Soldiers beaten by the Mob.--Gallant Fight of Sergeant McCredie.--Mob
Triumphant.--Beat Police Officers unmercifully.--Fearful Scenes.--Fifty
thousand People block Third Avenue.--A whole Block of Houses
burning.--Attack on a Gun Factory.--Defeat of the Broadway
Squad.--Houses sacked in Lexington Avenue.--Telegraph
Dispatches.--Bull's Head Tavern burned.--Block on Broadway
burned.--Burning of the Negroes' Orphan Asylum.--Attack on Mayor
Opdyke's House.--A Crisis nobly met.--Gallant Fight and Victory of
Sergeant Carpenter.--A thrilling Spectacle.
In the meantime, the mob that stood watching the spreading conflagration
in Third Avenue increased rapidly, fed by tributaries from the
tenement-houses, slums, and workshops in that vicinity. But they were
soon startled from their state of comparative quietness, by the cry of
"the soldiers are coming." The Invalid Corps, a small body sent from the
Park, was approaching. As it came up, the soldiers fired, either blank
cartridges, or over the heads of the crowd, doubtless thinking a single
discharge would disperse it. The folly of such a course was instantly
shown, for the mob, roused into sudden fury, dashed on the small body
of soldiers before they could reload, and snatching away their muskets,
pounded them over the head, and chased them like sheep for ten blocks.
One soldier was left for dead on the pavement, beaten to a jelly.
Another, breaking from the crowd, attempted to climb some rocks near
Forty-second Street, when his pursuers grabbed him and dragged him
to the top, where they tore off his uniform, and beat him till he was
senseless, and then threw him down to the bottom and left him.
In the meantime, Sergeant McCredie, "fighting Mac," as he was called,
from the Fifteenth Precinct, Captain C. W. Caffrey, arrived on the scene
with a few men. Marching down Forty-third street to Third Avenue, they
looked up two blocks, and to their amazement beheld the broad avenue,
as far as they could see, blocked with the mob, while before it, bearing
swiftly down on them, and running for life, came the terror-stricken
Invalid Corps. At this juncture, other squads sent from various
precincts arrived, swelling this force to forty-four. It was a mere
handful among these enraged thousands; but McCredie, who at once took
command, determined to stand his ground, and meet as best he could the
overwhelming numbers that came driving down like a storm, filling the
air with yells and oaths, and brandishing their clubs over their heads.
He thought that another police force was beyond the mob, on the north,
and if he could press through and form a junction with it, the two
combined would be strong enough to hold their own. He therefore quickly
formed his men in line across the street, and awaited the shock. As the
disorderly mass following up the fugitives drew near, McCredie ordered a
charge, and this mere handful of men moved swiftly and steadily upon
it. The rioters, stunned by the suddenness and strength of the blow,
recoiled, and the police, following up their advantage, drove them back,
step by step, as far as Forty-sixth street. Here the sergeant, instead
of meeting another body of police, as he expected, met a heavier body
of rioters that were blocking up Forty-sixth Street on both sides of
the avenue. Backed by these, the main body rallied and charged on the
exhausted police force in turn, and almost surrounded them. To render
their already desperate situation hopeless, another mob suddenly closed
in behind them from Forty-fifth street.
Thus attacked in front and rear with clubs, iron bars, guns and pistols,
and rained upon with stones and brick-bats from the roofs of the houses,
they were unable longer to keep together, and broke and fled--part up
the side streets, and some down the avenue--bruised, torn, and bleeding.
The desperate nature of this first conflict can be imagined, when, out
of the fourteen men composing Sergeant McCredie's original force, only
five were left unwounded. At the very outset of the charge, the sergeant
himself was struck with an iron bar on the wrist, which rendered the arm
almost useless. In the retreat, four men assailed him at once. Knocking
down two, he took refuge in the house of a German, when a young woman
told him to jump between two mattresses. He did so, and she covered him
up just as his pursuers forced their way in. Streaming through the house
from cellar to garret, they came back, and demanded of the young woman
where the man was hid. She quietly said he had escaped by the rear of
the house. Believing she told the truth, they took their departure.
Officer Bennett was knocked down three times before he ceased fighting.
The last time he was supposed to be dead, when the wretches began to
rob him even of his clothing, stripping him of every article except his
drawers. He was soon after taken up and carried to St. Luke's Hospital,
and placed in the dead-house, where he lay for several hours. When the
sad news was brought to his wife, she hastened to the hospital, and fell
weeping on the lifeless form of her husband. She could not believe he
was dead, and laying her hand on his heart, found to her joy that it
pulsated. She immediately flew to the officials of the hospital, and
had him brought in, and restoratives applied. He revived, but remained
unconscious for three days, while the riot raged around him. Officer
Travis, in the flight down the avenue, saw, as he looked back, that his
foremost pursuer had a pistol. Wheeling, he knocked him down, and seized
the pistol, but before he could use it, a dozen clubs were raining
blows upon him, which brought him to the ground. The infuriated men then
jumped upon him, knocking out his teeth, breaking his jaw-bone and right
hand, and terribly mutilating his whole body. Supposing him to be dead,
they then stripped him stark naked and left him on the pavement, a
ghastly spectacle to the passers-by. Officer Phillips ran the gauntlet
almost unharmed, but was pursued block after block by a portion of the
mob, till he reached Thirty-ninth street. Here he attempted to enter a
house, but it was closed against him. As he turned down the steps, one
of the pursuers, in soldier's clothes, levelled his musket at him and
fired. Missing his aim, he clubbed his weapon, and dealt him a deadly
blow. Phillips caught the musket as it descended, and wrenching it from
his grasp, knocked the fellow down with it, and started and ran across
some vacant lots to Fortieth Street. But here he was headed off by
another portion of the mob, in which was a woman, who made a lunge at
him with, a shoemaker's knife. The knife missed his throat, but passed
through his ear. Drawing it back, she made another stab, piercing his
arm. He was now bleeding profusely, and his death seemed inevitable,
when a stranger, seeing his condition, sprang forward, and covering his
body, declared he would kill the first man that advanced. Awed by his
determined manner, the fiends sullenly withdrew. Officers Sutherland and
Mingay were also badly beaten. Officer Kiernan, receiving a blow on his
head with a stone, another on the back of his neck with a hay-bale rung,
and two more on the knees, fell insensible, and would doubtless have
been killed outright, but for the wife of Eagan, who saved Kennedy.
Throwing herself over his body, she exclaimed, "for God's sake do
not kill him." Seeing that they had got to attack this lady to get at
Kiernan, they passed on.
The scene in Third Avenue at this time was fearful and appalling. It was
now noon, but the hot July sun was obscured by heavy clouds, that hung
in ominous shadows over the city, while from near Cooper Institute to
Forty-sixth Street, or about thirty blocks, the avenue was black with
human beings,--sidewalks, house-tops, windows, and stoops all filled
with rioters or spectators. Dividing it like a stream, horse-cars
arrested in their course lay strung along as far as the eye could reach.
As the glance ran along this mighty mass of men and women north, it
rested at length on huge columns of smoke rolling heavenward from
burning buildings, giving a still more fearful aspect to the scene. Many
estimated the number at this time in the street at fifty thousand.
In the meantime the fire-bell had brought the firemen on the ground, but
the mob would not let them approach the burning houses. The flames
had communicated with the adjoining block and were now making fearful
headway. At length Engineer Decker addressed the mob, which by this time
had grown thinner by the main mass moving farther down town, who told
them that everything relating to the provost marshal's office was
destroyed, and now the fire was destroying private property, some
of which doubtless belonged to persons friendly to them, and finally
persuaded them to let the engines work. Water was soon deluging the
buildings, and the fire at length arrested, but not until four were
consumed with all their contents.
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:
"The mob have attacked the armory, Second Avenue and Twenty-first
Street. There is danger of firing the building."
Fifteen minutes later came: "It is impossible for us to protect the
armory at Second Avenue and Twenty-first Street."
_Answer_--"Draw your men off. D. C."
The squad, in evacuating the building, found themselves cut off both in
front and at the sides.
The only mode of escape was through a hole in the rear wall, some
eighteen feet from the ground, and scarcely a foot and a half in
diameter. Piling up boxes to reach this aperture, these large men
squeezed themselves through one by one, feet foremost, and swinging to a
gutter-trough, dropped into the yard below. Climbing from thence over a
wall into a stone-yard, they sped across it to the Eighteenth Precinct
Station in Twenty-second Street. Here taking off their uniforms, they
made their way singly, or in groups of two or three, back to the central
office.
No sooner did they leave the building than the mob entered it, and the
work of pillage commenced. Every man armed himself with a musket. The
stacks of weapons left, after they had taken all they wanted, were
broken up or rendered useless. One thrown out of the window fell on a
man's head in the street and killed him.
While the armory was being attacked, another mob was sacking and burning
houses on Lexington Avenue, near Forty-seventh Street. Within five
minutes from the announcement of this fact, came from the Sixth Precinct
the following dispatch: "A mob of about seven hundred attacked some
colored people in Baxter Street, and then went to the saloon of Samuel
Crook, in Chatham Street, and beat some colored waiters there."
A few minutes later from Sixteenth came: "A crowd of about three hundred
men have gone to the foot of Twenty-fourth Street, to stop men in the
foundry from working."
At the same time the following was received from the Twenty-first
Precinct: "The mob avow their determination of burning this station. Our
connection by telegram may be interrupted at any moment."
Another from the Twentieth said: "A very large crowd is now going down
Fifth Avenue, to attack the _Tribune_ building."
As fast as the wires could work, followed "from the Twenty-fourth
Precinct:"
"The mob have fired the buildings corner of Broadway and Twenty-fourth
Street."
All this time, while new notes of alarm were sounded, and the police
department was struggling to get its force in hand, the work of
destruction was going on in the upper part of the city. Bull's Head
Tavern, in Forty-sixth Street, attracted the attention of the mob. The
sales of the immense herds of cattle in the adjoining yard had been
suspended, and the hotel closed. The crowd, however, forgetting the
draft, and intent only on pillage, streamed up around it, and shouted,
"Fire it! fire it!" While some were calling for axes and crowbars, ten
powerful men jumped on the stoop, and with a few heavy blows sent the
hall door flying from its hinges. The yelling crowd then rushed in, and
after helping themselves to what they wanted, applied the torch, and
soon the entire building was a mass of flame.
[Illustration: THE RIOT IN LEXINGTON AVENUE.]
At this time another mob was sacking houses in Lexington Avenue. Elegant
furniture and silver plate were borne away by the crowd, while the
ladies, with their children and servants, fled in terror from the scene.
The provost marshal's head-quarters were also set on fire, and the whole
block on Broadway, between Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Streets, was
burned down, while jewelry stores and shops of all kinds were plundered
and their contents carried off. A vast horde followed the rioters for
the sole purpose of plunder, and loaded down with their spoils, could be
seen hastening home in every direction.
While these fires were under full headway, a new idea seemed to strike
the mob, or at least a portion of it. Having stopped the draft in two
districts, sacked and set on fire nearly a score of houses, and half
killed as many men, it now, impelled by a strange logic, sought to
destroy the Colored Orphan Asylum on Fifth Avenue, extending from
Forty-third to Forty-fourth Street. There would have been no draft
but for the war--there would have been no war but for slavery. But the
slaves were black, ergo, all blacks are responsible for the war.
This seemed to be the logic of the mob, and having reached the sage
conclusion to which it conducted, they did not stop to consider how poor
helpless orphans could be held responsible, but proceeded at once to
wreak their vengeance on them. The building was four stories high, and
besides the matrons and officers, contained over two hundred children,
from mere infants up to twelve years of age. Around this building the
rioters gathered with loud cries and oaths, sending terror into the
hearts of the inmates. Superintendent William E. Davis hurriedly
fastened the doors; but knowing they would furnish but a momentary
resistance to the armed multitude, he, with others, collected hastily
the terrified children, and carrying some in their arms, and leading
others, hurried them in a confused crowd out at the rear of the
building, just as the ruffians effected an entrance in front. Then the
work of pillage commenced, and everything carried off that could be,
even to the dresses and trinkets of the children, while heavy furniture
was smashed and chopped up in the blind desire of destruction. Not
satisfied with this, they piled the fragments in the different rooms,
and set fire to them. At this juncture Chief Engineer Decker arrived,
and determined, if possible, to save the building, addressed the crowd,
as he had in the morning, hoping to induce them to forbear further
violence, and let him extinguish the flames. But they had now got beyond
argument of any kind, and knocking him down twice, pitched him into the
street. But ten brave firemen at this juncture rushed to his side, and
together fought their way through the crowd into the building, where
they were joined by two assistant engineers, Lamb and Lewis. They at
once began to scatter and extinguish the burning fragments, keeping back
for a while, by their bold bearing, the rioters. The latter, however,
soon rallied in force, and some mounting to the loft, set it on fire in
every part. Decker and his few gallant allies, finding it impossible
to save the building, retreated into the street, and soon the massive
structure was a sheet of flame.
The crowd now proceeded to Mayor Opdyke's house, and gathering in front
of it, sent up shouts and calls for the Mayor. They were, however,
deterred at that time from accomplishing their purpose by an appeal from
Judge Barnard, who addressed them from the steps of an adjoining house.
Soon after, an immense mob was reported coming down Broadway, for the
purpose, some thought, of attacking the negro waiters in the Lafarge
House, between Amity and Bleecker Streets, but in fact to attack police
head-quarters in Mulberry Street, and break up the very centre of
operations. It was a bold stroke, but the ringleaders had been drinking
all day, and now, maddened by liquor, were ready for the most desperate
attempts. When the news of this movement reached head-quarters, the
commissioners saw that a crisis had come. The mob numbered at least five
thousand, while they could not muster at that moment two hundred men.
The clerk, Mr. Hawley, went to the commissioners' room, and said:
"Gentlemen, the crisis has come. A battle has got to be _fought now_,
_and won too_, or all is lost." They agreed with him. "But who," they
asked, "will lead the comparatively small force in this fight?" He
replied that he thought that Sergeant Carpenter should be selected, as
one of the oldest and most experienced officers on the force. "Well,"
they said, "will you go down to his room and see what he says about it?"
He went, and laid before him the perilous condition of things, and that
an immediate and successful battle _must_ be fought.
Carpenter heard him through, and taking in fully the perilous condition
of things, paused a moment, and then rising to his full height and
lifting his hand, said, with a terrible oath, "I'll go, and I'll win
that fight, or _Daniel Carpenter will never come back a live man_." He
walked out and summoned the little force, and as "Fall in, men; fall
in," was repeated, they fell into line along the street. When all was
ready, Acton turned to Carpenter, every lineament of whose face showed
the stern purpose that mastered him, and quietly said, "_Sergeant make
no arrests_."
It was to be a battle in which no prisoners were to be taken. "All
_right_" replied Carpenter, as he buttoned up his coat and shouted
"Forward." Solid, and silent save their heavy, measured tread on the
pavement, they moved down Bleecker Street towards Broadway. As they
turned into the latter street, only a block and a half away, they saw
the mob, which filled the entire street far as the eye could reach,
moving tumultuously forward. Armed with clubs, pitchforks, iron bars,
and some with guns and pistols, and most of them in their shirt-sleeves
and shouting as they came, they presented a wild and savage appearance.
Pedestrians fled down the side streets, stores were hastily closed,
stages vanished, and they had the street to themselves. A huge board, on
which was inscribed "No Draft," was borne aloft as a banner, and beside
it waved the Stars and Stripes.
The less than two hundred policemen, compact and firm, now halted, while
Carpenter detached two companies of fifty each up the parallel streets
to the right and left, as far as Fourth Street. Coming down this street
from both directions, they were to strike the mob on both flanks at
the same time he charged them in front. He waited till they had reached
their positions, and then shouted, "_By the right flank Company front,
double-quick_, CHARGE." Instantaneously every club was swung in air, and
solid as a wall and swift as a wave they swept full on the astonished
multitude; while at the same time, to cut the monster in two, the
two companies charged in flank. Carpenter, striding several steps in
advance, his face fairly blazing with excitement, dealt the first blow,
stretching on the pavement a powerful ruffian, who was rushing on him
with a huge club. For a few minutes nothing was heard but the heavy
thud of clubs falling on human skulls, thick and fast as hailstones on
windows. The mob, just before so confident and bold, quailed in terror
and would have broke and fled at once, but for the mass behind which
kept bearing down on them. This, however, soon gave way before the
side attacks and the panic that followed. Then the confusion and uproar
became terrible, and the mass surged hither and thither, now rolling up
Broadway, and again borne back or shoved up against the stores, seeking
madly for a way of escape. At length, breaking into fragments, they
rushed down the side streets, hotly pursued by the police, whose
remorseless clubs never ceased to fall as long as a fugitive was within,
reach. Broadway looked like a field of battle, for the pavement was
strewn thick with bleeding, prostrate forms. It was a great victory and
decisive of all future contests.
Having effectually dispersed them, Carpenter, with the captured flag,
marched up to Mayor Opdyke's house, when, finding everything quiet,
he returned to head-quarters. This successful attack of the police was
received with cheers by those spectators who had witnessed it.