The Draft Riots At Irish Society Meeting

New York City was the site of the worst riots in American History in 1863, taking away much of the elation engendered by the Union Army's success at the Battle of Gettysburg. The Draft Riots and the part of the Irish in both the riots and as fighting men in the Civil War are the subject of the Irish Cultural Society's meeting on November 7 at 8 p.m. in the Garden City Library, 60 Seventh Street, across the street from the Garden City Hotel. The meeting is open to the public.

The speaker, Barnet Schecter, is an independent scholar whose work has appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, The New York Observer, the Village Voice and the Washington Post among other publications. He lectures frequently and has appeared in several History channel documentaries. Mr. Schecter is the author of The Battle for New York: the City at the Heart of the American Revolution and the Devil's Own Work, the book from which he will draw the material for his presentation.

The audience at the meeting will learn not only about the Draft Riots and the role of the Irish in the armies of both sides of America's Civil War but also about the struggle of Irish immigrants against prejudice and poverty.

President Martin Kelly will report on the Society's tour of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral conducted on October 21.