A Brief History
On July 13, 1863, New Yorkers angry about military conscription (draft) started 3 days of rioting that would go down in history as the worst US riot ever.
Digging Deeper
White New Yorkers, largely poor Irish immigrants, could not afford to buy their way out of the draft like rich people could. Nor could they afford to pay someone else to take their place, and they cared little one way or another about the issue of African slavery. African Americans were not subject to the draft, further inflaming rage against them.
With the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863, the white immigrants were also concerned that freed black slaves would flock north and take jobs from the whites.
Beginning as a protest to the draft, the demonstration quickly turned into a riot with looting and with African Americans being attacked on sight. Abolitionists, Protestant churches and public buildings were also targets of angry rioters, with many of these buildings burned. Homes of African Americans were burned, as was the Colored Orphan Asylum.
New York police were powerless to stop the mobs, and the police superintendent was beaten to a pulp while mobs overwhelmed the outnumbered cops. Federal Army troops were summoned, but could not arrive fast enough to prevent the violence and damage, arriving a full day after the riot started.
Meanwhile, a hotel that refused to provide alcohol to the mob was burned, but when the rioters threatened the New York Times they were met with Gatling Guns and wisely chose to not be gunned down. By the third day order began to be restored and by the fourth day the riot was over.
The heavy handed methods used by the troops resulted in many deaths and injuries to rioters, which combined with deaths and injuries caused by rioters amounted to at least 120 dead and 2000 wounded, although other historians place the number much higher, perhaps as many as 2000 dead.
On August 19, 1863, the draft resumed without further rioting, much of the anger allayed by far fewer men drafted than the rioters had feared. African Americans left the city in droves, driving the black population down to its lowest level since 1820. The African Americans that remained were given assistance from rich white people and from other African Americans that could afford to help.
The events surrounding this riot have been memorialized in books and film, especially in the 2002 movie, Gangs of New York (with major stars appearing in the cast).
The US would not have further troubles over the drafting of soldiers until the Viet Nam War 100 years later.
Question for students (and subscribers): Should the government draft young men for the military? Should the military be strictly volunteer? Please tell us what you think in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Bernstein, Iver. The New York City Draft Riots: Their Significance for American Society and Politics in the Age of the Civil War. Bison Books, 2010.
The featured image in this article, a depiction of the Draft Riots in 1863 from The Illustrated London News, is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1924, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal. See this page for further explanation.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2968 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2968">40 Comments
Though the draft riots only lasted around 4 days, those 4 days sounded absolutely brutal. As for the draft, I do not think a draft is necessary at the moment. If a national crisis happened, however, I would not be opposed to having a draft.
I did not know that the burning of African Americans’ homes took place during these riots. That seems very unsympathetic to me; the African Americans didn’t issue the draft themselves, so why retaliate on them?
Rioting is a scary thing and innocent people dying.
AM
It’s crazy that the rioting lasted for four days.
Why did the New York Times need Gatling guns? I guess it protected them from the rioters, but in what situation did the Times feel like those guns would be necessary when they bought them?
N.W.
Interesting that the immigrants had very little interest in the issue of slavery despite the fact that it was a major national issue. GW
I remember hearing about these riots in the past. Crazy that they lasted so long.
Rioting in concept is a scary thought. The fact that this lasted for four days is just terrifying. I couldn’t imagine the horror of people living there
the fact that the police could no contain the mob but all it took was for the members of the New York Times staff to point guns at the rioter to stop them in their tracks is amazing.
The worst part it seems with every riot is that even the people who do no wrong and are just bystanders have a chance of being hurt
When the police cannot control a mob, that’s when you know things are extremely bad. It’s crazy to see what the mob to the police when they were just doing their job to protect the citizens.
It is hard to read about all the violence taking place amongst other citizens in protest. However, I see where the anger is coming from and it appeared that the wealthy white Americans were treated with an advantage to get out of the war. As a result, many were frustrated by an Un even playing field. I plan on watching Gangs Of New York, it looks like an excellent film.
riots are a very scary thing. especially when it is hard to control the people rioting
I had no idea the draft riot turned into racial violence, I
knew they didn’t want to go fight for something they had no interest in but I was
unaware they attacked free blacks in New York.
Rioting is a scary topic, as mankind can get extremely violent when grouped together with a common plea. However, I understand why those rioters were upset, as the wealthy white Americans could buy their way out of the draft and African Americans were not subject to it. It was also a great fear that freed slaves would take all the jobs that the drafted would leave behind. Their fears were legitimate; however, was rioting the best way to approach the situation?
The New York City riot is similar to many riots that are happening around the world nowadays. It is strange that even after so many years people use the same means to protest and show their anger. Riots are a powerful “power” that nations have towards more powerful individuals. The circumstances did not favor African Americans since they could not buy their way out of the draft, so I understand why they had to resort to a riot.
I understand why the rioters were upset and were fearful because the situation was truly unfair. However, I think that with all the riots going on today’s society, I think that there could have been a better way to protest and to find a way to communicate before it had to resort to violence and destruction.
I never knew that people could buy their way out of the draft. That does not seem fair so I can understand why so many people were angered by this. I hope if we ever have to have a draft again there would be more equality within it.
I can understand why these white Irish immigrants would be angry about the drafts. It’s ridiculous that rich Americans could buy their way out of the draft or hire others to go for them while poorer whites were left to the front lines. It’a always a shame to hear of rioters burning and looting the businesses of innocent people. Destroying a city is a pricy cost to be heard but it’s understandable that sometimes people feel they have no other option.
The rioting in New York reminds me of the protesting that just took place from “Black lives Matter” and the killing of the police force. The rioting in NY is something that I never want to experience in my life time and hopefully never happens again in history. The draft is put in place for a reason and it is equal chance that someone could be picked and it is unfair and not right that someone could buy their way out of this process.
The military should only use the draft in extremely desperate situations. For the Civil War, I can understand why the draft would be instituted in the North because they needed more soldiers to fight against the South. However, riots should never be seen like this. Three days of riots caused nothing but death and suffering.
In my opinion, the draft is a terrifying concept. I agree more with giving incentives for enlisting rather than drafting people. Especially when, based on the rules, a certain population is targeted. I agree with the rioters on this one.
This riot sounded like it was crazy. Four days of this extreme rioting had to be complete chaos for the city. I would be upset too if draft rules were not fair, and if people were able to buy their way out of the draft but I was stuck waiting to see if I would have to go serve or not. Roughly 120 people dying and 2000 people being wounded shows how out of control this riot really was.
When a riot lasts for 4 days and the police or men in charge are unable to calm the situation you know there us trouble. It shows in the 120 people dead and 2000 wounded, but them rioting the drafting routine makes sense obviously no one wanted to be drafted.
The fact that so many people were rioting that the police could not handle the sheer number of them is something to be talked about. This was clearly a time of panic for many immigrants that were scared to be drafted. They did’t care about what they would be fighting for and did not want to give up their jobs in the mean time. They were scared that African Americans would come from the South and try to steal their jobs. With the riot lasting nearly four days and with 120 people killed you can see how passionate they were about their cause.
The fact that an entire police force could not control the aggression which was the riot is mind blowing. To think how many must have been furious with the situation really makes it logical that it would be a four day riot. Losing the 120 lives is very tragic. Especially at a time when there was already so much tension.
Things are all about perspective and I can understand that people were afraid for their lives but they put their lives in danger just through this riot. Maybe the view should have been changed to having pride for fighting for their country.
I’ve heard about the riots in New York, but I never knew it was this bad. The fact the cops could not control the riots is insane. To some extent I believe that immigrants had a right to be upset about the draft, I would, but for them to take it to that level of chaos was that okay? No of course not I’d have to disagree. What a crazy time.
This seems like a riot that got out of hand and caused unnecessary violence. The draft is a tough concept. No one wants to be forced to serve in the military, and I think today, there are so many people that serve that a draft would be rare. But in an extreme case where it is necessary, I would hope people would be willing to fight for their country.
With all the protesting and rioting going on today, it is scary to hear of maybe 2000 people being killed in one riot. The riots could have been avoided if more police activity was involved, and I think it is incredible that backup took one day to arrive. I hope no riots every become that out of control again.
This is insane to think that about 2,000 possibly dead, because they were rioting for the right. The Irish should have been able to get out of the draft if they wanted to. It is not right that they were forced to since they were poor.
The draft is something that is difficult to be okay with unless you are someone who desires to go fight every day. It is understandable that riots broke out but I think a lot of it was too much. Luckily the US got control over it and things continued smoothly for the most part.
I understand why the white New Yorkers were so afraid of the draft. The way the draft worked did seem unfair. Rich people should not have been able to pay their way out of the draft. It is crazy to think 2,000 people possibly died from this riot.
While rich white people were able to buy their way out of the draft, I find it heartening that they were able to help out financially those African-Americans that stayed in the city after it was over.
To respond to the question at the end of the article, I do believe the military should be volunteer based but they also should have stricter rules and regulations about what you can and cannot do so that our country is the safest it can be while our military men fighting are the safest they can be.
Whether you are rich or not everyone should have had to participate in the draft. I do understand why people were upset by this but it is sad that 2,000 people died because of these riots.
I understand the New Yorkers frustration with being forced to fight for a cause that they did not believe in. If our country absolutely needed a draft to ensure our survival, I would certainly be in favor of one.
When there is a draft involved, money should not be involved.
This is an event of history that I had never heard of. At that time, it seems that it was fairly common to evade the draft through payment. Today we all know that would not fly. That is interesting that to this day, the Draft Riots remain the worst riots ever in our country!
I can only imagine what present day riots and protests would look like if another draft was needed.