unconstitutional and outrageous. Instigated by raving political leaders, inflammatory speeches, and the daily utterances of the press that was in sympathy with the opponents of the draft, a mob, composed largely of the lower class of  the Irish population in the city of New York, entered upon a fearful riot there early in July. It prevailed for almost three days. The immediate pretext for the disturbance was the alleged oppression of the draft. The riot was begun by destroying the telegraph wires extending out of the city. Then the rioters paraded some of the streets and forced citizens to join them; and after first uttering cries against the draft, they yelled, "Down with the Abolitionists! Down with the nigger! Hurrah for Jeff Davis!" The special objects of their wrath were the innocent colored people and their friends. Arson and plunder, maiming and murder, were their business and recreation. Men and women were clubbed to death in the streets, hung on lamp-posts or butchered in their houses. The infuriated rioters laid in ashes an asylum for colored orphan children; and the terrified inmates, who fled in every direction, were pursued, and some of the poor children were cruelly beaten and maimed. The colored people throughout the city were hunted and treated as if they were noxious wild beasts, and many fled to the country. Finally the police, aided by troops, suppressed the insurrection in the city, but not until several hundred human lives had been lost, and property to the amount of at least $2,000,000 was destroyed.
This riot seems to have been only an irregular manifestation of an organized outbreak in New York city simultaneously with a similar insurrection projected in some of the western cities. But the draft went on in spite of all opposition; and the Knights of the Golden Circle and the Peace-Faction were discomfited. The turn of affairs at Gettysburg made them more circumspect. They hesitated; and finally they postponed indefinitely an attempt to execute their scheme. And six months after the terrible "three days of July" 13th, 14th and 15th - in the city of New York, when no colored person's life was considered safe there, a regiment of negro soldiers, raised and equipped by the Loyal League of that city, marched down Broadway - its great thoroughfare for the field of battle, escorted by many of the leading citizens of the metropolis, and cheered by thousands who covered the sidewalks and filled window and balconies.
At about that time the notorious guerrilla chief, John Morgan, made a famous raid through Kentucky, Southern Indiana and Ohio, entering Indiana from Kentucky, below Louisville, on the 8th of July, with about four thousand mounted men. This raid was intended as a signal for the uprising of the disloyal men in those States in favor of the Confederates. The lesson taught at Gettysburg was heeded, and they were quiet. But there was a marvellous uprising of sixty thousand loyal yeomen of Indiana and Ohio to capture or expel the invaders. Morgan went swiftly through the country, from village to village, plundering, destroying, and levying contributions. He first encountered stout resistance from Indiana militia, and was soon closely pursued by those of Ohio. Finally this bold raider was hemmed in and made a prisoner, with many of his followers, in southeastern Ohio, late in July, and the remainder were killed or dispersed.
Three days after General Lee escaped into Virginia, General Meade crossed the Potomac to follow his flying antagonist. The Nationals marched rapidly along the eastern base of the Blue Ridge, while the Confederates as rapidly went up the Shenandoah Valley, after trying to check Meade by threatening to re-enter Maryland. Faling in this, Lee hastened to avert the danger that menaced his front and
|
