The Courthouse Riot

On Saturday morning, a remarkable number of citizens are dead, but the prisoners have all been saved. Some believe that the trouble has passed, but Sheriff Hawkins disagrees, and he begs Ohio Governor Hoadly to send as many National Guard troops as possible. Hoadly’s indecisiveness squanders critical time, and when the first reinforcements finally arrive and Hoadly is frantically sending every member of the Ohio National Guard racing to Cincinnati, the county courthouse is an inferno, a Gatling Gun is trained on curiosity seekers, and soldiers are ordered straight into an angry crowd of thousands, resulting in a senseless and astounding slaughter of unarmed citizens.