The Great Riots of New York, 1712 to 1873Headley, Joel Tyler
History
The Great Riots of New York, 1712 to 1873
Headley, Joel Tyler
Draft Riot, New York, N.Y., 1863; New York (N.Y.) -- History; Riots -- New York (State) -- New York
Lieutenant Wood, whom General Brown had sent off, with a company of
regulars, came in conflict with a mob, two thousand strong, in Pitt and
Delancey Streets. Marching along Houston to the Bowery, he turned down
the latter, and kept on to Grand. On reaching Pitt Street, he beheld
the hooting, yelling crowd coming straight towards him. He immediately
formed his little force of one hundred and fifty men in line across
the street, and brought them to "shoulder arms." One of the ringleaders
stepped forward to speak to him, when Lieutenant Wood waved him off.
This was the signal for the attack, and immediately a shower of stones
fell among the soldiers. The officer ordered the men to fire--it was
said over the heads of the rioters--in order to disperse them. The
result was scattering shots in return from the latter. Wood then ordered
a point-blank volley, when men tumbled over right and left. The crowd
did not wait for a second, but fled in every direction. Wood then
marched back to headquarters, but on the way slipped and sprained his
ankle, which caused a report that he had been wounded.
A bloody conflict also took place between the police and mob in the same
avenue where Colonel O'Brien fell, below Thirtieth Street. There was a
wire factory here, in which several thousand carbines were stored.
Of this, some of the rioters were aware, and communicated the fact to
others, and a plan was formed to capture them. Having discovered from
the morning's experience that the military had been called in to aid
the police, arms became imperatively necessary, if they hoped to make
a successful resistance. All public depositories of arms they knew were
guarded, but this factory was not, and hence they resolved to capture it
without delay. Swarming around it, they forced the entrance, and began
to throw out the carbines to their friends. The attack, however, had
been telegraphed to head-quarters, and Inspector Dilks was despatched
with two hundred men to save the building, and recover any arms that
might be captured. He marched rapidly up to Twenty-first Street, and
down it to the avenue. Here he came suddenly upon the mob, that blocked
the entire street. As the head of the force appeared, the rioters,
instead of being frightened, greeted it with jeers and curses. It was
two hundred against a thousand; but the inspector did not hesitate a
moment on account of the inequality of numbers, but instantly formed
his men and ordered a charge. The mob, instead of recoiling, closed
desperately on the police, and a fierce hand-to-hand encounter took
place. The clubs, however, mowed a clean swath along the street, and the
compact little force pushed like a wedge into the throng, and cleared a
bloody space for itself. The orders were to recapture all the arms; for
this was of more vital importance than the capture of men. Wherever,
therefore, a musket was seen, a man would dash for it, and, seizing it,
fight his way back into line. On the pavement, the sidewalk, and in the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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