The victories of Vicksburg and Gettysburg have cost the Union considerable losses. The call to volunteers with bonus in support no longer attracts anyone. The Nordic government decides to impose conscription. This measure, which is very unpopular especially for the underprivileged social classes, will provoke plebeian agitation until it turns into riots. New York which becomes the scene of this insurrection will experience a flood of hatred and violence against the blacks, the bourgeois and the army. Blutch and Chesterfield who are in a recruitment office owe their salvation only by wearing civilian clothes and must melt in the angry crowd while waiting for the reinforcement of the troops of the army who are on the front.