Page 219 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

403 ● (MILITARY—CIVIL WAR—DRAFT RIOTS.) COUTANT & BAKER. The
Bloody Week! Riot, Murder & Arson, a Full Account of this Wholesale Outrage
on Life and Property . . . By Eye Witnesses. Wrappers with engraved portraits of
Andrews the Leader and Rosa, Andrews Eleventh Street Mistress. 32 pages. 8vo, original;
pictorial orange wrappers; some wear to the bottom edge of the front wrapper; housed in a
cloth chemise. New York: Coutant & Baker, [1863] [800/1,200]
A RARE COMPILATION OF EYE-WITNESS REPORTS OF THE WORST CIVIL DISORDER IN
AMERICAN HISTORY published a day after the riot was quelled. When Abraham Lincoln
called for more troops by means of a draft, the people most deeply affected were the working
class, and particularly the Irish immigrant workers who, like many New Yorkers sympathized
with the South. Those who were well off could avoid service by paying their way out. The first
drawing held on July 11, 1863 saw some muttering, but was peaceful. However, the second
drawing held on July 13, ten days after the Union victory at Gettysburg was not. At 10 a.m.,
a furious crowd of around 500, led by the Black Joke Engine Company 33, attacked the assis-
tant Ninth District Provost Marshal’s Office, where the draft was taking place. The crowd
threw large paving stones through windows, then burst through the doors and set the building
on fire. When the fire department responded, rioters destroyed their vehicles; others killed the
horses pulling streetcars and smashed the cars. Blacks were sought out, and hundreds were
beaten and hung from trees and lamp-posts To prevent a call for help, the telegraph lines were
cut. Things got much worse. Finally militia and artillery companies were called in. The most
reliable estimates indicate that at least 2,000 people were injured. Herbert Asbury, the author
of the 1928 book Gangs of New York, upon which the 2002 film was based, puts the figure
much higher, at 2,000 killed and 8,000 wounded. Total property damage was about $1ñ5
million—about $75 millionn today. The historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote that the riots
were “equivalent to a Confederate victory”. Fifty buildings, including two Protestant churches
and the Colored Orphan Asylum, were burned to the ground.
404 ● (MILITARY—CIVIL WAR.) United States Soldiers at Camp William
Penn Philadelphia, PA. Chromolithographic print, 103 ⁄
4 x 14 inches (image size), 14 x
171⁄
8 inches overall, including the original wide margins. Paper repairs to a number of
closed tears to the margins, mostly at the bottom, one crossing into the caption affecting a
couple of letters, none affecting the image.
Philadelphia: engraved by P.S. Duval and Sons for the Supervisory Committee
for Recruiting Colored Regiments, [1863] [8,000/12,000]
A RARE, WIDE-MARGINED EXAMPLE OF THIS FAMOUS IMAGE OF THE COLORED
RECRUITS AT CAMP WILLIAM PENNîIt took a lot of war to excite the citizens of Philadelphia
and to overcome the latent sympathy with the South of perhaps a majority. It took Leeís victory
at Chancellorsville in the spring of 1863, and his subsequent invasion of Pennsylvania, turned
back at Gettysburg, to scare them into unified action. So prejudiced was the city that early in
the war, Negro recruits had to be sent away at night to New England regiments.î (Library
Company, Negro History 1553-1903, #140) However in the spring of 1863, a committee
was formed to raise black regiments. Camp William Penn was chosen for their training, well
out of town, and well out of sight of its citizens. ìPosters, prints and pamphlets began to appear
to stimulate recruiting . . . As the movement gathered momentum, Negro troops could be seen
for the first time, marching through the city.î Later in the year, addressing a group of critics of
his policy to arm and train Negro troops, and to promise emancipation, Lincoln said ìI thought
that whatever negroes can be got to do as soldiers leaves just so much less for white soldiers to
do, in saving the Union. Does it appear otherwise to you? But negroes, like other people act
upon motivesñ Why should they do any thing for us, if we will do nothing for them? If they
stake their lives for us, they must be prompted by the strongest motive ñ even the promise of
freedom. And the promise being made, must be kept. Gladston, ìMen of Color,î page.
[SEE ILLUSTRATION OVERLEAF]