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Launched in New York City in 1855 by the English immigrant engraver whose name graced its masthead, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper was the first commercially-successful U.S. pictorial newsweekly. Like the more genteel Harper's Weekly, Leslie's provided northern readers with pictorial coverage of the Civil War, but it catered to a broader range of readers by also covering sensational crimes and popular entertainment. This engraving shows the smoking ruins of the Provost Marshal's Ninth District office after the fire set by rioters. Unlike other Leslie's images of the riots, except for the anti-draft signs the visual information conveyed about the place and event is vague and unspecific--these smoking ruins could be anywhere (especially the surviving tree, which might be a willow or a palm). |
Draft Riots 1863 - Burning of the Provost Marshall's Office
