Today in History: Confederates Try to Burn Down NYC

On this day (November 25) in 1864, eight southerners calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan tried to burn down New York City. They started fires in twenty-one different places, hoping to overwhelm the city’s firefighting resources, but apparently they weren’t very good at arson. Some of the fires failed to start and others were quickly extinguished. All eight of the men escaped, but one, Robert Cobb Kennedy, was apprehended the following January when he tried to travel from Canada to Richmond, Virginia. He was hanged.