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Richmond bread riots...
Richmond bread riots...
Item # 707926
April 08, 1863
NEW YORK TIMES, April 8, 1863
* Richmond bread riots - Virginia
* Women protest - revolt in the streets
* Starving children in Confederate capital
Among the front page column heads on the Civil War are: "Bread Riot In Richmond" "Three Thousand Hungry Women Raging in the Streets" "The Siege Of Vicksburgh" "The Yazoo Pass Expedition Still in Front of Fort Pemberton" "Charleston" "Department Of The Cumberland" "Particulars of the Defeat of Morgan by Gen. Stanley" and more.
Eight pages, never bound nor trimmed, two folds, minor wear at the folds & margins.
background: The Richmond Bread Riot of April 1863 stands as a visceral manifestation of the internal collapse of the Confederate home front, triggered by a lethal combination of hyperinflation, a Union naval blockade, and a devastatingly cold winter. Driven to desperation by the sight of their children starving while speculators hoarded grain, a group of working-class women—led by Mary Jackson—marched on the Governor’s mansion before escalating into a full-scale riot through the city’s commercial district. Shouting the ultimatum "Bread or Blood," the mob grew to over a thousand participants who bypassed police lines to smash storefronts and liberate not just flour and meal, but also shoes and clothing from government warehouses. The chaos only subsided when Confederate President Jefferson Davis personally intervened, purportedly standing atop a dray and threatening to order the Public Guard to fire upon his own citizens after giving them five minutes to disperse. Though the Confederate government attempted to suppress news of the uprising to maintain an image of Southern unity, the riot effectively exposed the deep-seated class resentment and the fraying social fabric of a capital city that could no longer provide the most basic necessities for its people.
Category: Yankee
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