Story
Terror, Murder, and Mayhem: the Draft Riots
In the mid-summer of 1863, tensions in New York had reached a boiling point. To replenish the Union Army after devastating casualties, Congress had passed the enrollment act, enacting the first draft. In New York, many of the newly arrived immigrants had been pushed by Tammany Hall and other political machines to become citizens, which made them eligible for this new draft. These newly minted citizens became incensed by the prospect of being drafted, and the anger quickly grew. The drawing of the draft numbers was a spark that drove the city into what would become the worst race riot of its history. Days later, anywhere from a hundred and twenty to more than a thousand were killed, thousands more injured, and with many prominent African-American and Abolitionist buildings destroyed.
Deputy Provost Office
On the morning off July 13, 1863, the second drawing of draft numbers began at the Deputy Provosts Office. However, it was not to continue for long. A crowd of more than 500 people began to descend on the building. Led by Engine Company 33 (known as the "Black Joke"), the mob threw paving stones through the building's windows and set it ablaze. As other firefighters came to put out the blaze, their vehicles were broken up and the telegraph lines were cut to prevent news of the riot from spreading.
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Deputy Provost Office
The riot quickly spread with the mob targeting government buildings to vent their anger. When police gathered to attempt to quell the violence, they were vastly outnumbered by the crowd. Drawing their truncheons and charging, the police were overwhelmed and repulsed. Forced back, they could only hope to contain the violence as New York's national guard and federal troops were at war. However, as the day progressed, the targets became more alarming.
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Newspaper Row
While some areas of the city were able to contain the violence, many were not. Initially, the mayhem had been aimed at symbolic buildings, but as the day progressed, the violence intensified. Pro-war and abolitionist newspapers were targeted. The New York Times only escaped assault when its founder, Henry Jarvis Raymond, and employees defended it with Gatling guns. The New York Tribune was sacked and set alight, though the arrival of the police saved it.
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The Colored Orphan Asylum
Soon the rioters' anger was turned toward a much more vulnerable target: African-Americans. 19th century New York and its immigrant communities were steeped in racist beliefs and rhetoric, moreover, as a financial and shipping center of the cotton trade, the city had pockets of Confederate sympathies. It didn't take long for the mob to descend on the Colored Orphan Asylum. The Asylum, built to assist orphaned black children, was surrounded by a mob of thousands that included women and children.
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The Colored Orphan Asylum
Setting upon the asylum, the mob looted its supplies and set it aflame. The matron had organized and evacuated the children, who were thankfully ignored by the mob, but the home had been destroyed. A bystander who had called for mercy was beaten savagely, and a policeman who had tried to protect the children was killed. Throughout the city, black men were beaten, tortured, and murdered. Many groups that feared labor competition from African-Americans used the riots as an excuse to eliminate their competition by destroying the black businesses and those that hired black workers. Black neighborhoods were attacked and ravaged.
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New York City Hall
Heavy rains forced the rioters home Monday night, however, the following day they returned to the streets, and continued their rampage against African-American and abolitionists. As the violence continued, Governor Horatio Seymour traveled to City Hall to try to calm the crowds. Meanwhile, General John E. Wool, commander of the Eastern District, summoned his troops home and gathered those that remained in New York. However, the 800 men on hand were not enough to bring order to the city.
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259 First Avenue
On Wednesday, the rioting spread to parts of Brooklyn and Staten Island. The tide only began to turn after a postponement of the draft was announced, which calmed some of the rioters. Moreover, the battle-hardened militias began to return on a force-march. The militias, who began to arrive on Wednesday, and the Federal troops, who arrived Thursday morning, had just fought at Gettysburg and had little sympathy for the rioters. Defeating the rioters who resisted them, the soldiers brought order to the city.
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Union Square Park
The city was shattered. Aside from the Civil War, the Draft Riots remain the largest civil insurrection in the history of the United States. African Americans began to rebuild their lives, assisted by the fearful and vengeful white elite of the city. The Union League Club, a prestigious social club with abolitionist tendencies, was at the forefront of such efforts, perhaps because it had had to defend its clubhouse from rioters. It raised large funds to assist the black victims of the riots and helped found them jobs and new homes. Getting approval from Congress, the Club was allowed to raise, arm, and outfit a black regiment, which would march through the streets of New York in an act of deliberate defiance to the city that had terrorized them.
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Colored Orphan Asylum (1867)
However, the damage of the riots was irreversible. Black neighborhoods were shattered and many African-Americans left Manhattan for Brooklyn and neighboring cities- never to return. The trauma the riots left behind stained the city. The riots had succeeded in further segregating New York. When the Colored Orphan Asylum was rebuilt, it was far north of the metropolis. By 1865, the population of African Americans had dropped to ten thousand: the lowest levels since 1820.
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