The Richmond Bread Riot

An artistic rendering of the Richmond Bread Riot.

Read each of the linked articles and then answer the questions.

The Spectator, April 7, 1863, p. 2, c. 1: "Outrageous Proceedings in Richmond." Reports that a band of robbers, composed of both sexes, attempted to rob the stores of Richmond in broad daylight....

The Vindicator, April 10, 1863, p. 2, c. 3: "Outrageous Robbery." A mob looking for bread robbed stores in Richmond on April 3,took numerous other items, and did not disperse until...

Home Front Bread Riot "Starving Women In Richmond." By the spring of 1863 the Confederacy's War for Independence was having a devastating effect ...

The Richmond Dispatch, December 30, 1888... "Bread Riot of 1863." Reminiscenses of a Memorable Period of Our War History...

 

CIVIL WAR RIOTS ANALYSIS

I. The Richmond Bread Riot

A. Why are neither of the newspaper articles from 1863 primary sources about the Richmond Bread Riot?

B. What really happened at the Richmond Bread Riot? What does this reveal about newspaper reporting during the Civil War and, subsequently, how one should view news reported during wartime?

 

NY Draft Riots

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