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Begun in 1857, by 1863 Harper's Weekly had the widest circulation of the nation's three weekly illustrated newspapers. It was popular with northern readers for its pictorial Civil War coverage, which featured wood engravings based on the work of artist-reporters and photographers on the scene at battlefields and encampments. Like its war coverage, the Weekly 's depiction of the Draft Riots reflected its support of the Republican Party and Union cause as well as its antipathy toward people and institutions who opposed or disrupted the war effort, in particular poor Irish Catholic immigrants and the Copperhead (pro-southern) wing of the Democratic party The below drawing is a fictionalized representation of the rash of attacks on New York's African American population during the draft riots. Note the animalistic depiction of the aggressors, an editorialization in line with Harper's Weekly's political perspective. |
Draft Riots 1863 - Cartoon
