It was here in Shockoe Slip where the looting began. Some of the business owners, such as S.C. Tardy and James T. Williams at the intersection of 13th Street and Cary, managed to barricade their stores in time to secure their inventory. Other stores, however, were not so lucky. The first store that was looted in the riots was a wholesale house owned by Pollard and Walker. An elderly woman named Mary Johnson broke down the door of the business with an axe, after which she and others stole over $1200 ($25,000 in today’s dollars) worth of ham and bacon. Along with Pollard and Walker, the rioters looted Tyler and Son, which claimed $6500 ($135,000 today) in damages, and the shoe store of John T. Hicks, who claimed $13,530 ($280,000 today) in damages. Observers noted later that many of the rioters were in fact wearing shoes that they had stolen from Hick’s store.

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It was here in Shockoe Slip where the looting began. Some of the business owners, such as S.C. Tardy and James T. Williams at the intersection of 13th Street and Cary, managed to barricade their stores in time to secure their inventory. Other stores, however, were not so lucky. The first store that was looted in the riots was a wholesale house owned by Pollard and Walker. An elderly woman named Mary Johnson broke down the door of the business with an axe, after which she and others stole over $1200 ($25,000 in today’s dollars) worth of ham and bacon. Along with Pollard and Walker, the rioters looted Tyler and Son, which claimed $6500 ($135,000 today) in damages, and the shoe store of John T. Hicks, who claimed $13,530 ($280,000 today) in damages. Observers noted later that many of the rioters were in fact wearing shoes that they had stolen from Hick’s store.

13th Street and Cary Street

This tour gives a description of the 1863 Richmond Bread Riot as well as highlighting some of the key locations in the event.

In the morning of April 2, 1863, customers of Richmond’s Second Market watched a woman named Mary Jackson as she waved weapons around in the air. Jackson was a huckster who regularly sold small items at the market, but that day, she brought nothing to sell. Instead, she brought stories of how she and a group of hundreds of other women were to demand the food and supplies owed to them as wives and mothers of soldiers. If the food was not handed over, they would take it by force. By that time, a series of bread riots had already begun to spread in the past month within the Confederate South, starting in Salisbury, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia and slowly moving northwards towards the capitol. Although the riots were ostensibly separate events, with no organization between different ones, they all clearly shared distinct features. All of them were led and perpetrated by soldier’s wives and mothers, and they all demanded that flour, bacon, salt, and other foodstuffs be sold to them at government prices, or else they would seize it. Despite how crazy the idea of women rioting and looting stores may have sounded to the visitors to the market, Mary Jackson’s plan was anything but. Starting in late March, Jackson had begun recruiting both in the marketplace and in the surrounding area, stating that “there was to be a meeting of the women in relation to the high prices.” On the day before the riot, hundreds of women met at the Belvidere Baptist Church on Oregon Hill just South of the State Penitentiary, where now stands the Virginia Housing Development Authority. One of the co-organizers of the riot, Mrs. Martha Jamison explained later that “the object of the meeting was to organize t demand goods of the merchants at government prices; and if they were not given, the stores were to be broken open and goods taken by force.”

In the morning of April 2, 1863, customers of Richmond’s Second Market watched a woman named Mary Jackson as she waved weapons around in the air. Jackson was a huckster who regularly sold small items at the market, but that day, she brought nothing to sell. Instead, she brought stories of how she and a group of hundreds of other women were to demand the food and supplies owed to them as wives and mothers of soldiers. If the food was not handed over, they would take it by force. By that time, a series of bread riots had already begun to spread in the past month within the Confederate South, starting in Salisbury, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia and slowly moving northwards towards the capitol. Although the riots were ostensibly separate events, with no organization between different ones, they all clearly shared distinct features. All of them were led and perpetrated by soldier’s wives and mothers, and they all demanded that flour, bacon, salt, and other foodstuffs be sold to them at government prices, or else they would seize it.



Richmond's Second Market

In 1863, this church was the residence of Bishop John McGill. During the proceedings of the Bread Riot, civil authorities in the city had him speak to the rioters, hoping that he could use his position and his influence over the community to help to calm the rioters down. Ironically, Mary Jackson and other rioters passed by his church on the way to the capitol, where they first met up. In Richmond, the Civil War had caused a massive influx of residents, and recent military operations around the city as well as a bad harvest the previous year had strained the food supplies in the city. To further compound the issue, the Confederate military regularly impressed provisions that were meant to be sold at the market in order to feed the troops. The new scarcity of food as well as general inflation from the war pushed up prices, leading to hoarding of supplies as well as speculation. In addition to this, the Confederate government implemented a “Twenty Negroes Law”, which exempted planters from military service if they held more than twenty slaves. Secretary of War, James Seddon, spoke to the law’s purpose, saying it was enacted “not to draw any distinction among classes but simply to provide a … police force, sufficient to keep our negroes in control.” The effect of the law was to not disrupt families that had plenty of ability to support themselves, and instead to take away valuable manpower from those who needed it the most. With little to no way to provide for themselves, the wives and mothers that the soldiers left behind turned to their governments, writing fervent letters to officials requesting supplies. An important note about these letters was the sense of entitlement felt by the women who wrote them. The women had given up their sons and their husbands for military service, and in return they were entitled to support from the government. After these families had sacrificed so much, it would not be fair for them to just be left to starve. Mary Jackson, herself the mother of a soldier, before the riot regularly applied for her son to be discharged from service. After attempting to recruit more rioters at the market, Jackson left at about eight in the morning carrying a pistol, a bowie knife, and a white feather in her hat. She and other rioters slowly began to gather underneath the statue of George Washington in Capitol Square.

In 1863, this church was the residence of Bishop John McGill. During the proceedings of the Bread Riot, civil authorities in the city had him speak to the rioters, hoping that he could use his position and his influence over the community to help to calm the rioters down. Ironically, Mary Jackson and other rioters passed by his church on the way to the capitol, where they first met up. 

St. Peter's Catholic Church

The morning of April 2, 1863, over 300 women slowly gathered at the statue of George Washington in the northwest corner of Capitol Square. At 8:30, a group of the leaders formed a delegation and marched into the Governor’s mansion on the other side of the square. When they marched up the stairs to his office, however, they found not the governor but one of his aides, Col. S. Bassett French, who told them that Governor Letcher was working in the Capitol. The women declared that they “wanted bread and bread they would have or die.” Afterwards, one of the leaders, Martha Fergusson, attempted to find the governor in the Capitol building so that she may address him directly, only to walk out and find him already addressing the rest of the women. Undeterred by Letcher’s threatening speech, the women took to the streets. At nine o’clock, the women marched out of the western gates of the Capitol onto Ninth Street. The group, however, was quiet as they marched, not shouting nor demanding bread. One of the most important features of the Richmond Bread Riot and the other bread riots across the South was how they attempted to manage public opinion. It was important that before going and taking supplies from the stores, the women addressed state officials. One participant proclaimed later that “the women wanted to go straight to the stores but I told them it would never do to go breaking into the stores without letting somebody know what we were doing.” More than anything, the women saw the supplies that they took as something that was owed to them as the wives and mothers of soldiers. When addressing the public, they made an effort to have others see it the same way, and as a result gained a lot of sympathy from both the public at large as well as from public officials.Just because the women were quiet, however, did not mean that they meant to be peaceful. An onlooker reported that the women carried “rusty old horse pistols … clubs, knives … bayonets stuffed in belts … and specimens of those old home made knives with which our soldiers were wont to load themselves down in the first part of the war.” The women marched silently but steadily onto Main Street and then onto Cary Street down 12th Street and 13th Street, stealing carts and wagons as the went in order to carry the loot.

The morning of April 2, 1863, over 300 women slowly gathered at the statue of George Washington in the northwest corner of Capitol Square. At 8:30, a group of the leaders formed a delegation and marched into the Governor’s mansion on the other side of the square. When they marched up the stairs to his office, however, they found not the governor but one of his aides, Col. S. Bassett French, who told them that Governor Letcher was working in the Capitol. The women declared that they “wanted bread and bread they would have or die.” Afterwards, one of the leaders, Martha Fergusson, attempted to find the governor in the Capitol building so that she may address him directly, only to walk out and find him already addressing the rest of the women. Undeterred by Letcher’s threatening speech, the women took to the streets.

Statue of George Washington

The rioters continued down Cary Street and Main Street, while some of them cut down 14th Street towards Franklin. One woman later wrote in 1867 that “Women were seen bending under loads of sole-leather, or dragging after them heavy cavalry boots, brandishing their huge knives, and swearing, though apparently well fed, that they were dying from starvation—yet it was difficult to imagine how they could masticate or digest the edibles under the weight of which they were bending.” Particularly on Main Street and Franklin Street, there was a German and Jewish quarter that was known to be home to many food speculators. One man noted that “certain people down there were credited with great wealth. It was said that they had made barrels of money out of the Confederacy, and the female Communists went at them without a qualm of conscience.”

The rioters continued down Cary Street and Main Street, while some of them cut down 14th Street towards Franklin. One woman later wrote in 1867 that “Women were seen bending under loads of sole-leather, or dragging after them heavy cavalry boots, brandishing their huge knives, and swearing, though apparently well fed, that they were dying from starvation—yet it was difficult to imagine how they could masticate or digest the edibles under the weight of which they were bending.” Particularly on Main Street and Franklin Street, there was a German and Jewish quarter that was known to be home to many food speculators. One man noted that “certain people down there were credited with great wealth. It was said that they had made barrels of money out of the Confederacy, and the female Communists went at them without a qualm of conscience.” 

14th Street and Main Street

The rest of the women continued marching down Cary Street and Main Street all the way down to 18th Street. By then, the governor had rung the bell in Capitol Square to call the Public Guard, who traced the route the women had taken down 9th Street and then down Main Street. Many of the rioters fled as the Guard approached, and the Guard marching on, pushing the rioters back. Governor Letcher and the mayor of the city had been pleading with the women to stop looting the stores to no avail, until the governor got on top of a crate, and threatened the crowd. If the crowd did not disperse within five minutes, the Public Guard was ordered to open fire. He then ominously took out his pocket watch and stared at it as the Guard loaded their weapons. Slowly but surely, the rioters dispersed. Many of the rioters were arrested and put on trial, which is where much of the information about the riots and their organization comes from. Mary Jackson was arrested at the intersection First Street and Broad, after she had gone back home to get a knife she had left behind.

The rest of the women continued marching down Cary Street and Main Street all the way down to 18th Street. By then, the governor had rung the bell in Capitol Square to call the Public Guard, who traced the route the women had taken down 9th Street and then down Main Street. Many of the rioters fled as the Guard approached, and the Guard marching on, pushing the rioters back. Governor Letcher and the mayor of the city had been pleading with the women to stop looting the stores to no avail, until the governor got on top of a crate, and threatened the crowd. If the crowd did not disperse within five minutes, the Public Guard was ordered to open fire. He then ominously took out his pocket watch and stared at it as the Guard loaded their weapons. Slowly but surely, the rioters dispersed. Many of the rioters were arrested and put on trial, which is where much of the information about the riots and their organization comes from. Mary Jackson was arrested at the intersection First Street and Broad, after she had gone back home to get a knife she had left behind.

13th Street and Main Street

Initially, the riots were believed to have been stirred up by Northern agitators, but as more details came to light in the trials, it was soon obvious the organization done by the women like Mary Jackson. In return, the events were ultimately a political success for the women who perpetrated them. This was mainly because the public overwhelmingly agreed with the women, that as the wives and mothers of soldiers who had gone off to war, they were entitled to be cared for. In many minds, this entitlement did indeed justify the means the women had used to procure the goods. Furthermore, following the event, the Confederacy undertook a massive welfare program in order to address this need. The state of Georgia, specifically, gave out so many property tax exemptions, free supplies, and aid that the amount was almost equal to what it spent on the military in the rest of the Civil War. Furthermore, this welfare was tailored to those who had perpetrated the riots, soldier’s wives. In North Carolina, Orange County instructed its millers to distribute corn “first to soldiers’ wives at six dollars a bushel and take in payment the county order issued by the proper Committee man. … Second, They will sell corn to such other needy persons as bring orders in writing from the committeeman.” An interesting note is that soldiers’ wives were cared for even before widows and mothers. It was remarked that “it seems to be forgot that widows have all their sons gone to war leaving their Mothers old and infirm it is worse than soldiers’ wives.” One of the reasons for this was that even before the riots, soldiers’ wives were seen as a cause of desertion. A group of soldiers from North Carolina pleaded with their governor, that they were not afraid of the Yankees, but they said, “Sir, we cannot hear the cries of our little ones and stand … Do something for them and there will be less desertion.” Nevertheless, the Bread Riots put these needy women in the forefront of the public eye and reshaped the relationship between the women and their communities and governments.

Initially, the riots were believed to have been stirred up by Northern agitators, but as more details came to light in the trials, it was soon obvious the organization done by the women like Mary Jackson. In return, the events were ultimately a political success for the women who perpetrated them. This was mainly because the public overwhelmingly agreed with the women, that as the wives and mothers of soldiers who had gone off to war, they were entitled to be cared for. 

The Richmond Bread Riot

13th Street and Cary Street

Introduction

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information