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Leonard Gordon Stephen R. Tilson History 2700-001 24, April, 2014 Draft Riots of 1863 The 1860s were a tumultuous time for the United States. The election of 1860 was held on Tuesday, November 6, and served as the immediate impetus for the outbreak of the American Civil War. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union and within two months Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas seceded as well. On February 9, 1861, the Confederate States of America is formed with Jefferson Davis, a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army officer, as president. On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as 16th President of the United States of America. Lincoln warned the South in his Inaugural Address: "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you.... You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it."

It is hard to understand the magnitude of the situation surrounding the Draft Riots of 1863. By 1863, the Civil War was well underway and the Union's need for manpower led to the first compulsory draft in U.S. history. March 3, 1863, Congress passes a conscription act that produces the first wartime draft of U.S. citizens in American history. The act called for registration of all males between the ages of 20 and 45, including aliens with the intention of

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becoming citizens, by April 1 that same year. While it was intended to encourage enlistment, the draft alienated many people. It must be noted that a man who was drafted could buy his way out for $300, about the equivalent of an unskilled laborer's annual income at that time. This feature added to the impression that this was a "rich man's war and a poor man's fight." Someone could also opt out of service by furnishing a suitable substitute to take the place of the drafted. Conscription opposition was particularly strong in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin where federal troops had to be called out to enforce compliance with the draft. The Conscription act provoked nationwide disturbances that were most serious in New York City. July 13th through the 16th, 1863, there were large-scale, bloody riots. A large number of people thought the combination of the Conscription Act and the Emancipation Proclamation meant that they would be forced to risk their lives in a war to free black slaves.

On July 13, the bloodiest outbreak of civil disorder in American history started when rioters attacked the assistant Ninth District Provost Marshal's Office where the draft was taking place. Soon rioters began attacking blacks and torching homes of poor African Americans. In one of the most infamous incidents, a mob burned a Colored Orphan Asylum, although its 237 children escaped to safety. Waterfront tenements, taverns, and other others buildings populated by black laborers were systematically burned.

On Tuesday, July 14, the rioters focused on destroying and looting property of the wealthy. The protesters assaulted police and soldiers, who represented federal authority. Rioters also erected barricades along First and Third Avenues. The mob continued venting its ferocious fury on blacks, beating them and burning their homes and businesses.

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Federal troops arrived on Wednesday, July 15, as the demonstrators continued attacking blacks, the wealthy, Protestant missions, and Republicans. Fierce fighting between soldiers and rioters lasted until Thursday evening, July 16. By Friday, July 17, 6000 soldiers were dispersed throughout the city, and the situation began returning to normal. Similar anti-draft riots occurred in other Northern cities during the summer of 1863, but none as massive and destructive as the one in New York City.

Following the riot, President Lincoln appointed General John Dix, a War Democrat, to ensure that the military draft was implemented and that the city remained at peace. 67 of the indicted rioters were convicted, although few received long sentences. The exact death toll during the New York Draft Riots is unknown, but estimates have over 120 civilians killed, 2000 people were injured, with eleven black men lynched. Lincoln reduced New York's draft quota by more than half. The city's Board of Supervisor's, Tammany Hall led by its chairman William Boss Tweed, and other organizations began hiring military substitutes for the city's workingmen who could not otherwise afford them. The draft riot caused many blacks to flee the metropolis, resulting in a major decline in New York City's African-American population during the Civil War. Of the four national draft calls between 1863 and 1864, 776,829 names were drawn. Of those, only 46,347 were sworn into service.