workers by the railroad during an 1875 strike created widespread resentment among the white miners, which continued to build until the Rock Springs massacre. Storti's book described anti-Chinese racism as "pervasive" even while downplaying its significance to the riot. The view that the Chinese refused to
assimilate into American culture
Americanization (immigration)
Americanization is the process of an immigrant to the United States of America becoming a person who shares American values, beliefs and customs and is assimilated into American society...
was held historically and still carries some weight in present-day interpretations of the historical record.
Present-day Rock Springs has a population pushing 20,000. The former settlement is a full-fledged city. The area that once encompassed Camp Pilot Butte is located on the north bank of Bitter Creek, in the northwest part of the city. The camp covered 5½ acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s of Union Pacific property; the parade ground was in the center of a present-day city block bounded by Soulsby Street on the west, Pilot Butte Avenue on the east, Bridger Avenue on the north and Elias Avenue on its south. In 1973, the area where the army post once existed was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as an historic district
Historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries, historic districts receive legal protection from development....
. At that time, there were only two remaining original structures. The two buildings were owned by the Saints Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church in Rock Springs. The buildings are no longer extant, and the property is no longer listed on the National Register. The area that was once Chinatown, just north of where Camp Pilot Butte once stood, had a public elementary school built over part of it. In general, the locations in Rock Springs associated with the massacre have been surrounded and absorbed by the city's growth.
See also
- Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
- Chinese massacre of 1871Chinese Massacre of 1871The Chinese massacre of 1871 was a racially motivated riot on October 24, 1871, when a mob of over 500 white men entered Los Angeles' Chinatown to attack, rob and brutally murder Chinese residents of the city...
- Chinese Massacre CoveChinese Massacre CoveChinese Massacre Cove is an area along the Snake River in Wallowa County, Oregon, United States. It is located in the Wallowa–Whitman National Forest and the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, upriver from the Snake's confluence with the Imnaha River....
(1887) - Cultural assimilationCultural assimilationCultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
- Lambing Flat riotsLambing Flat riotsThe Lambing Flat riots were a series of violent anti-Chinese demonstrations that took place in the Burrangong region, in New South Wales, Australia...
(Australia) - List of victims of the Rock Springs massacre
- Yellow PerilYellow PerilYellow Peril was a colour metaphor for race that originated in the late nineteenth century with immigration of Chinese laborers to various Western countries, notably the United States, and later associated with the Japanese during the mid 20th century, due to Japanese military expansion.The term...
Further reading
- The Chinese Massacre at Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory, September 2, 1885, Boston: Franklin Press – Rand Avery and Co., 1886.
- Carroll, Murray L. "Governor Francis E. Warren, The United States Army and the Chinese Massacre at Rock Springs," Annals of Wyoming, 1987, Vol. 59 No. 2, pp. 16–27, (ISSN 0003-4991).
- Crane, Paul and Larson Alfred. "The Chinese Massacre," Annals of Wyoming, XII:1, January, 1940, pp. 47–55. Reprinted in Daniels Rogers, ed., Anti-Chinese Violence in North America, op. cit.; and Storti, Craig, Incident at Bitter Creek: The Story of the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre.
- Daniels, Roger, ed. Anti-Chinese Violence in North America: An Original Anthology, Arno Press, New York: 1979. (ISBN 0405112637).
- Hata, Nadine I. Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States since 1850. Roger Daniels," (Book reviewBook reviewA book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review could be a primary source opinion piece, summary review or scholarly review. It is often carried out in periodicals, as school work, or on the internet. Reviews are also often...
) via (JSTORJSTORJSTOR is an online system for archiving academic journals, founded in 1995. It provides its member institutions full-text searches of digitized back issues of several hundred well-known journals, dating back to 1665 in the case of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society...
), The Journal of American History, Vol. 77, No. 1, June 1990, pp. 304–5. Retrieved May 2, 2007. - Laurie, Clayton D. "Civil Disorder and the Military in Rock Springs, Wyoming: The Army's Role in the 1885 Chinese Massacre," Montana, 1990, Vol. 40 No. 3, pp. 44–59 (ISSN 0026-9891).
- McClellan, Robert F. "The Indispensable Enemy. Alexander Saxton," (Book reviewBook reviewA book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review could be a primary source opinion piece, summary review or scholarly review. It is often carried out in periodicals, as school work, or on the internet. Reviews are also often...
) via (JSTORJSTORJSTOR is an online system for archiving academic journals, founded in 1995. It provides its member institutions full-text searches of digitized back issues of several hundred well-known journals, dating back to 1665 in the case of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society...
), The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 31, No. 1, November 1971, p. 176. Retrieved May 2, 2007. - Storti, Craig. Incident at Bitter Creek: The Story of the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre, Iowa State Press, First edition: 1990, (ISBN 0813814030), (ISBN 9780813814032).
- Wei, William, Hom, Marlon K, et al., eds. "The Anti-Chinese Movement in Colorado: Interethnic Competition and Conflict on the Eve of Exclusion", Chinese America: History and Perspectives, 1995, San Francisco: Chinese Historical Society of America, 1995, pp. 179–97. (ISBN 0961419814).
- Yep, Laurence. True Heroes, (EbscoHost), Academic Search Premier, Horn Book Magazine, November/December 2002, Vol. 78, Issue 6, (ISSN 00185078). Retrieved April 30, 2007.
External links
- Chinese accounts of killings at Rock Springs (1885), (PDF): University of Colorado
- Rock Springs, Wyoming: official site