Richmond Bread Riot

On 2 Apr. 1863, the largest wartime food riot in the Confederacy took place in Richmond, the day after a group of women met at Belvidere Baptist Church in Oregon Hill to complain about rising food costs, inflation, and speculation. In the morning, a crowd congregated at the Washington equestrian statue in Capitol Square, and grew to at least several hundred. The rioters looted warehouses on Cary and Main Streets, as well as in Shockoe Slip. Mayor Joseph Mayo, Gov. John Letcher, and Pres. Jefferson Davis attempted to quiet the crowd, which dispersed by late morning with the arrival of the Public Guard.