“Bayard is a hard street to travel”

The Fourth of July Riots made such an impact on the city, bands such as the Saugerties band from Hoboken, wrote a song detailing the fight, referencing the “Bloody Sixth Ward.” The extent to which gang life was part of the culture of New York City is evident in the fact that their exploits made their way to the front pages of newspapers and are immortalized in song.

Song Lyrics written at Hoboken by Saugerties Band.

“Like wild dogs they did fight, this Fourth of July night,

Of course they laid their plans accordin;

Some were wounded and some were killed, and lots of blood spill’d,

Is the fight on the other side of Jordan.

Then pull off the coat and roll up the sleeve

For Bayard is a hard street to travel;

So pull off the coat and roll up the sleeve,

The Bloody Sixth is a hard ward to travel I believe.

Upon the following day they had another fray,

The Black Birds and Dead Rabbits accordin;

The soldiers were call’d out, to quell the might rise

And drove them to the other side of Jordan.”1

 

  1. W.C. Tune, “The Boys of the Bowery Pit,” https://www.loc.gov/item/amss.sb10039a/.

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