NYC Almost Burns to the Ground (1864)

It’s December 2nd. This day in 1864, a plot to burn down New York City just barely fails. A group of eight saboteurs tried to light simultaneous fires in hotels around the city on “evacuation day,” part of an effort to spark Confederate sympathy in the north.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss why the plot failed, and what it says about pro-slavery forces in the north, and the razor’s edge on which the Civil War was balanced until the very end.

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer at Radiotopia