Charles River Editors - The New York City Draft Riots of 1863: The History of the Notorious Insurrection at the Height of the Civil War

By Charles River Editors

A British papers depiction of the draft riots

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A depiction of rioters attacking a building on Lexington Avenue during the riots

The New York City Draft Riots

"Martial law ought to be proclaimed, but I have not a sufficient force to enforce it. Major General John E. Wool, commander of the Department of the East

Most adults alive today either remember or have heard of the turbulent 1960s, but far fewer are familiar with the similarities those more recent protests had with the earlier unrest of a century earlier. Although the Civil War is remembered as the seminal event of American history, and it is often portrayed as the Lincoln administration and the North fighting bravely to preserve the Union and ultimately end slavery, the truth at the time was far more complicated. Perhaps most notably, as with Vietnam, the Civil War was very unpopular among many in the North, especially in large, manufacturing cities that were dependent on the South for raw materials. Also, as African Americans made their way north in the hopes of making new lives for themselves, they often encountered racism and outright violence. Native born Americans and newly arrived immigrants alike often resented black men taking jobs they felt were theirs by right, and in the wake of the Emancipation Proclamation, many men were hesitant to fight on behalf of a cause that they saw as being for the benefit of blacks.

With the Civil War still raging and no end in sight, the Lincoln administration instituted the first conscription laws in the North in 1863, and it led quickly to an outbreak of violence in New York City and other large cities. In fact, the New York City draft riots, which lasted several days in July of that year, still stand today as the bloodiest and deadliest in American history. More than 100 people died during the week of July 12-18 as mobs of thousands looted and burned buildings across the city in protest. However, in addition to targeting the draft, people also attacked African American men, women and children and anyone who might try to defend them. Its been estimated that over a dozen blacks were lynched across the city during the unrest, and thousands of people were injured.

Ultimately, the citys police department was forced to call in forces from all around, including a number of battle weary soldiers who had just fought a few weeks earlier at Gettysburg, to put down what seemed to be moving toward a new insurrection. In the end, the authorities were able to stop the violence, but the heavy price paid by the citys newest black citizens would tarnish race relations in that area for another century.

The New York City Draft Riots of 1863: The History of the Notorious Insurrection at the Height of the Civil War chronicles the controversial violence that wreaked havoc across New York City in the summer of 1863. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about the New York City draft riots like never before.

In the month preceding the July 1863 lottery, in a pattern similar to the 1834 anti-abolition riots, antiwar newspaper editors published inflammatory attacks on the draft law aimed at inciting the white working class. They criticized the federal government's intrusion into local affairs on behalf of the n***** war. Democratic Party leaders raised the specter of a New York deluged with southern blacks in the aftermath of the Emancipation Proclamation. White workers compared their value unfavorably to that of southern slaves, stating that [we] are sold for $300 [the price of exemption from war service] whilst they pay $1000 for negroes. In the midst of war-time economic distress, they believed that their political leverage and economic status was rapidly declining as blacks appeared to be gaining power. On Saturday, July 11, 1863, the first lottery of the conscription law was held. For twenty-four hours the city remained quiet. On Monday, July 13, 1863, between 6 and 7 A.M., the five days of mayhem and bloodshed that would be known as the Civil War Draft Riots began. Leslie M. Harris, In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863 (2003)

After the Union debacle at the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862, the fighting in the Eastern theater of the Civil War for that year was done, and the decisive Confederate victory buoyed the Confederacys hopes. Confederate commander Robert E. Lee was described by the Charleston Mercury as "jubilant, almost off-balance, and seemingly desirous of embracing everyone who calls on him." The results of Antietam and the Maryland Campaign from 3 months earlier, a strategic defeat for the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia that forced Lees retreat out of the North allowed Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, were apparently old news or forgotten by the Mercury , which boasted, "General Lee knows his business and the army has yet known no such word as fail."

Lee

Naturally, Fredericksburg represented one of the low points of the Civil War for the North, with the Army of the Potomac having suffered an almost unheard of 8:1 ratio in losses compared to Lees army. Lincoln reacted to the news by writing, "If there is a worse place than hell, I am in it." It showed too, as noted by Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin, who told Lincoln after touring the battlefield, It was not a battle, it was a butchery. Curtin noted the president was heart-broken at the recital, and soon reached a state of nervous excitement bordering on insanity.

Lincoln in 1863

Meanwhile, Radical Republicans frustrated at the prosecution of the war took it out on the generals and the Lincoln Administration; Michigan Senator Zachariah Chandler claimed, "The President is a weak man, too weak for the occasion, and those fool or traitor generals are wasting time and yet more precious blood in indecisive battles and delays." Perhaps the Cincinnati Commercial summed up the battle best in reporting, "It can hardly be in human nature for men to show more valor or generals to manifest less judgment, than were perceptible on our side that day."

Although there was jubilant talk in the South of the North giving up the fight imminently after Fredericksburg, it was clearly premature. Lee had concluded an incredibly successful year for the Confederates in the East, but the South was still struggling. The Confederate forces in the West had failed to win a major battle, suffering defeat at places like Shiloh in Tennessee and across the Mississippi River. As the war continued into 1863, the southern economy continued to deteriorate. Southern armies were suffering serious deficiencies of nearly all supplies as the Union blockade continued to be effective as stopping most international commerce with the Confederacy. Moreover, the prospect of Great Britain or France recognizing the Confederacy had been all but eliminated by the Emancipation Proclamation.