The Eggnog Riot

The Eggnog Riot

To keep in the holiday spirit, here is something somewhat Christmassy.

Today’s post is about the Eggnog riot, something that happened on Christmas eve and day back in 1826.

At the West Point military academy’s barracks, cadets were told that their eggnog was to be alcohol free. Possession of alcohol was against the rules, with the consequence of being expelled. Of course, alcohol was smuggled in anyway, into the north barracks.

In the late hours of Christmas Eve into the early morning of Christmas, there were 9 cadets that were found partying after being rowdy and drunk. Captain Ethan Allen Hitchcock heard the voices, and went to the room where the cadets were, ordering them to leave. Two of the cadets, James Berrien and Billy Murdock, responded negatively, with Murdock wanting to organize a riot against Captain Hitchcock.

Cadets knocked on Hitchcock’s door when he went to bed, though the three times that he went to check, no-one was there. He saw Jefferson Davis, a cadet at the time, go to another room where 13 more cadets were partying.

With Hitchcock trying to stop the cadets from their rambunctious partying, they ended up becoming more rowdy, with several windows being broken. When reveille played in the morning, the cadets from the north barracks were hungover, point blank. Some were still drinking, and others appeared in formation while still drunk. Cadets from the south barracks were appalled at the condition of the place, since they were not drunk and well rested.

To keep a long story short, six cadets resigned, 19 court marshaled, and others were confined for a month.

Jefferson Davis would later get malaria.