draft riots

New York Draft Riots
Part of American Civil War
Rioters and Federal troops clash
Date July 13–16, 1863 Location New York Result Riot crushed
Casualties and losses
120[1]-2,000[2] killed (counts vary by sources) 2,000-8,000 wounded

The New York Draft Riots (July 13 to July 16, 1863; known at the time as Draft Week^[3]) were violent disturbances in New York City that were the culmination of discontent with new laws passed by Congress to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War. The riots were the largest civil insurrection in American history apart from the Civil War itself.^[4] President Abraham Lincoln sent several regiments of militia and volunteer troops to control the city. The rioters were overwhelmingly working class men, resentful, among other reasons, because the draft unfairly affected them while sparing wealthier men, who could afford to pay a $300.00 Commutation Fee to exclude themselves from its reach.^[5][6]

Initially intended to express anger at the draft, the protests turned ugly and degraded into "a virtual racial pogrom, with uncounted numbers of blacks murdered on the streets". The conditions in the city were such that Major General John E. Wool stated on July 16, "Martial law ought to be proclaimed, but I have not a sufficient force to enforce it."^[7] The military suppressed the mob using artillery and fixed bayonets, but not before numerous buildings were ransacked or destroyed, including many homes and an orphanage for black children.^[8]

Riots

Monday

The second drawing of numbers was held on Monday, July 13, 1863, ten days after the Union victory in the Battle of Gettysburg. At 10 a.m., a furious crowd of 500 led by the Black Joke Engine Company 33, attacked the assistant Ninth District Provost Marshal's Office, at Third Avenue and 47th Street, where the draft was taking place.^[9] The crowd began throwing large paving stones through windows, then burst through the doors and set the building ablaze.^[10] Many of the rioters, being Irish laborers, did not want to compete with emancipated slaves for occupational opportunities.^[11]

The New York State Militia was absent, having been sent to assist Union troops in Pennsylvania, leaving the police to deal with the riots.^[10] The police superintendent, John Kennedy, came by on Monday to check on the situation. Although he was not in uniform, he was recognized by people in the mob and they attacked him. Kennedy was left nearly unconscious, having had his face bruised and cut, an injured eye, swelled lips, his hand cut with a knife, and a mass of bruises and blood all over his body.^[12] In response, police drew their clubs and revolvers, and charged the crowd, but the crowd overpowered them.^[13] The police forces were badly outnumbered and unable to quell the riots; however, they were able to keep the rioting out of Lower Manhattan, below Union Square.^[14] Immigrants and others in the "Bloody Sixth" Ward, around the seaport, refrained from getting involved in the Draft Riots.^[15]

The Bull's Head hotel on 44th Street, which refused to provide alcohol, was burned. The mayor's residence on Fifth Avenue, the Eighth and Fifth District police stations, and other buildings were attacked and set on fire. Other targets included the office of the leading Republican newspaper, the New York Tribune. The mob was turned back at the Tribune office by staff manning two Gatling guns.^[16] Fire engine companies responded, but some of the firefighters were sympathetic to the rioters, since they too had been drafted on Saturday.^[13] Later in the afternoon, authorities shot and killed a man as a crowd attacked the Armory at Second Avenue and 21st Street.^[9]

African Americans became scapegoats and the target of the rioters' anger. Many immigrants and poor viewed freed slaves as competition for scarce jobs and African Americans as the reason why the Civil War was being fought. African Americans who fell into the mob's hands were often beaten, tortured, and/or killed, including one man who was attacked by a crowd of 400 with clubs and paving stones, then hung from a tree and set alight.^[9] The Colored Orphan Asylum on Fifth Avenue, which provided shelter for hundreds of children, was attacked by a mob. The police were able to secure the orphanage for enough time to allow orphans to escape.^[13]

Tuesday

Heavy rain fell on Monday night, helping to abate the fires and sending rioters home, but the crowd returned the next day. Commerce in the city was halted, with workers joining the crowd. Rioters went after the homes of notable Republicans, including activist Abby Hopper Gibbons, among others.^[17] Governor Horatio Seymour arrived on Tuesday and spoke at City Hall, where he attempted to assuage the crowd by proclaiming the Conscription Act was unconstitutional. General John E. Wool brought approximately 800 troops in from forts in the New York Harbor and from West Point. He also ordered the militias to return to New York.^[13]

Wednesday and Thursday: order restored

The situation improved on Wednesday, when assistant provost-marshal-general Robert Nugent received word from his superior officer, Colonel James Barnet Fry, to suspend the draft. As this news appeared in newspapers, some rioters stayed home. But some of the militias began to return and used harsh measures against the remaining mobs.^[13]

Order began to be restored on Thursday, after a peaceful rally of 5,000 at Old St. Patrick's Cathedral to hear Archbishop Hughes, and as New York State militia and some federal troops troops returned to New York, including the 152nd New York Volunteers, the 26th Michigan Volunteers, the 30th Indiana Volunteers and the 7th Regiment New York State Militia from Frederick, Maryland, after a forced march. In addition, the governor sent in the 74th and 65th regiments of the New York state militia, which had not been in federal service, and a section of the 20th Independent Battery, New York Volunteer Artillery from Fort Schuyler in Throgs Neck. The New York State militia units were the first to arrive. By July 16, there were several thousand Federal troops in the city.^[7] A final confrontation occurred on Thursday evening near Gramercy Park. According to Adrian Cook's careful analysis in his "Armies of the Streets," twelve people died on the last day of the riots in skirmishes between rioters, the police and army, including one African-American, two soldiers, a bystander and two women.

Aftermath

The exact death toll during the New York Draft Riots is unknown, but according to historian James M. McPherson (2001), at least 120 civilians were killed.^[1] Estimates are that at least 2,000 more were injured. Herbert Asbury, the author of the 1928 book Gangs of New York upon which the 2002 film was based, puts the figure much higher, at 2,000 killed and 8,000 wounded.^[2] Total property damage was about $1–5 million.^[2][18] Historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote that the riots were "equivalent to a Confederate victory".^[18] The city treasury later indemnified one-quarter of the amount. Fifty buildings, including two Protestant churches, burned to the ground. On August 19, the draft was resumed. It was completed within 10 days without further incident, although far fewer men were actually drafted than had been feared: of the 750,000 selected for conscription nationwide, only about 45,000 actually went into service.^[19]

While the rioting mainly involved the working class, the middle and upper-class New Yorkers had split sentiments on the draft and use of federal power or martial law to enforce the draft.^[20] Many wealthy Democratic businessmen sought to have the draft declared unconstitutional. Tammany Democrats did not seek to have the draft declared unconstitutional, but would help pay commutation fees on behalf of those who were drafted.^[21]

New York City's support for the Union cause continued, however grudgingly. By the end of the war over 450,000 soldiers, sailors and militia enlisted at New York City. 46,000 of them died during the war.^[22] The city's Irish and Excelsior brigades were among the six Union brigades with the most combat dead.

Fictional portrayals

The Draft Riots are fictionally portrayed in the novels On Secret Service by John Jakes, Paradise Alley by Kevin Baker, and New York: The Novel, by Edward Rutherfurd. The short-lived 1968 Broadway musical Maggie Flynn was set in the Tobin Orphanage for black children (Maggie's maiden name was Tobin), that came under siege during the Draft Riots, and was subsequently burned to the ground (although the children were allegedly saved).^{[citation needed]}

In Newt Gingrich's alternate history novel Grant Comes East, the riots are portrayed as far more severe than they were in actuality, as this book is a sequel to his previous novel, in which the Confederacy won the Battle of Gettysburg.^{[citation needed]}

The Martin Scorsese film Gangs of New York (2002), which culminated around the time of the beginning of the Riots, was a fictional portrayal of conflated events,^[23] attempting to depict "the birth of Manhattan and the way the different waves of immigrants have shaped New York City's evolution".^[24] According to author and journalist Pete Hamill: "...The Irish hoodlums established the nexus between New York crime and New York politics that would last more than a century. A path was established among the Dead Rabbits, the Plug Uglies, the Bowery Boys that continues all the way to today’s Latin Kings, Crips and Bloods."^[23]

See also

• History of New York City (1855-1897)
• Opposition to the American Civil War
• List of people associated with the New York Draft Riots

Notes

References and further reading

• Asbury, Herbert (1928). The Gangs of New York. Alfred A. Knopf.
• Barnes, David M. (1863). The Draft Riots in New York, July, 1863: The Metropolitan Police, Their Services During Riot. Baker & Godwin.
• Bernstein, Iver (1990). The New York City Draft Riots: Their Significance for American Society and Politics in the Age of the Civil War. Oxford University Press.
• Cook, Adrian (1974). The Armies of the Streets: The New York City Draft Riots of 1863.
• Fry, James Barnet (1885). New York and the Conscription of 1863.
• McCabe, James Dabney (1868). The Life and Public Services of Horatio Seymour. Oxford University Press.
• McPherson, James M. (2001). Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction.
• Matthew Dripps, New York. Map Of New York and Vicinity (1863) [map], 1863 edition. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
• New York Evangelist (1830–1902); Jul 23, 1863; 33, 30; APS Online pg. 4.
• Nicolay, John and John Hay (1890). Lincoln, volume vii.
• Schecter, Barnet (2005). The Devil's Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America.
• Schecter, Barnet (2007). The Civil War Draft Riots. North & South - The Official Magazine of the Civil War Society Volume 10 Number 1 Page 72.
• United States War and Navy Departments (1889). Official Records of the American Civil War, volume xxvii, part ii.
• Walling, George W. (1887). Recollections of a New York Chief of Police, Chapter 6.

External links

• The New York City Draft Riots of 1863
• New York Draft Riots
• First Edition Harper's News Report on the New York Draft Riots
• Draft Riots 1863 New York City Draft Riots
• A Map of Events mentioned in this article
• Movie History: Choice Critics