spray-paint and acrylics on canvas

61 x 78.7 inches

For four days, the Draft Riots raged in New York. Street barricades of workers and gang members armed to the teeth posed enormous problems for New York's law enforcement officers. Cobblestones hailed from windows. Some rioters had gained intense combat experience through various violent gang feuds. The "World" reported that women also fought incessantly and sometimes had more guts than the men.

In New York, the gangs had long since taken over the functions that otherwise lay with the state and the law and order authorities. The latter had dedicated themselves to protecting the richest and cared little about what the poor were doing to the poor. Those who had fled the Irish Potato Famine and hoped for a better life in the United States were particularly affected by conscription. The Irish also enjoyed low esteem among the military, and the warlords were suspected of using them as cannon fodder.