Which failed U.S. bank helped trigger the Panic of 1857?

The failure of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company helped trigger the Panic of 1857.

Ohio Life was a prominent financial institution with offices in Cincinnati and New York. In August 1857, revelations of embezzlement and insolvency led to its collapse. The failure damaged confidence in banks, railroads, and land investments, helping set off a wider financial panic.

The crisis spread through the United States as banks suspended specie payments, credit contracted, and railroad companies failed. It also affected international markets, making the Panic of 1857 one of the first financial crises to spread rapidly across the Atlantic through modern commercial and communications networks.

Ohio Life is sometimes confused with the Knickerbocker Trust Company, whose failure was central to the Panic of 1907. The Bank of the United States belongs to the earlier Panic of 1819. The 1857 crisis was also intensified by the collapse of the SS Central America, which was carrying gold from California.