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, leveled
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.
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.
Great Riots of New York 1712 to 1873, Including a Full and Complete Account of the Four Days' Draft Riot of 1863