New York Draft Riots Totally Explained

The New York Draft Riots (July 13 to July 16, 1863; known at the time as Draft Week) were a series of 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. President Abraham Lincoln sent several regiments of militia and volunteer troops to control the city. The rioters numbered in the thousands and were predominantly Irish. Smaller scale riots erupted in other cities about the same time.
Initially intended to express anger at the draft, the protests degraded into civil disorder directed against African Americans. 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've not a sufficient force to enforce it." The military suppressed the mob using artillery and fixed bayonets, but not before numerous buildings were ransacked or destroyed, including many homes, the Tribune office, and an orphanage for black children.

Causes

When the Civil War started in April 1861, New Yorkers quickly rallied behind the Union cause, including a massive rally at Union Square attended by an estimated 100,000 to 250,000. When Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to join the military and fight for the Union, 8,000 from New York City signed up within ten days. New York Governor Horatio Seymour was elected in 1862, running on an anti-war platform.
   As the war dragged on, a military manpower shortage occurred in the Union. Congress passed the first conscription act in United States history on March 3, 1863, authorizing the President to draft citizens between the ages of 18 and 35 for a three-year term of military service. Copperheads were dismayed by the news. Their main objection was to national service of any kind, but in terms of rhetoric, they attacked the provision allowing men drafted to pay either $300 or supply a substitute as a "commutation fee" to procure exemption from service. This led to the derisive term "300 dollar man". In actuality, the draft was designed to spur voluntary enlistment, and relatively few men were formally drafted into service.
   However, in practice, men formed clubs whereby if one was drafted the others chipped in to pay the commutation fee. Regardless of the intent of the $300 provision—as a means of securing some much-needed funding for the war effort or sparing the sons of the rich from serving similar to draft dodging—public perception among the middle and lower classes was that the war had become "the rich man's war and the poor man's fight."
   The first drawing of names happened on Saturday, July 11 without incident. Names were put on small pieces of paper, placed in a box, and then drawn one-by-one. The names put into the drawing were mainly mechanics and laborers that had been published in newspapers. There was speculation about similar reaction in New York City to the draft, which coincided with the efforts of Tammany Hall (the base of Democratic power in the city) to enroll Irish immigrants as citizens so they could vote in local elections. Consequently, many such immigrants suddenly discovered they'd to fight for their new country.

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 soon attacked the assistant Ninth District Provost Marshal's Office, at Third Avenue and 47th Street, where the draft was taking place. The crowd began throwing large paving stones through windows, bursting through doors, and setting the building ablaze.
The New York State Militia was absent, having been sent to assist Union troops in Pennsylvania, leaving the police to deal with the riots. In response, police drew their clubs and revolvers, and charged the crowd, but the crowd overpowered them. Immigrants and others in the "Bloody Sixth" Ward, around the seaport, refrained from getting involved in the Draft Riots, having experienced more than enough antebellum violence in the 1830s and 1850s.
The Bull's Head hotel on 44th Street, which refused to provide alcohol, was burned. The mayor's residence on Fifth Avenue (now the location of Madison Square Garden), 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. Fire engine companies responded, however some of the firefighters were sympathetic to the rioters, since they too had been drafted on Saturday. African Americans who fell into the mob's hands were often beaten, tortured, and/or killed, including one man that was attacked by a crowd of 400 with clubs and paving stones, then hung from a tree and set alight.

Tuesday

Heavy rain fell on Monday night, helping to abate the fires and sending rioters home, but the emboldened 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.
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. Many wealthy Democratic businessmen sought to have the draft declared unconstitutional. Tammany Democrats didn't seek to have the draft declared unconstitutional, but would help pay commutation fees on behalf of poor who were drafted.

Fictional portrayals

The Draft Riots are fictionally portrayed in the novels On Secret Service by John Jakes and Paradise Alley by Kevin Baker. The short-lived 1968 Broadway musical Maggie Flynn was set in an orphanage for black children that comes under siege during the Draft Riots. In the steampunk novel The Difference Engine (1990) by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, readers are told that the riots (during an earlier Civil War finally won by the Confederate States) end in the creation of a Manhattan commune (compare with the Paris commune) led by Karl Marx. In the Newt Gingrich 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 where the Confederacy won the Battle of Gettysburg.
The 2002 Martin Scorsese film Gangs of New York, set in the years prior to and including the Draft Riots, attempts to depict "the birth of Manhattan and the way the different waves of immigrants have shaped [NewYork City's] evolution". The film includes an extended scene depicting the events. One notable scene shows Union Navy warships firing on the city. That is factually incorrect—no U.S. warships fired on the city.

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