The Draft Riots

In March 1863, needing more soldiers to fight in the Union Army, Congress authorizes the country's first draft law. It immediately causes an uproar among the poorer classes. A clause in the conscription act makes it possible for wealthy draftees to buy their way out of service by paying $300 or providing a substitute. Tension was already high among the struggling working classes, many of whom were recent immigrants. There had recently been a series of strikes among longshoremen, which had been broken when capitalists brought in black strikebreakers. Violent clashes between blacks and the predominantly Irish longshoremen had resulted.

Just days after conscription begins in New York City in July, a mob led by longshoremen destroys the main recruiting station. This sparks what will later be considered the worst riot in the country's history. For almost five days, railroads, street car lines, factories, shipyards, and residences are destroyed. While the class bias of the conscription act fuels white working-class rage, ethnic antagonism makes blacks the scapegoats for the rioters' anger. Blacks are hunted down and beaten, their houses set ablaze. Before it is over, more than 400 are killed or injured. For weeks, bodies of black dock workers are found floating in the Hudson and East rivers. The draft riots also spread into other areas, including upstate New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Indiana, and some mining districts in Pennsylvania.

Anti-Draft Riots, 1863