proceeded; for in twenty or thirty different places men ceased labor as
if at some mysterious signal, and poured pell-mell into the streets to
join the rioters.
The streets from Forty-first to Sixty-third and the avenues were full of
knots and throngs of laboring men, some counseling violence at once,
others discussing their power to effect anything, many drowning bitter
judgment in frequent potations of ardent spirits.
The telegraph poles were cut down, and thrown across the track of the
street cars; which were not allowed to run on the Third and Fourth
avenue railroads.
The rioters were composed of the employees of the several railroad
companies; the employees of Brown’s iron factory, in Sixty-first street;
Taylor’s factory, in Forty-first street; Cummins’, street contractor,
and numerous manufactories in the upper part of the city. The crowd
marched through many of the streets in the upper part of the city,
compelling laborers in every quarter to knock off work and fall in. A
few demurred, but were brought into the ranks by furious threats. Thus
compelling all whom it met to swell its ranks the crowd soon reached
vast proportions, every moment increasing in boldness. Well dressed men
appeared to be specially obnoxious to it. The general cry was, “Down
with the rich men.” Three gentlemen talking together on Lexington avenue
were set upon and knocked down, narrowly escaping with their lives.
One of the Guard endeavored to make his escape by climbing the rocks
near Forty-second street. No sooner, however, was his intention
discovered, than another portion of the rioters seized him, and taking
him to the top of the rock stripped his uniform off him, and after
beating him almost to a jelly, threw him over a precipice some twenty
feet high on the hard rocks beneath. Not contented with this, stones and
dirt were thrown at him as he lay helpless until he was half buried.
[Illustration: DRAFT RIOTS AT NEW YORK CITY—ANDREWS LEADING THE
RIOTERS.]
Soon after the defeat of the soldiers a strong squad of police made
their appearance in line of battle. As soon as the mob caught sight of
them they fired a volley of stones, knocking down two of the officers.
The police drew their clubs and revolvers, but after a contest of a few
minutes they were also forced to retreat, which they did in good order
until near Fortieth street, when one of them discharged his revolver
four times into the midst of the throng, shooting a horse that was
attached to a wagon standing on the corner. A rush was made at once for
the officer, who immediately retreated into a store near by, the people
of which at once barred the door and endeavored to give him protection.
The crowd, however, went to the back of the house, tore down the fence,
and rushed into the building, seized the policeman, knocked him down,
and beat him in a fearful manner.
Police Superintendent Kennedy, through in citizen’s dress, was observed
by the mob, who made a rush at him and knocked him headlong into the
gutter, when several of the rioters kicked him and beat him dreadfully
about the head, face, and body. Some one of his friends who chanced to
be near by, recognizing Mr. Kennedy, went to his assistance and
succeeded in rescuing him. Mr. Kennedy was taken into a store and thence
removed to his residence in a carriage. His injuries, though severe, did
not prove fatal, as was at first feared by his friends.
Growing more violent every instant the mob continued to hoot and yell
through the streets; stopping before some of the handsomest dwellings
they passed, attacking them with violence, and breaking in the doors and
windows; then entering they pillaged and destroyed at will. Those who
were disposed to theft carried away every available article they could
lay hands upon, and threw into the streets everything they could not
conveniently carry with them—as handsome, marble-topped furniture,
sofas, arm-chairs, pier-glasses, pictures, &c. The chief objects of
their rage were the unfortunate negro population, and after them all who
sought in any way to protect them, or to quell the riot.
The crowd divided into gangs, with their leaders bearing pieces of board
for banners on which were written “Independent,” “No Draft,” &c., and it
was unsafe to express a single word in dissent from the proceeding.
Hundreds of mere boys, from fifteen to eighteen years of age, were armed
with clubs, or pickets, and marching in the ranks.
The mob now began firing all the buildings they had sacked; and in a
dozen streets at once the incendiary flames shot up, and seemed to
threaten a general conflagration. The fire engines were brought out: but
they were set upon by the frantic, yelling mob, which was rapidly
swelling to dangerous proportions, and prevented from being set to work.
About 2 o’clock P. M. a gentleman connected with the Press, while
standing on the corner of Forty-sixth street and Third avenue, was
attacked by the crowd, crying out, “here’s a d—d Abolitionist; let’s
hang him.” He was seized by the hair and dragged toward an awning post,
but fortunately something else diverting the attention of the crowd, he
escaped up Third avenue—but only for a short time, for a blow with a
paving stone on the back of the head and another one in the face,
stunned him so that he lost all consciousness, and while in this state,
he was robbed of his gold watch and chain, diamond breast-pin and
thirty-three dollars in money.
At three o’clock a procession of about five thousand, people marched up
First avenue, all armed with bars, pistols, &c., threatening vengeance
on all persons connected with the draft. They halted in front of the
Eighteenth ward Station-House in Twenty-second street, yelling in a
demoniacal manner.
About four o’clock P. M. the rioters, perfectly frenzied with liquor,
roamed about in every direction attacking people miscellaneously, and
burning every building in which they saw a policeman take refuge.
The police suffered severely in these attacks of the first day,
seventeen of them having been badly wounded; many of them so much
injured that they were carried to hospitals.
The city was particularly unsuited to resist a riot at the time when the
ringleaders of this one chose to begin it, as nearly every regiment in
New York had been sent to the defence of Pennsylvania. The militia,
however, were called out, by order of General Wool.
The First and Third cavalry, which had been ordered to parade at the
funeral of Colonel Zook, were sent forthwith to the Seventh avenue
arsenal.
Lieutenant-Colonel Missing, with a portion of his force, was ordered to
the upper arsenal.
One hundred citizens of the Sixth ward reported themselves in readiness
to General Sandford, for such duty as he might assign them to, and were
sent by him to the arsenal in White street.
The authorities at the Brooklyn Navy Yard were notified of the
disturbances, and a large force of United States Marines, besides a
considerable number of soldiers of the regular army, were ordered into
instant service.
General Sandford issued the following order, calling a meeting at the
Seventh regiment armory, at eight o’clock in the evening of the 13th, to
concert measures for the protection of the city:
HEADQUARTERS, FIRST DIVISION N. Y. S. M., }
NEW YORK, July 13, 1863. }
The ex-officers of this division, and of the United States Volunteers
now in this city, who are disposed to assist in preserving the peace
of the city, are requested to meet at the Seventh regiment
drill-rooms, over Tompkins Market, this evening at eight o’clock.
CHARLES W. SANDFORD,
Major-General.
In answer to the call of General Sandford, the ex-officers then in the
city met at the Seventh regiment armory on the same evening, and took
steps toward the formation of one or more regiments to assist in
protecting New York.
One of the greatest outrages perpetrated during the four days’ riot, was
the burning of
THE COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM.
This building was fired about five o’clock in the afternoon. The
infuriated mob, eager for any violence, were turned that way by the
simple suggestion that it was full of colored children. They clamored
around the house like demons, filling the air with yells. A few
policemen, who attempted to make a stand, were instantly
overpowered—several being severely or fatally injured. While this was
going on, a few of the less evil disposed gave notice to the inmates to
quit the building.
The sight of the helpless creatures stayed for a moment, even the
insensate mob; but the orphans were no sooner out, than the work of
demolition commenced. First the main building was gutted, and then set
on fire. While it was burning, the large wing adjoining—used as a
dormitory—was stripped, inside and out. Several hundred iron bedsteads
were carried off—such an exodus of this article was probably never
witnessed before. They radiated in every direction for half a mile.
Carpets were dragged away at length; desks, stools, chairs, tables,
books of all kinds—everything moveable—was carried off. Even the caps
and bonnets of the poor children were stolen. While the rioters stripped
the building of its furniture, their wives and children, and hundreds
who were too cowardly to assist the work of demolition, carried it off.
The wing, while burning, swarmed with rioters, who seemed endowed with a
demoniacal energy to rend in pieces, rob and destroy.
Shutters and doors were torn off and tumbled into the streets. These
were seized and torn to pieces almost before they touched the ground,
and, with everything else, carried off with surprising celerity. Several
persons were injured, and one killed, by the falling of shutters and
furniture from the windows. What was very marked as the destruction
proceeded, was the absence of excitement. Things were done as coolly by
the rioters, as if they were saving instead of destroying property.
In the early part of the day the building occupied by the
Provost-Marshal, corner of Twenty-eighth street and Broadway, was
attacked by a mob, fired, and together with the adjoining buildings,
laid in ashes.
Mr. John Decker, Chief-engineer of the Fire Department, now made an
effort to stay the devouring flames, by addressing himself to the insane
mob, and counselling them, as a matter of common sense, to allow the
engines to work, and so save the property of those who were entirely
innocent of bringing on the draft. At first there seemed a disposition
to listen to him, and the engines were got ready, but before they could
be set to work, the largest portion of the mob, which had gone tearing
down Broadway, learning the firemen’s intentions, came rushing
back—howling, cursing, swearing, and vowing vengeance.
In less than a minute they cleared the streets, drove the firemen from
their engines, stoned the police from the sidewalks, and again took
possession of the engines, hose-carriages, etc., which, however, they
did not damage.
Half an hour later, Chief Decker got his engines at work, and succeeded
in eventually saving a part of the building on the corner of
Forty-seventh street, the whole of the rest of the block having been
destroyed.
About eight o’clock in the evening, the frenzied rioters having reached
Printing House Square, commenced an attack on the Tribune office,
hurling bricks and stones into its windows, and utterly destroying them.
An entrance to the counting-room was next effected, and an attempt made
to set the building on fire. At this instant a strong police force came
upon the full run across the Park, scattering the rioters. A heavy rain
soon set in, and the mob dispersed in every direction; though a great
deal of petty mischief continued to be done during the night by those
who did not seek their homes, or had none to seek. Whole blocks of
buildings were burned during this one day’s riot; and the damage to
government property alone was estimated at two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars.
THE SECOND DAY.
At an early hour on Tuesday morning, after a night of sleepless anxiety
to the inhabitants of the city, demonstrations of violence began, and
the outrages of the previous day were renewed. At about half-past eight
o’clock, it was reported at the Police Headquarters that a large body of
rioters were gathering along the Second avenue, threatening every house
along the thoroughfare. A police force of three hundred men was
immediately detailed under Inspector Carpenter, for the purpose of
breaking up the crowd; finding the railroad track obstructed, they left
the street cars, and marched in solid column toward Second avenue, where
the mob received them with ominous silence.
When the whole force had reached the block between Thirty-fourth and
Thirty fifth streets, they were closed in upon by the mob, and assailed
by a thick shower of bricks and stones, which rained from the houses and
windows in the neighborhood. For some moments the men wavered, and the
peril was imminent, when the reassuring voices of the officers in
command recalled them, and they returned the shower of stones with a
volley of bullets from their revolvers. The order was then given to
charge, and a most furious onset was made upon the rioters—the police
driving them into the houses, chasing them all over the buildings and
again into the street, where they were scattered by a most vigorous
application of clubs. All the side streets were then cleared, and the
police marched over the battle-ground victorious. The men behaved
bravely, hunting every rioter, and clubbing him if he made any
resistance.
The police then marched through the Avenue, and were met by a detachment
of the Eleventh regiment of the N. Y. S. V., headed by Colonel O’Brien
and a couple of field-pieces, under command of Lieutenant Eagleson. The
forces united, and countermarched down the avenue. The mob had in the
mean time rallied, when the military formed a line of battle, and fired
upon the crowd. Bullets whistled through the air in every direction,
shattering shutters and doors.
Many of the rioters fell, and some were killed; two children were killed
also, and a woman wounded. At this point no further hostile
demonstrations occurred on the part of the mob; and the police and
military force marched to the Central office. About noon, however, the
riot was resumed on Second avenue. About five hundred of the mob entered
the Union Steam works at the corner of Twenty-second street and Second
avenue, and commenced carrying away the muskets which had been deposited
there the day previous, the arms having been taken from Mr. Opdyke’s
armory in Second avenue before the building was fired by the mob.
During the morning all the factories and shops in the neighborhood were
visited, and threats made to burn each establishment to the ground
unless it was closed. As a consequence, every factory for a mile around
the Union Steam Works was shut up, and the streets swarmed with
infuriated men.
The mob had taken possession of the latter building for the purpose of
using it as a fortification from which to resist the police.
About two o’clock, a force of two hundred police, under command of
Inspector Dilks, arrived on the ground. Some of the rioters, becoming
alarmed at being thus caged, endeavored to escape, but were too late,
for upon the moment Inspector Dilks gave the order to charge. In an
instant four of the rioters were stretched upon the pavement. The men,
with all the pluck of veterans, rushed into the building upon the mob,
and after a desperate fight of a few moments, during which some of the
policemen as well as the rioters, were injured, succeeded in conquering
the crowd, causing them to leap from the windows, and rush to every
other avenue of escape.
A large number of women at this moment attacked the police, cursing them
in a fearful manner, and in some instances stoning them.
Having cleared the building of the rioters, the police came into the
street again, each man holding a musket, and charged upon the mob, which
scattered in every direction.
At this same place the mob subsequently augmented so greatly that they
stormed the place and notwithstanding the resistance of the small force
of police left for protection, took possession of it. Reinforcements
speedily arrived, and again the building was emptied of the mob; the
police then marched through the district, the military bringing up in
the rear; and again the crowd rallied, following them, and sent into
their ranks a shower of every sort of missile they could lay hands upon.
Quick as thought Captain Franklin gave the order “’bout face,” which
brought the soldiers face to face with the crowd. In an instant
thereafter the order to “fire” was given, and a volley was poured into
the mob. Fifteen were reported killed and wounded. A charge was made
with fixed bayonets, when the mob broke and scattered like sheep. The
force then returned to their rendezvous with about two hundred carbines
which they had captured.
The crowd was being constantly reinforced as the day wore on. A number
of gentlemen attacked one gang of the ruffians, and succeeded in
capturing two of them. About five o’clock a large squad of rioters
attacked a building on Twenty-ninth street, because it was alleged that
“Horace Greeley lived there.” While engaged in the destruction of the
house and its contents a detail of about fifty soldiers and thirty
policemen appeared on the ground and marched through the street clearing
it of all obstructions.
A short time afterwards, in another portion of the street a gang of
rioters raised a cry against a gentleman passing by “that he was a
Tribune reporter,” and instantly he was set upon by the infuriated mob,
who pursued, knocked him down, and beat and kicked him about the body,
face and head in such a way as to leave him nearly dead. A gentleman
present interfered and succeeded in saving the young man’s life. He was
taken to his residence near, and it was found on examination that he had
received no mortal wound.
This same mob while in the vicinity set upon a man against whom they had
conceived some fancied antipathy, and beat him to death.
The riot was now increasing in all parts of the city notwithstanding the
vigorous measures adopted for quelling it. An attack was made upon the
residence of Mayor Opdyke by a comparatively small body of men and a
party of boys, who threw stones and brickbats at the windows. Not more
than half of the rioters, however, entered the building, their object
evidently being plunder. About twenty gentlemen living in the
neighborhood, having anticipated the attack, assembled at a given place,
and, with such weapons as were at hand, rushed upon the crowd and drove
them from the door. They then entered the Mayor’s house and speedily
expelled the rioters. Meantime the mob was increasing and the cry was
“Burn the building!” The front steps were then occupied by the small
party of gentlemen whose determined looks the crowd did not seem to
relish.
Happily, a body of police appeared, and charging upon the rioters put
them to flight. The policemen were relieved by a detachment of two
hundred soldiers.
One of the most atrocious and bloodthirsty acts of the second day’s riot
was the murder of Colonel O’Brien, who had command of a portion of the
military troops. The mob having been in great measure dispersed, a
temporary quiet ensued toward evening, and Colonel O’Brien took
advantage of this circumstance to return to his residence, and remove
his family to a place of safety, fearing the violence of the rioters
against them, for he had heard many threats to that effect. He alighted
from his carriage in Thirty-fifth street, and had just entered his house
when a part of the mob, who had apparently been watching for him, made
their appearance, and pouncing upon him dragged him into the yard, where
they beat and kicked him in the most brutal manner.
Several women who were among the crowd also kicked the unfortunate man.
Yelling like so many devils, three or four men seized the Colonel by his
hair, and dragged him into the street, where they again kicked and beat
him.
A man keeping a drug store on the corner, carried out a glass of water
to give the Colonel, whereupon the mob turned about and completely
gutted his store.
After beating Colonel O’Brien until he was insensible, they again
dragged him into the yard and threw him into a corner, where every now
and then they visited him and renewed their attack upon him.
Several persons witnessed this outrage from their near windows, and
protested against it, when the mob cried out “kill them too, don’t let’s
have any witnesses.” The ringleaders notified the neighbors that they
intended burning the block at night, and were going to burn the body of
the Colonel.
The brutal murderers watched over his body until life was extinct,
refusing to allow any one to approach to give him the slightest
assistance. Two Roman Catholic priests finally came up and conveyed his
body in a hand-cart to the Bellevue Hospital Dead-House. He was terribly
mangled, and his body was almost naked and covered with gore.
Among the acts of the rioters during Tuesday, were the following: The
main track of the Hudson River railroad from Fifty-ninth to Fifty-third
streets was torn up by the insurgents about ten o’clock in the morning,
the Albany express train which left at that hour being compelled to back
out of town on one of the turn outs. The crowd was armed with
cart-rungs, small clubs, and other weapons. After damaging the railroad
they proceeded down the avenue, amusing themselves by applying the torch
to the house of any person whom they considered opposed to them.
The Western Hotel, the Western Drove-Yards, and other buildings, were in
this manner destroyed.
At the corner of Twenty-sixth street and Eleventh avenue, the Hudson
River cars were stopped and threatened with destruction, but were
eventually allowed to proceed on their way.
The residence of Colonel Nugent, Eighty-sixth street, was utterly
destroyed; and an adjoining building was burned to the ground. A large
factory in Harlem was fired, and completely consumed. Post-Master
Wakeman’s residence in Yorkville was pillaged of everything it
contained, and then reduced to ashes; an attack was made on the clothing
store of Mr. Brooks, Catherine street, the rioters carrying away
articles of clothing of great value. The robbery was interrupted, and
the probable subsequent destruction of the building prevented, by the
arrival of a police force, who fell upon the mob with great fierceness,
capturing many, and scattering the remainder in confusion. Thieves,
garroters, rowdies and ruffians of all descriptions took this
opportunity of joining the mob and robbing and plundering at their
pleasure. Many of the rioters arrested by the police were recognized as
old offenders.
Another assault upon the Tribune Office was attempted, but did not
amount to anything. A large crowd was collected in the Park, and around
the City Hall. Governor Seymour made his appearance upon the front steps
of the building, and addressed the crowd in the following manner: