New York Draft Riot - cont.
July 16, 1863
To restore order, a militia company attempted to take 22nd Street between Second
and Third Avenues from a crowd that had erected a barricade. The soldiers were
fired upon from rooftops and retreated. The troops returned and went house-to-house
on 21st and 22nd Streets, breaking down the doors of tenements and driving
people to the roofs where some jumped.
The military occupied Gramercy Park, setting up a picket line on Third Avenue that protected this wealthy enclave from rioters in the tenements to the east.
George Templeton Strong observed:
I find Gramercy Park in military occupation. Strong parties drawn up across Twentieth Street and Twenty-first Street ad the end of the square….Occasional shots fired at them from the region of Second Avenue or First Avenue, which were replied to by volleys that seem to have done little execution.
