Exploding flagpole on The Green in 1861

[BLeafe]

In a front-page story by Jim Beckerman in today's Record about Abraham Lincoln's unpopularity in North Jersey in Civil War days, I found the following tidbit (the "Wright" mentioned is former Bergen County Historical Society president Kevin Wright):

In 1861, when army recruiters showed up on the village green in Hackensack, they met an incendiary response, Wright said.

“Democrats bored a hole in the flagpole, stuffed it with gunpowder, and blew the flag with the liberty cap [ornament] down, and then tore the American flag to shreds,” Wright said.


You can read the article here: http://www.northjersey.com/news/lincoln-saved-the-union-irked-north-jersey-1.1307287


I hadn't heard about that before, so I looked online and found this:

From: http://archive.org/stream/bergencountypano00writrich/bergencountypano00writrich_djvu.txt

When Republicans placed a Liberty Cap on top of a flag- pole on the Hackensack Green where Union recruiting agents had raised their tents, Democrats bored the base of the pole full of holes, filled the cavities with gunpowder and set off the charge, blowing the cap skyward. The crowd which gathered caught the flag that had been flying at the mast and tore it to shreds.

[Homer Jones]

Doesn't really surprise me. Hackensack has never been recognized as the last bastion of political civility.