Editing Dead Rabbits riot (section)

==Riot==
Fighting began around Bowery gang meeting places on July 4 and intensified the following day near Bayard Street, Mulberry Street and the Five Points. Participants used clubs, paving stones, firearms and improvised barricades. Contemporary and later accounts placed the number of fighters in the hundreds, often between 800 and 1,000, while others exploited the disorder to loot nearby businesses.<ref>J. T. Headley, [https://archive.org/details/greatriotsofnewy00head_1/page/130/mode/2up ''The Great Riots of New York, 1712 to 1873''] (E. B. Treat, 1873), pp. 131–146.</ref>

Police detachments repeatedly attempted to clear the area. On the evening of July 5, New York State Militia units under Major-General Charles W. Sandford entered the district with police support. The show of force dispersed the remaining crowds and ended the main fighting.<ref name="hendley">Hendley, pp. 65–66.</ref>