New York Draft Riots

The Civil War was the first American war in which soldiers were drafted. The South was first to employ the draft, followed by the North. In March of 1863, the National conscription act was passed. Draftees would be called by lottery. Once called, a draftee had the opportunity to either pay a commutation fee of $300 to be exempt from a particular battle, or to hire a replacement that would exempt him from the entire war. Over the course of the riots, Blacks were often the target of many of the rioters. Lincoln sent federal troops to put down the riots. There are various estimates of the number of dead and wounded– ranging from 70 to 1,000.

The riots were prompted by the Enrollment Act, which was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in March 1863. The act instituted a draft, requiring all male citizens between the ages of 20 and 45 to register for possible military service. However, there was a clause that allowed men to pay a $300 commutation fee or to hire a substitute to avoid the draft, which disproportionately affected poor and working-class men who could not afford to do so.

The draft came at a time of heightened social and political tension in New York City. The city was a Democratic stronghold with strong commercial ties to the South, and there was significant opposition to the war effort among its residents. Additionally, New York City was home to a large number of immigrants, including many Irish immigrants who had fled the Great Famine. These communities often found themselves competing for low-wage jobs with newly freed African Americans. The convergence of economic insecurity, racial tension, and political discontent set the stage for the riots.

\The riots began on July 13, 1863, after the names of the first draftees were published. Initially starting as a protest against the draft, the demonstrations quickly escalated into violent confrontations with the police and then turned into full-scale riots. Rioters, mainly from working-class neighborhoods, attacked draft offices, public buildings, and private homes. The violence also took on a racial dimension as mobs targeted African Americans and their properties. The Colored Orphan Asylum, a facility for African American children, was burned down, although the children were safely evacuated before the mob arrived.

The city's response was slow at first, as most of the federal troops were engaged in the Civil War. Eventually, both federal troops and state militia were dispatched to suppress the riots. After several days of intense violence, the riots were eventually quelled, but not before at least 119 people had been killed, although some estimates put the death toll much higher. Hundreds more were injured, and property damage was estimated in the millions of dollars. The New York Draft Riots were one of the most violent and deadly riots in American history, and they laid bare the economic, racial, and social tensions of the era. The riots had a chilling effect on efforts to implement the draft in other Northern cities, and they underscored the depth of division in the country, even among those states that remained in the Union.

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