Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1863 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
7pp
Context area
Archival history
A copy of the letter was provided to Kerby A. Miller by the California Historical Society. The original manuscript is in the Josephine R. Ober Papers, California Historical Society.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
[This letter contains outdated attitudes or language that does not reflect the current views or positions of the University of Galway Library. Reader discretion is advised.]
Typed excerpt and photocopy of a letter written by William McBride in New York City to Joseph W. Robb, believed to be in Warsaw, Indiana, in 1863. The letter describes the 19th century New York City Draft Riots, the 13-16 July 1863 riots in New York City widely regarded as the culmination of working-class discontent with new laws passed by Congress that year to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War. Much of the participants in the riots, and the police, soldiers, and pro-war politicians opposing them, were Irish Americans. The protests turned into a race riot against African Americans by Irish American rioters.