Mobtown Massacre: Alexander Hanson and the Baltimore Newspaper War of 1812

With a bitterly divided nation plunged into the War of 1812, a fiery young Federalist editor named Alexander Hanson risked his life to defend a newspaper that dared express unpopular views. His words provoked a violent standoff that crippled the city of Baltimore and left Hanson beaten within an inch of his life. This little-known episode in American history–complete with a midnight jailbreak, bloodthirsty mobs and unspeakable acts of torture–helped shape the course of war, the Federalist Party and the nation’s very notion of the freedom of the press. Josh Cutler’s history of the Mobtown Massacre offers a lesson in liberty that reverberates today.