New York City Draft Riots (1863): Four Days of Violence

The New York City Draft Riots broke out on 13 July 1863 and lasted until 16 July, one of the largest civil disorders in American history. What began as a protest against the first Union military draft turned into violent attacks on Black New Yorkers, the police and symbols of the Republican Party. At least 119 people died before federal troops restored order.

Background

By 1863 the Union army needed more soldiers than volunteers could supply. The Enrollment Act of March 1863 made most men aged 20 to 45 liable to be drafted by lottery. A drafted man could avoid service by hiring a substitute or paying a “commutation fee” of 300 dollars, about a year’s wages for a labourer.

The law was deeply unpopular among poor workers, who called it a “rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight”. Many were Irish immigrants who had arrived after the Great Irish Famine and lived in crowded tenements. Some feared that freed slaves after the Emancipation Proclamation would come north and compete for jobs, and Democratic newspapers fed those fears. Recent strikes in which Black workers had been hired as replacements added to the tension.

What happened

The first names were drawn on Saturday 11 July at the provost marshal’s office at Third Avenue and 47th Street. When the lottery resumed on Monday 13 July, a large crowd attacked the office and set it on fire. Police Superintendent John A. Kennedy was recognised and badly beaten.

The violence spread quickly. Crowds attacked police stations, an armoury, the offices of the pro-Republican New York Tribune and the homes of prominent Republicans. That afternoon rioters looted and burned the Colored Orphan Asylum on Fifth Avenue. Its staff led the more than 200 children out through a back door to safety.

Black residents became the main targets. Men were beaten, and several were lynched and their bodies mutilated. Many Black families fled to police stations, to Blackwell’s Island or across the rivers to New Jersey and Brooklyn. Boarding houses and businesses that served Black customers were attacked.

Governor Horatio Seymour, a Democrat critical of the draft, spoke to crowds at City Hall on 14 July and urged calm, but his conciliatory tone was later criticised. Mayor George Opdyke called for military help.

The city’s police fought running street battles, supported by a few soldiers, sailors and cadets. On 15 and 16 July federal regiments, some of them just back from the Battle of Gettysburg, arrived in strength. Using artillery and volley fire in streets such as Second Avenue, they broke the last large crowds by the night of 16 July. On 17 July Archbishop John Hughes addressed a large crowd and appealed for peace.

By the numbers

Key people

• Horatio Seymour – Democratic governor of New York, opponent of the draft, who appealed to the crowds.
• George Opdyke – Republican mayor of New York, who requested troops.
• John A. Kennedy – police superintendent, beaten by the crowd on the first day.
• Archbishop John Hughes – Catholic leader of the city’s Irish community, who called for an end to the violence.

Consequences

The draft resumed in New York on 19 August 1863 under heavy military guard and without further serious trouble. The city council voted funds to pay the commutation fee for poor draftees, which reduced resentment.

For Black New Yorkers the riots were a catastrophe. Many left Manhattan permanently, and the Black population of the island fell to under 10,000 by 1865. Wealthy Republicans of the Union League Club organised relief and later sponsored Black regiments; in March 1864 the 20th US Colored Infantry marched through cheering crowds in the same city.

Legacy

Historians see the riots as a mix of anti-draft protest, class conflict and racial violence, with the racial element the most shocking. The events were long left out of the city’s public memory but have received renewed attention, including through Martin Scorsese’s 2002 film Gangs of New York, which dramatises them freely.

Timeline

• 1863, 3 March: Congress passes the Enrollment Act.
• 1863, 11 July: The first draft lottery is held in Manhattan.
• 1863, 13 July: Rioters burn the draft office and the Colored Orphan Asylum.
• 1863, 14 July: Governor Seymour addresses the crowds at City Hall.
• 1863, 15–16 July: Federal troops arrive and suppress the riots.
• 1863, 17 July: Archbishop Hughes appeals for peace.
• 1863, 19 August: The draft resumes in New York City.

Why it matters

The draft riots revealed how deeply divided the North was over the war, conscription and emancipation. They remain one of the deadliest urban riots in US history and a stark reminder of the racial violence faced by Black Americans in the North.