Some evils don't go away. They may just shift targets. What counts is our
response to them. Eric
The Real Story of the ‘Draft Riots’
In 1863, mobs of white New Yorkers terrorized Black people. The response has
something to teach us.
By Elizabeth Mitchell
Ms. Mitchell is a journalist and the author of four nonfiction books, including
“Lincoln’s Lie: A True Civil War Caper Through Fake News, Wall Street and the
White House.”
* Feb. 18, 2021
*
<https://www.facebook.com/dialog/feed?app_id=9869919170&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2021%2F02%2F18%2Fopinion%2Fdraft-riots-racism.html%3Fsmid%3Dfb-share&name=The%20Real%20Story%20of%20the%20%E2%80%98Draft%20Riots%E2%80%99&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F>
*
<https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=The%20Real%20Story%20of%20the%20%E2%80%98Draft%20Riots%E2%80%99%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2021%2F02%2F18%2Fopinion%2Fdraft-riots-racism.html%3Fsmid%3Dwa-share>
*
<https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2021%2F02%2F18%2Fopinion%2Fdraft-riots-racism.html%3Fsmid%3Dtw-share&text=The%20Real%20Story%20of%20the%20%E2%80%98Draft%20Riots%E2%80%99>
*
<mailto:?subject=NYTimes.com%3A%20The%20Real%20Story%20of%20the%20%E2%80%98Draft%20Riots%E2%80%99&body=From%20The%20New%20York%20Times%3A%0A%0AThe%20Real%20Story%20of%20the%20%E2%80%98Draft%20Riots%E2%80%99%0A%0AIn%201863%2C%20mobs%20of%20white%20New%20Yorkers%20terrorized%20Black%20people.%20The%20response%20has%20something%20to%20teach%20us.%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2021%2F02%2F18%2Fopinion%2Fdraft-riots-racism.html%3Fsmid%3Dem-share>
*
*
[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/02/17/opinion/sunday/17Mitchell/17Mitchell-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale]
[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/02/17/opinion/sunday/17Mitchell/17Mitchell-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale]
Credit...Ricardo Santos
A mob murdered 23-year-old Abraham
Franklin<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=16&r=-0.028,0.464,1.18,0.538,0>
at 27th Street and Seventh Avenue in New York City. He had hurried to visit
his mother to pray by her side for her protection when the rioters began raging
from Downtown to Uptown. Just as he finished his prayers, they crashed through
the door, beat him and hung him as his mother looked on. Then they mutilated
his body in front of her.
During the riots in July 1863, the mob also came upon Peter Heuston, a
63-year-old widowed war veteran and a member of the Mohawk tribe, whom they
took to be Black. They brutally attacked
him<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=17> on Roosevelt and Oak
Streets near the East River. He died of his injuries, leaving his 8-year-old
daughter an orphan.
Another victim, William Jones, was so disfigured, whether from the mob’s
mutilation or the decay his body endured waiting for observers to gain courage
to investigate his identity, that he could only be identified by the loaf of
bread under his arm. He had gone out to fetch the staple for his wife and never
returned.
One woman
testified<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=19&r=-0.011,0.297,1.073,0.489,0>
that the mob broke through the doors of her son’s house on East 28th Street in
Manhattan, where she was visiting, using pickaxes to break through. The thugs
threw a baby out the window to its death. They chopped through the water pipes
so the people hiding in the basement of the building would be drowned. They
struck her son over the head with a crowbar and he died in the hospital two
days later.
ADVERTISEMENT
Continue reading the main
story<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/opinion/draft-riots-racism.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210217&instance_id=27236&nl=the-morning®i_id=119134593&segment_id=51871&te=1&user_id=519dd6e477b61db01b6c076d7c57e756#after-story-ad-1>
Some 400 white people
attacked<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=26&r=0.165,0.92,0.884,0.403,0>
the Black orphanage on Fifth Avenue near 43rd Street. They cut the trees with
axes, uprooted the shrubs in what had been a carefully tended garden, carted
away the fence and burned the building to the ground.
* Refer someone to The Times.
They’ll enjoy our special rate of $1 a
week.<https://www.nytimes.com/share?channel=ometered&areas=dock&campaign=corereferral>
Many people today, if they have even heard of the Draft Riots, probably know it
as a violent citizens’ revolt against President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863
mandatory conscription of soldiers. In Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York,”
inspired by the nonfiction book by Herbert Asbury, what happened over those
days comes across as a somewhat entertaining if gory battle between rival white
gangs.
The truth is that over the course of some four days, mobs of white New Yorkers
roamed the streets of the city from City Hall to Gramercy Park to past 40th
Street, setting fire to buildings and killing people, specifically targeting
Black people for the most horrific violence. Historians are still assessing the
overall death toll, with estimates ranging from more than 100 to more than a
thousand. One of the most prestigious Black newspapers of the time
estimated<https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Devil_s_Own_Work/RKjDbFtVAyAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Christian%20recorder>
the deaths of people of color to be as high as 175. Other Black people were
driven from their homes and all of their property destroyed. In the aftermath,
some 5,000 Black New Yorkers were
discovered<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=9&r=-0.118,0.442,1.16,0.529,0>
hiding on Blackwell’s Island, in police stations, in the swamps of New Jersey
and in barns on Long Island, desperately seeking safety from the murderous
white crowds.
The gruesome events should be remembered. They are as much a part of the city’s
history as 9/11, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire or immigration through
Ellis Island. And there is a related story to tell. One reason we know about
the brutality of those events is a
booklet<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=1&r=-1.276,0.011,3.553,1.621,0>,
“Report of the Merchants’ Committee for the Relief of Colored People Suffering
from the Riots in the City of New York,” published in 1863, from which I’ve
drawn many of the descriptions in this piece. Importantly, the clerks of the
merchant’s committee recorded the testimony of many of the people who had lost
loved ones to the murderous gangs, creating a clear record of many of the
atrocities committed.
Immediately after the riots, the white merchants of New York combined forces to
raise money to care for the injured, repair the damaged property and support
the legal and employment needs of the terrorized Black people. Of course
nothing could make up for the lives lost and the pain and suffering inflicted
on those who were attacked. But the shopkeepers quickly raised over
$40,000<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=5&r=-0.544,0.132,2.088,0.953,0>,
equivalent to more than $825,000 today. Their fund-raising effort was notable
because it focused on preserving and honoring the dignity of the people the
merchant committee’s report described as the
“sufferers.<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=15&r=-0.319,0.55,1.601,0.731,0>”
Editors’ Picks
<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/14/arts/television/saturday-night-live-regina-king.html?action=click&algo=use&block=editors_picks_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=139530259&impression_id=240a8010-71fb-11eb-af14-1395df387b7d&index=0&pgtype=Article®ion=ccolumn&req_id=620367483&surface=home-featured&variant=2_use&action=click&module=editorContent&pgtype=Article®ion=CompanionColumn&contentCollection=Trending>
[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/02/15/arts/14snl/14snl-articleLarge-v4.jpg]
‘S.N.L.’ Imagines a Victory Lap After Trump’s Acquittal
<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/magazine/how-the-trump-era-broke-the-sunday-morning-news-show.html?action=click&algo=use&block=editors_picks_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=888167204&impression_id=240a8011-71fb-11eb-af14-1395df387b7d&index=1&pgtype=Article®ion=ccolumn&req_id=620367483&surface=home-featured&variant=2_use&action=click&module=editorContent&pgtype=Article®ion=CompanionColumn&contentCollection=Trending>
[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/02/14/magazine/14mag-screenland/14mag-screenland-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350]
How the Trump Era Broke the Sunday-Morning News Show
<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/16/books/review/ticking-clock-60-minutes-ira-rosen.html?action=click&algo=use&block=editors_picks_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=941267070&impression_id=240a8012-71fb-11eb-af14-1395df387b7d&index=2&pgtype=Article®ion=ccolumn&req_id=620367483&surface=home-featured&variant=2_use&action=click&module=editorContent&pgtype=Article®ion=CompanionColumn&contentCollection=Trending>
[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/02/16/books/review/16Windolf/16Windolf-square640-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350]
Was ‘60 Minutes’ TV’s Most Toxic Workplace?
Continue reading the main
story<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/opinion/draft-riots-racism.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210217&instance_id=27236&nl=the-morning®i_id=119134593&segment_id=51871&te=1&user_id=519dd6e477b61db01b6c076d7c57e756&action=click&module=editorContent&pgtype=Article®ion=CompanionColumn&contentCollection=Trending#after-pp_edpick>
ADVERTISEMENT
Continue reading the main
story<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/opinion/draft-riots-racism.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210217&instance_id=27236&nl=the-morning®i_id=119134593&segment_id=51871&te=1&user_id=519dd6e477b61db01b6c076d7c57e756#after-story-ad-2>
“We have not come together to devise means for their relief because they are
colored people,” wrote Jonathan
Sturges<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=7&r=0.154,0.057,0.733,0.334,0>,
the treasurer of the group, “but because they are, as a class, persecuted and
in distress at the present moment.”
The merchants went about their work methodically. They vowed to secure help
from the county. Lawyers volunteered their expertise. When requested, ministers
visited the homes of survivors. They
urged<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=14&r=0.109,0.893,0.885,0.404,0>
businesses that were afraid to rehire their Black employees for fear of the
mob’s vengeance to be courageous, and promised to guard the businesses that did
rehire.
J.D. McKenzie, the chairman,
noted<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=37&r=0.006,0.386,1.068,0.487,0>
that the murderers and pillagers “sought to destroy a race.” But the
shopkeepers made a point of not wasting their time focusing on who perpetrated
each of the evil deeds. The report made clear that the murderers were clearly
“bad
men<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=7&r=-0.072,0.133,1.266,0.578,0>.”
The group moved on to what they could do to rectify the inhumanity.
On Saturday, July 25, 1863, the third day that funds were dispersed, applicants
packed<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=10&r=-0.009,0.148,1.051,0.48,0>
Fourth Street near Broadway. The donors prided themselves on limiting stress
for the recipients. “There are no harsh or unkind words uttered by the clerks —
no impertinent quizzing in regard to irrelevant matters — no partisan or
sectarian view advanced. The business is transacted in a straightforward,
practical manner, without chilling the charity into an offense by creating the
impression that the recipient is humiliated by accepting the gift,” the New
York Daily Tribune
reported.<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=11&r=0.008,0.599,0.911,0.416,0>
The donors encouraged people to return if they needed more help.
In the first
month<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=11&r=0.039,0.959,0.911,0.416,0>,
the group assisted 6,392 people. Since their children were beneficiaries as
well, the total number helped added up to 12,782 — from laborers to music
teachers, physicians to cooks, ministers, artists, and farmers.
Black ministers and laymen wrote a
note<https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2207/?sp=34&r=-0.209,0.642,1.526,0.696,0>
to the merchants about what it all meant: “You did not hesitate to come
forward to our relief amid the threatened destruction of your own lives and
property. You obeyed the noblest dictates of the human heart, and by your
generous moral courage you rolled back the tide of violence that had well nigh
swept us away.”
This episode from the 19th century is haunting even now, first, because of its
brutality. The violence occurred on streets where people now dine and shop,
oblivious to what happened. Men were lynched while simply walking home from
their jobs. But the manner in which the shopkeepers of New York responded is
also important, and it may be instructive to how all people confront and
respond to racism today.
It’s horrific what happened on Washington and Leroy Streets, or 34th Street at
the East River, East 28th Street, Fulton Ferry, 30th Street and Second Avenue
and Carmine Street in 1863. But horrific events fueled by racism are not just
in our past. Think of what happened to George Floyd
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html> in
Minneapolis and David
McAtee<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/us/louisville-unrest-david-mcatee.html>
in Louisville and Ahmaud
Arbery<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/us/ahmaud-arbery-william-roddie-bryan.html>
in South Georgia, and what happens in the cells of people still waiting to be
freed under the Supreme Court’s ruling against juvenile life sentences. The
story of the merchants’ response to the so-called Draft Riots is a reminder
that we can all do more if we don’t want the lives of more Black people to be
marred by cruelty. That begins with having a cleareyed view of our own history.
Understanding the past in a way that’s neither sugarcoated nor whitewashed will
keep us moving forward.
Elizabeth Mitchell is a journalist and the author of four nonfiction books,
including “Lincoln’s Lie: A True Civil War Caper Through Fake News, Wall Street
and the White House.”
The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of
letters<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/opinion/letters/letters-to-editor-new-york-times-women.html>
to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our
articles. Here are some
tips<https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/115014925288-How-to-submit-a-letter-to-the-editor>.
And here’s our email: letters@xxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:letters@xxxxxxxxxxx>.
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on
Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/nytopinion>, Twitter
(@NYTopinion)<http://twitter.com/NYTOpinion> and
Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/nytopinion/>.
*
<https://www.facebook.com/dialog/feed?app_id=9869919170&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2021%2F02%2F18%2Fopinion%2Fdraft-riots-racism.html%3Fsmid%3Dfb-share&name=The%20Real%20Story%20of%20the%20%E2%80%98Draft%20Riots%E2%80%99&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F>
*
<https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=The%20Real%20Story%20of%20the%20%E2%80%98Draft%20Riots%E2%80%99%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2021%2F02%2F18%2Fopinion%2Fdraft-riots-racism.html%3Fsmid%3Dwa-share>
