4. New York Conscription Riots – The largest and most racially discriminatory urban riot in U.S. history.
In the summer of 1863, there was an unusually tragic massacre in New York City, but few people seem to know about it.
People familiar with the world's recent history probably know about the American Civil War, but few people know about the "1863 Conscription Riots."
In fact, this bloody history of the Holocaust is not only real, but it is a very famous part of the history of the United States.
The largest civil uprising in U.S. history.
In 1863, on July 13-16, there was a conscription riot in New York, also known as the Manhattan Unrest Draft. In addition to New York, there were riots about conscription in other cities, including Detroit and Boston.
The five-day urban riot was the bloodiest and most destructive in American history.
New Federal Draft Stirs Up Unrest – Fighting for a New Nation? Or fight for black people? Don't want to be cannon fodder?
The federal draft conscription during the Civil War sparked the anger of the working class and led to urban riots. In early 1863, when the army was desperately short, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln passed a strict new conscription law.
It requires all male citizens between the ages of 20 and 35 and unmarried men between the ages of 35 and 45 to perform military service. They can be exempt from military service by hiring a replacement or paying $300 to the government.
Among them, blacks were excluded from the public, that is, blacks were not required to perform military service.
A human life worth $3 million? At the time, that amount was about the annual salary of an average Worker in the United States, equivalent to $5,800 today. The poor people, believing that conscription was unfair, resisted fiercely and shouted: "This is the war of the rich, but it is the battle of the poor, the money of the rich, and the blood of the poor." ”
New York, the commercial capital of the time, had very close trade ties with the South, so New York didn't want to see a civil war break out.
Since the mid-1850s, there have been contradictions and conflicts between whites and blacks. Whites believe blacks stole their jobs and wealth. The anti-war faction in New York also continued to preach that after the victory of the war, a large number of black slaves liberated from the South would take away their "jobs".
In September 1862, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, which confirmed the anti-war narrative and exacerbated the panic of the working class.
"If you were black that Monday and you had just gone to work, manhattan would be a very scary place before the shift was over." Weir said.
On Monday morning, July 13, white mobs began attacking military and government buildings. They threw large paving stones at the windows, broke through the doors, and set the building on fire. When the fire department arrived, the mob vandalized the fire truck. The mob killed the carriage that was pulling the tram and smashed it. In order to prevent news of the riots, the rioters destroyed the telegraph line.
The white mob turned their guns to the New York Times office, but were repelled by staff with guns.
After that, the mob began to turn around and target African Americans. They began attacking black citizens, families, and businesses, torturing, hanging, and burning blacks. The thugs declared that they had avenged every in New York.
Everything related to black people was attacked and destroyed by the mob. The mob also attacked white abolitionists and white women who married blacks, white bosses who helped blacks, and so on. And the mob burned down orphanages of color that housed black orphans.
The paper report documents some of the incidents: "Last night, a black man was arrested on Oliver Street. A group of angry people began to beat him. He was forced to the end of the dock and forced into the East River. Presumably he drowned, and his injuries must have made it impossible for him to swim. No one made an effort to save him. ”
"An elderly black woman, nearly seventy years old, was attacked and severely beaten in Ward Six."
"William Jones, a professional sawman, was hanged from a lamppost and burned to death."
There are also many murders that have not been recorded. The poor black men died and were wounded, chased and chased by the white mob to every corner of the city. Eventually, the violence ended on July 16, when the government gathered confederate soldiers from Gettysburg to stop the city riot.
"Police estimate that at least a thousand people have been killed or injured," the Times reported. "By the end of 1863, the county supervisory board, which had been appointed to audit claims for property damages, had approved payments of more than $1 million."
The reported death toll is more than 119, but the actual number of victims is estimated to be as high as 1,200. The riots caused millions of dollars in property damage and left about 3,000 black residents of New York City homeless. Moreover, in the areas where the riots took place, mobs attacked and brutally killed a large number of black civilians, and some black people were even lynched or beaten to death. The scale, scope and brutality of the riots were astounding.
5. Pillow Fort Massacre – "Remember Pillow Fort!" ”
On April 12, 1864, Confederate troops slaughtered more than 500 troops at the Battle of Pillow Fort in Tennessee. Most of them were black soldiers in service.
News of the Pillow Fort massacre spread throughout the United States. "Remember Pillow Fort!" Become a slogan for propaganda.
The Pillow Fort massacre became a clarion call for the people who fought for independence, greatly strengthening the morale of African-American soldiers. "Remember the fortress pillow!" Become a very loud forward slogan.
Gildrey Lehman Institute: "Few in the story of the stormy days of the Republic would be more memorable than the heroic defense and almost complete annihilation of the garrison at Fort Pillow. ”
General Forrest led 1500 soldiers in an attack on about 600 Union soldiers at Pillow Fort, Tennessee.
At the beginning of the battle, after some bombardment, General Forrest demanded the unconditional surrender of the Pillow Fort garrison and assured them that they would be treated as prisoners of war. Otherwise, if Forrest forcibly captures the position, the consequences of this battle will fall on the shoulders of the Federation commanders. But the garrison at Fort Pillow refused to surrender.
Afterwards, Chalmers recalled: "The whole line was charged in full swing, and after five minutes the ditch was crossed, the parapet was climbed, and our troops occupied the fort. Forrest wrote: "When our troops boarded the fortifications and poured into the fortifications, the enemy retreated to the river with weapons in hand and counterattacked"
fight? Or a massacre?
Eventually, the fighting was over, but the killing continued. The massacre resulted in the "murder" of nearly 200 black soldiers.
Survivors' Accounts:
"Our defensive line collapsed, and many troops threw down their muskets and rushed down the cliffs to the river, while the rebels continued to kill."
"From where I was injured, I could clearly see the shooting and noticed that the bullet hit the water around the soldier's blackhead until suddenly the turbid water turned red and I saw another life sacrificed for the cause of the Alliance."
"Here I noticed a soldier in the river, clinging to the riverbank in some posture. Two Confederate soldiers pulled him out. He seemed injured and crawled with his hands and knees. An Allied soldier put his revolver on the head of a soldier of color and killed him. ”
Even if someone tries to lay down their arms and choose to surrender, they will not be able to leave this place of purgatory on earth alive.
A large number of African-American soldiers were shot and killed after trying to surrender, and some drowned in the Mississippi River.
Most white Southerners denied the Holocaust. General Forrest and his supporters believe that those killed in Pillow Fort died because of the chaos of the fighting, the incompetence of the leaders and the refusal to surrender, rather than because of racism.
However, in the face of ample evidence, the fact of the Holocaust won General Forrest's justification with an overwhelming victory. Most modern historians' explanations are convincingly convinced that the Holocaust did occur.
Twice as many Union soldiers were killed in battle at Pillow Fort as there were wounded. In the Battle of Pillow Fort, about 60 percent of whites were captured, but only 20 percent of blacks were captured. And 70 percent of whites survived, but only 35 percent of blacks survived.
The atrocities committed by the Allies are described in the records of the rebellion as follows:
"Then there are scenes of cruelty and murder unprecedented in the War of Civilizations, which requires tomahawks and scalpers to transcend the worst atrocities committed by barbarians. The rebels began indiscriminate slaughter, regardless of age or gender, caucasian or negro, civilian or soldier. Officers and soldiers seemed to be battling each other in a prank; men, women, and even children, wherever they were found, were deliberately shot down, beaten, and slashed with sabers; some children under the age of ten were forced to stand up to face the killers when they were shot; the wounded and sick were mercilessly slaughtered, and the rebels even entered the hospital building and dragged them out to shoot or kill, where they lay powerless to resist. ”
In his post-war report, General Forrest declared: "These facts will show the people of the North that black soldiers cannot deal with the South."
However, the Massacre did not weaken the will of the Negroes, but greatly increased the morale of the Negro army.
One witness recalled that defenders of Pillow Fort were "fighting heroically, both black and white". "I saw several black men wounded, bleeding from their bodies, still gleefully loading and firing cannons and muskets." At this time, the whites no longer despised the black comrades, but openly admired their bravery.
Black troops often shouted "Remember Pillow Fort!" on the battlefield! Then morale soared and he rushed towards the enemy. Forrest did not intimidate the black soldiers and northerners, but strengthened their "determination to end the war."
Finally, a memorial service was held at memphis National Cemetery. Leaders salute the black army and civilians killed at the Battle of Pillow Fort.