What is the mackerel brigade?

Answer 1

The "Mackerels" [The Mackerel Brigade] were a gang of juvenille delinquents in Memphis, TN from about 1862 - 1878. Whether or not they were war orphans or actually belonged to families will probably never be known. The gang had been a source of annoyance in the city for some time during the war, probably arising after Federal occupation.

While not popularly considered to be the same thing as guerrillas or bushwhackers, probably because they were not, most likely, armed, it is tempting to think of their actions as "juvenile-urban bushwhacking." It would seem their activities had no political aspect and their thievery was conducted as a matter of survival, there being a shortage of asylums for orphans in Memphis.

They (earliest gang of this name; several gangs followed that were also generally referred to as mackerels, but the 1st gang by this name was gone more or less by 1869/70 and what remained of it took to the Miss R under the name of "Memphis Mackerels" and were a roving band of river thieves from that point; Jake Ackerman was run out of Memphis for good in 1873) were reputedly led by a boy named Tom Porter (aka "Sub") who was eventually shot and killed by the Memphis Police Dept. in March, 1868. Jake Ackerman (Jake the Jew or Jew Jake) was also a ring leader in The Mackerel Brigade. He later became a rather notorious thief in Omaha, NE as well as in other major Western cities. Jake was shot and killed by his estranged wife in Memphis, TN in April, 1890. He was 38 years old at the time. Tom Porter was 19 when he was killed by the Memphis Police. Jake is buried in the "evildoers" section of the Old Jewish Cemetery (Temple Israel Cemetery now) on Old Hernando Rd., Memphis, TN. His grave stone is marked only with the initials "I.A." Tom Porter's burial place is unknown, but is very likely in the old pauper's cemetery that used to be beside the Old Winchester Cemetery (Memphis, TN) which fell into disuse in the 1870s. Tom was probably from St. Louis, MO originally. Jake was from Little Rock, AR, but came to Memphis, TN during the federal occupation of the city between 1862-1865.