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Journalist Joel Tyler Headley wrote his account of the draft riots in 1873 and reissued it in 1877 shortly after the national labor uprisings of 1877. In the 1873 preface he explains his reasons for writing The Great Riots of New York. First and foremost was to provide a full account of the draft riots utilizing the personal memories and memoranda of those who "saved the city," before they passed away. He also sought to place the draft riots as a major battle of the Civil War. And in light of the recent 1877 strikes, which paralyzed the nation's major cities for up to two weeks, he provided New York City with a cautionary lesson about "its greatest danger -- mob-violence." This engraving shows the rioters' destroying the armory on Second Avenue and Twenty-first Street late on the afternoon of July 13th. Published years after the event as an illustration in Joel Tyler Headley's History of New York Riots, this picture lacks the architectural and location details of many of the news illustrations that appeared immediately after the Draft Riots. |
Draft Riots 1863 - Armory
