After the Pennsylvania state election of 1838, both the Whig and the Democratic parties claimed control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Two speakers were elected. A mob, largely from Philadelphia, assembled in Harrisburg and threatened violence. Thaddeus Stevens, Charles B. Penrose and Thomas H. Burrowes were forced to escape from the Senate chamber through a window. When President Martin Van Buren refused Governor Joseph Ritner's request for United States troops, Ritner called out the Philadelphia militia. Among the equipment requisitioned were thirteen rounds of buckshot cartridges, giving the incident the name the Buckshot War. Order was restored when three Whigs voted with the Democrats, enabling them to organize the House.
Adams, James Truslow. Dictionary of American History. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940.