|
Inaugurated in 1857 by New York's Harper Brothers publishers, by 1863 Harper's Weekly had the widest circulation of the three weekly illustrated newspapers. Its popularity among northern readers was largely engendered by pictorial war reportage, composed of wood engravings based on the work of artist-reporters and photographers on the battlefield and in the boot camp. Like its war coverage, the Weekly's depiction of the July 1863 Draft Riots expressed its support of the Republican Party and Union cause as well as its antipathy toward people and institutions who opposed or disrupted the war effort, in particular poor Irish Catholic immigrants and the Copperhead (pro-southern) wing of the Democratic party. This engraving depicts a pitched battle on 31st Street and Second Avenue on the night of Thursday, July 16th between rioters and federal troops. |
Draft Riots 1863 - Fighting
