The Southern bread riots were events of civil unrest in the Confederacy during the American Civil War, perpetrated mostly by women in March and April 1863. Though the Richmond riot was the largest, they occurred in cities throughout the Confederate States, with hungry women and men entering and looting various shops and stores.
By mid-1861, the Union naval blockade virtually shut down the export of cotton and the import of manufactured goods. Food that formerly came from more than a few hundred miles was largely cut off. By 1863 refugees had swollen the population of major Southern cities and severe food shortages depressed productivity and morale. Richmond, Virginia, the rebellion's national capital, was at the end of a long, vulnerable supply line.