New York Draft Riot - cont.
July 13, 1863
After burning the draft office at Third Avenue and 46th Street, a mob headed down Third Avenue, ripping up streetcar tracks and setting buildings on fire between 24th and 25th Streets.
A mob of 300 people forced Jackson's Foundry on 28th Street between First and Second Avenue to close for the day to demonstrate opposition to the draft.
After attacking the Colored Orphan Asylum at Fifth Avenue and 43rd Streets, rioters moved downtown, attacking the New York State Armory at 21st Street and Second Avenue. The police attempted to defend the building, but sent the message to headquarters: "It is impossible for us to protect the armory…." The response was "Draw off your men." The police escaped out the back of the armory, to which the mob then set fire. They followed the police to the Eighteenth Precinct on 22nd Street between Second and Third Avenues, burning it as well.
George Templeton Strong, who kept a now famous diary while living on 21st Street in Gramercy Park, commented that day on the nature of the rioters, who he considered "the lowest Irish day laborers. The rabble was perfectly homogenous. Every brute in the drove was pure Celtic-hod-carrier or loafer."
