In the long list of things we likely wouldnât know about if it wasnât for this job: the Bread Riot of Mobile. One of the major bread riots of the Civil War, this began on 4th September and continued on through the 5th.Â
âOn Friday, the 4th inst., the women of Mobile, rendered desperate by their sufferings, met in large numbers on the Spring Hill road, with banners on which were printed such devices as âBread or Blood,â on one side, and âBread and Peaceâ on the other, and armed with knives and hatchets, and marched down Dauphine-street, breaking open the stores in their progress, and taking for their use such articles of food or clothing as they were in urgent need of. It was, in fact, a most formidable riot by a long-sufferings and desperate population.â
- The New Orleans Era, printed October 1, 1863
top: the Richmond Bread Riot, Frank Leslieâs Illustrated Newspaper, May 23, 1863. Artist uncredited.
bottom: from Pictorial War Record: Battles of the Late Civil War. Artist uncredited.