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
The drawing commenced in the Eighth District, 1190 Broadway, Captain
Maniere provost marshal, on the same morning, and continued quietly
until about 12 o'clock, when it was adjourned, and policemen who had
been stationed there to guard it were sent over to the Ninth District,
where the mob was carrying everything before it. But coming in small
bodies, they were easily overcome and scattered. Sergeant Ellison,
especially, got badly beaten; and Sergeant Wade, who came up soon after,
and charged gallantly on the mob, shared the same fate, and had to be
taken to St. Luke's Hospital. The work of destruction having commenced,
it went on after this with the wild irregularity characteristic of
mobs. The news of the uprising and destruction of property, as it spread
through those portions of the city where the low Irish dwelt, stirred
up all the inmates, and they came thronging forth, till there were
incipient mobs on almost every corner. From this time no consecutive
narrative can be given of the after doings. This immense mass seemed
to split up into three or four sections, as different objects attracted
their attention; and they came together and separated apparently without
any concert of action. A shout and a cry in one direction would call
off a throng, while a similar shout in another would attract a portion
thither. Some feeling the need of arms, and remembering that a gun
factory was at the corner of Second Avenue and Twentieth Street, called
out to the crowd, and soon a large body was rushing in that direction.
The Police Commissioners had also thought of this, and hastily sent off
the Broadway squad to occupy it, and they succeeded, by going singly and
in pairs, in reaching it--thirty-five all told. These men, selected for
their size, being all six feet or upward, were ordered to hold the place
at all hazards.
In the meantime the mob endeavored to gain admittance, but warned off by
Sergeant Burdick, left. But scarcely a quarter of an hour had elapsed,
when they returned heavily reinforced, armed with all kinds of weapons,
and yelling and hooting like fiends. Stones and bricks came crashing
through the windows, but still the squad, though every man was armed
with a carbine, did not fire.
The mob then tried to set the factory on fire, but failed. Enraged at
being baffled, a powerful man advanced on the door with a sledge-hammer,
and began to pound against it. At length one of the panels gave way,
and as a shout arose from those looking on, he boldly attempted to crawl
through. The report of a solitary carbine was heard, and the brains of
the man lay scattered on the floor. This staggered the mob for a moment,
but soon fear gave way to rage, and shots and stones were rained against
the building, smashing in the windows, and rapidly making a clean
breach through the door. Burdick sent to Captain Cameron for aid, but he
replied that he could not reach him.
At 3:45 the following telegram was sent from the Eighteenth Precinct:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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