FootNote
The new kid on the block, FootNote is known for digitizing historical
documents... many of which are genealogical gems. With naturalizations,
city directories, war records, newspapers, town records, etc... this new
kid is quickly being recognized as an alternative to Ancestry.
While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Tranquil Morning. Proclamation of the Mayor.
Mob cowed. Plunderers afraid of Detection. Dirty Cellars
crowded with rich Apparel, Furniture, and Works of Art.
Archbishop Hughes' Address. Useless Efforts. Acton's
Forty-eight Hours without Sleep over. Change in Military
Commanders in the City. General Brown relinquishes his
Command. True Words. Noble Character and Behavior of the
Troops and Police. General Brown's invaluable Services.
This week of horrors a week unparalleled in the history of
New York was drawing to a close. It had been one of terror
and dismay to the inhabitants, who thought only of the
immediate effects on themselves of the triumph of the mob. A
great city laid in ashes, given, up to robbers and cut
throats, is at any time a terrible spectacle; but New York
in ruins at this time was a republic gone a nation,
uncrowned and left desolate; but the battle, both for the
nation and city, had been nobly fought and won; and Friday,
the fifth day of this protracted struggle, dawned bright and
tranquil. The storm of the night before had passed away, and
the streets, thoroughly washed by the drenching rain,
stretched clean and quiet between the long rows of
buildings, emblematic of the tranquility that had returned
to the city.
The cars were seen once more speeding down to the business
centre, loaded with passengers. Broadway shook to the
rumbling of the heavy omnibuses; shutters were taken down,
and the windows again shone with their rich adornments. The
anxious look had departed from the pedestrians, for the
heavy cloud, so full of present woe and future forebodings,
had lifted and passed away.
The following proclamation of Mayor Opdyke will show the
true state of things on this morning, and what the people
had most to fear:
"The riotous assemblages have been dispersed. Business is
running in its usual channels. The various lines of
omnibuses, railway, and telegraph have resumed their
ordinary operations. Few symptoms of disorder remain, except
in a small district in the eastern part of the city,
comprising a part of the Eighteenth and Twenty-first Wards.
The police is everywhere alert. A sufficient military force
is now here to suppress any illegal movement, however
formidable.
"Let me exhort you, therefore, to pursue your ordinary
business. Avoid especially all crowds. Remain quietly at
your homes, except when engaged in business, or assisting
the authorities in some organized force. When the military
appear in the street, do not gather about it, being sure
that it is doing its duty in obedience to orders from
superior authority. Your homes and your places of business
you have a right to defend, and it is your duty to defend
them, at all hazards. Yield to no intimidation, and to no
demand for money as the price of your safety. If any person
warns you to desist from your accustomed business, give no
heed to the warning, but arrest him and bring him to the
nearest station house as a conspirator.
"Be assured that the public authorities have the ability and
the will to protect you from those who have conspired alike
against your peace, against the government of your choice,
and against the laws which your representatives have
enacted.
"George Opdyke, Mayor."
Down town there was scarcely anything to show that New York
had for nearly a week been swept by one of the most
frightful storms that ever desolated a city. Even in the
disaffected districts, no crowds were assembled. In the
corner groggeries, small groups of men might be seen,
discussing the past, and uttering curses and threats; and
ruined houses and battered walls and hanging blinds here and
there arrested the eye, showing what wild work had been
wrought; but it was evident that the struggle was over. The
mob was thoroughly subdued, and the law breakers now thought
more of escaping future punishment than of further acts of
violence. Bruised heads and battered forms were scattered
through the low tenement houses in every direction, which
friends were anxious to keep concealed from the notice of
the authorities. In dirty cellars and squalid apartments
were piled away the richest stuffs brocaded silks, cashmere
shawls, elegant chairs, vases, bronzes, and articles of
virtu, huddled promiscuously together, damning evidences of
guilt, which were sure not to escape, in the end, the
searching eye of the police, who had already begun to gather
up the plunder. Thus the objects mostly coveted but a few
hours ago now awakened the greatest solicitude and fear.
Even if the military under General Brown and the police had
not shown the mob that they were its masters, the arrival of
so many regiments, occupying all the infected districts, was
overwhelming evidence that the day of lawless triumph was
over, and that of retribution had come. Some acts of
individual hostility were witnessed, but nothing more.
Archbishop Hughes had his meeting, and some five thousand
assembled to hear him. They were on the whole a peaceable
looking crowd, and it was evidently composed chiefly, if not
wholly, of those who had taken no part in the riot. None of
the bloody heads and gashed faces, of which there were so
many at that moment in the city, appeared. The address was
well enough, but it came too late to be of any service. It
might have saved many lives and much destruction, had it
been delivered two days before, but now it was like the
bombardment of a fortress after it had surrendered a mere
waste of ammunition. The fight was over, and to use his own
not very refined illustration, he "spak' too late." The
reports that came in to Acton from all the precincts
convinced him of this, and he began to think of rest.
The strain was off, and overtasked nature made her demand,
and he was compelled to yield to it. The tremendous work
that had been laid upon him had been right nobly
accomplished. Had he been a weak and vacillating man, the
rioters would have acquired a headway that could not have
been stopped, without a more terrible sacrifice of life and
property perhaps even of half the city. Comprehending
intuitively the gravity of the situation, and the danger of
procrastination or temporizing, he sprang at once for the
enemy's throat, and never ceased his hold until he had
strangled him to death. If he had waited to consult
authorities about the legality of his action, or listened to
the voice of pity, or yielded to the clamors of leading
politicians or threats of enemies, both he and the city, in
all human probability, would have been swept away in the
hurricane of popular fury.
On this day a most remarkable announcement was published:
that a sudden change had been made in the military command
of the troops of the city and harbor. General Dix superseded
General Wool, and Canby, General Brown. That Wool should
have been removed at any time, might have been expected; not
from incapacity, but on account of his age, and because any
one could perform the mere nominal duties that devolved on
him. But why General Brown should have been removed at this
critical moment, when he and the Police Commissioners were
performing their herculean task so faithfully and well, is
not so plain; unless it was the result of one of those
freaks of passion or despotic impulse, for which the
Secretary of War was so ignobly distinguished. But unlike
many other blunders which the War Department committed at
this time, it did not result in any evil consequences, for
the fight was over. But of this fact the Secretary of War
was ignorant when he made out the order.
General Brown, in relinquishing his command, spoke warmly of
the noble behavior of the troops during the riots, saying:
"Engaged night and day in constant conflict with the mob,
they have in some fifteen or twenty severe contests in most
of them outnumbered more than ten to one, many of the mob
being armed whipped and effectually dispersed them, and have
been uniformly successful. In not a single instance has
assistance been required by the police, when it has not been
promptly rendered; and all property, public and private,
which has been under their protection, has been perfectly
and efficiently protected; and with pride he desires to
record, that in this city, surrounded by grog-shops, but one
single instance of drunkenness has fallen under his
observation.
"To Lieutenant-colonel Frothingham, his able and efficient
adjutant-general, he tenders his thanks for his untiring
assistance.
"Having during the present insurrection been in immediate
and constant co-operation with police department of this
city, he desires the privilege of expressing his unbounded
admiration of it. Never in civil or military life has he
seen such untiring devotion and such efficient service.
"To President Acton and
Commissioner Bergen he offers his
thanks for their courtesy to him and
their kindness to his command.
"HARVEY BROWN, Brigadier-general ."
The praise he bestows both on the
police and soldiers was richly
deserved; and he may well say that
"with pride he desires to record
that in this city, surrounded with
grog-shops, but one single instance
of drunkenness has fallen under his
observation." With all a soldier's
tendency to indulge in spirituous
liquor, to be thrown right amid
drinking-places, which by harboring
rioters had lost all claim to
protection part of the time
suffering from want of food, and
often drenched to the skin, and
weary from hard fighting and want of
sleep not to step away occasionally
in the confusion and darkness of
night, and solace himself with
stimulating drinks, was something
marvelous. After hard fighting, and
long marching, and short rations, a
soldier feels he has a right to
indulge in liquor, if he can get it;
and their abstinence from it in such
lawless times, not only speaks well
for their discipline, but their
character. A single instance shows
under what perfect control the
troops were. One day Colonel Ladue,
seeing that his men were exhausted
and hungry, desired to let them have
a little beer to refresh them, and
the following telegram was sent from
the precinct where they were on
duty:
"5.45 P.M. From 9th. Colonel
Ladue wishes his men allowed to have beer in
station-house."
Answer . "Mr. Acton says he is opposed to
beer, but the colonel can give his men as
much as he pleases."
"Acton is opposed to beer," but the troops
are not under his command, and he has no
heart to deny the poor fellows the
station-house in which to refresh themselves
after their hard day's work. This incident
also shows the strict discipline maintained
in the police department.
General Brown had done a noble work. Taking
his place beside the Police Commissioners,
he bent all his energies to the single task
of carrying out their plans, and save the
city from the hands of the rioters. He never
thought what deference might be due him on
the score of etiquette, or on account of his
military rank; he thought only of putting
down the mob at all hazards. His refusal, at
first, to serve under General Sandford was
not merely that it was an improper thing to
place a general of the regular army under
the orders of a mere militia general,B
having no rank whatever in the United States
army, but he knew it would paralyze his
influence, and in all human probability
result in the useless sacrifice of his
troops. The absurdity of not moving until he
received orders from his superior officer,
cooped up in the arsenal, where he remained
practically in a state of siege, was so
apparent that he refused to countenance it.
He was willing that President Acton should
be his superior officer, and give his
orders, and he would carry them out; for
thus he could act efficiently and make his
disciplined battalion tell in the struggle;
but for the sake of his own reputation and
that of his troops, he would not consent to
hold a position that would only bring
disgrace on both. His views are clearly
expressed in his reply to a highly
complimentary letter addressed to him by the
mayor and a large number of prominent
citizens, for the signal services he had
rendered. He says: "I never for a moment
forgot that to the police was confided the
conservation of the peace of the city; and
that only in conjunction with the city
authorities, and on their requisition, could
the United States forces be lawfully and
properly employed in suppressing the riot,
and in restoring that peace and good order
which had been so lawlessly broken. Acting
in accordance with this principle, and as
aids to the gallant city police, the
officers and soldiers of my command
performed the most unpleasant and arduous
duty, with that prompt energy and fearless
patriotism which may ever be expected from
the soldiers of the Republic."
[Footnote:
Because he was especially assigned to the
command of the city by the Secretary of
War.]
Great Riots of New York 1712 to 1873,
Including a Full and Complete Account of the
Four Days' Draft Riot of 1863
