THE DRAFT RIOTS IN NEW YORK, JULY, 1863. THE METROPOLITAN POLICE: THEIR SERVICES DURING RIOT WEEK. THEIR HONORABLE RECORD by David M. Barnes - 1863

New York: Baker & Godwin, 1863. Original Sewn Wrappers. Octavo. pp. 117, [1]. Stitched with printed wrappers; stitching is beginning to loosen and front wrapper and title page are nearly detached; wrappers are chipped and worn at the extremities, but without significant loss; contemporary owner name, “J. P. Chambers, Esq.,” on the front cover; additional owner names and bookplate inside the front wrapper and on the title page; contents clean--an unsophisticated copy. This is an extensive report, precinct by precinct, of the disturbances which virtually shut the city down for several days in mid-July, 1863. A remarkable contemporary account from police reports and eyewitness accounts of the most violent riots in the country's history, almost exclusively a working-class response to the draft laws but also and perhaps most notably, a response to the recently emancipated African-Americans who were thought to be encroaching on an already tenuous job market. The Appendix describes instances of astonishing brutality against African-Americans as well as the destruction of the Asylum of Colored Orphans on 5th Avenue. Uncommon. Sabin 3513.