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Food Riots
Food riots were the result of shortages of food in the South, obviously. Now technically there really weren't any food shortages in the south. In fact there was an abundance of food in the south. The problem was it just wasn't getting to anybody. With the Federals blocking supply routes and the railroad system in shambles it was very difficult to get a piece of corn from a farm to a city. It got so bad that in Richmond Virginia in 1863 a mob of women and children raided the retail district of flour, other food, and clothing. It got very serious when the mob started to steal jewelry, fine clothes, and rob banks, now that's just getting greedy. The mayor of Richmond had to show up and threaten the mob by saying he was going to have the army open fire on them. Well that threat didn't quite work. It wasn't until Jefferson Davis arrived on the scene and had to plead with the crowd to stop stealing and just go home. He must have been pretty convincing because the crowd did break up and leave.
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