This Day in Esoteric Political History

NYC Almost Burns to the Ground (1864)

12.02.2021 - By Jody Avirgan & RadiotopiaPlay

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play

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.

This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

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

More episodes from This Day in Esoteric Political History