On June 1, 1857, the orderly process of elections in Washington, DC, was threatened by the arrival from Baltimore of a large gang of heavily-armed toughs, self-styled the 'Plug-Uglies,' who were determined to seize and controle the polling places. When the city police were frightened off by the gang, Mayor Magruder sent out an emergency call for assistance from the Marines Stationed at Corps Headquarters. Near Fifth and K Streets the two groups confronted one another, and the Plug-Uglies aimed a cannon at the line of Marines. At that moment a white-whiskered man in civilian clothes and carrying a gold-headed cane stepped from te watching crowd and walked up to the line of toughs; it was Marine Commandant Brigadier General Archibald Henderson. The slim erect 74 year old man, standing in front of the cannon's muzzle, spoke calmly to the mob: 'Men, you better think twice before you fire this piece at the Marines.' A man thrust a pistol at Henderson two feet from his face; the Commandant seized the man and hauled him away to be placed under arrest. A volley of shots aimed at the Marines rang out, and 'they poured in an answering fire.' Within a few seconds the rioters fell back, then took to their heels and fled. Two years later on January 6, 1859, Archibald Henderson died while still in office. He had served as commandant for 39 years, under ten presidents, during the most tumulltuous years of the nation's growth. Truely the 'Grand Old Man of the Corps,' as his contemporaries called him, Henderson et standards for rigorous training, professional discipline and courageous service that do honor to the Corps to this day. Henderson also left the Corps that shortly face an agonizing conflict of interest, one that would go beyond any previos test of the mettle of Marines- their own nation's Civil War.
