The luxury and comfort of New York and Philadelphia strike
one as extraordinary after having lately come from Charleston and Richmond. The
greenbacks seem to be nearly as good as gold. The streets are as full as
possible of well-dressed people, and are crowded with able-bodied civilians
capable of bearing arms, who have evidently no intention of doing so. They
apparently don't feel the war at all here; and until there is a grand
smash with their money, or some other catastrophe to make them feel it, I can
easily imagine that they will not be anxious to make peace.
I walked the whole distance of Broadway to the Consul's
house, and nothing could exceed the apparent prosperity; the street was covered
with banners and placards inviting people to enlist in various high-sounding
regiments. Bounties of $550 were offered, and huge pictures hung across the
street, on which numbers of ragged greybacks* terror depicted on their
features, were being pursued by the Federals.
On returning to the Fifth Avenue, I found all the shopkeepers
beginning to close their stores, and I perceived by degrees that there was
great alarm about the resistance to the draft which was going on this morning.
On reaching the hotel I perceived a whole block of buildings on fire close by:
engines were present, but were not allowed to play by the crowd. In the hotel
itself, universal consternation prevailed, and an attack by the mob had been
threatened. I walked about in the neighbourhood, and saw a company of soldiers
on the march, who were being jeered at and hooted by small boys, and I saw a
negro pursued by the crowd take refuge with the military; he was followed by
loud cries of “Down with the b—y nigger! Kill all niggers!” &c. Never
having been in New York before, and being totally ignorant of the state of
feeling with regard to negroes, I inquired of a bystander what the negroes had
done that they should want to kill them? He replied, civilly enough — “Oh sir,
they hate them here; they are the innocent cause of all these troubles.”
Shortly afterwards, I saw a troop of citizen cavalry come up; the troopers were
very gorgeously attired, but evidently experienced so much difficulty in
sitting their horses, that they were more likely to excite laughter than any
other emotion.
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* The Northerners call the Southerners “Greybacks,” just as
the latter call the former “Bluebellies,” on account of the colour of their
dress.
SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three
Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863, p. 306-8
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