THE NEW YORK DRAFT RIOTS
I had sold all of my jewelry. The proceeds of the sale of the saloon
were nearly all paid out for my debts. My financial affairs were in a
low condition, with a loving wife to care for. What made my affairs
worse was the prospect of soon becoming a father. At that time there was
considerable war excitement in New York. The rebels had broken loose and
had invaded Pennsylvania. All the New York State militia were then sent
to the front. My mind was fully made up to enter the navy as soon as our
child was born and my wife well. The grade of ensign had been created in
the navy. Getting good recommendations from Duncan, Sherman & Company
and from Captain Otis, I made application to the Secretary of the
Navy---Gideon Welles---and received permission to be examined for the
position of ensign.
The draft riots in the city had begun (July, 1863) and all business was
at a standstill. The three hundred dollars' clause was the cause of the
trouble. A man in moderate circumstances could pay that amount and be
exempt from military service, but a poor man would be compelled to go.
The State militia being away, the city was defenceless. Besides, there
were thirty thousand known criminals among the population, and a great
number of rebel sympathizers. The drawing of names for the draft took
place at Forty-second Street and Second Avenue. Early in the morning a
large mob gathered and very quickly drove the officers from the building
and gutted the place most thoroughly. The police from that precinct came
running up Second Avenue, and used their clubs very freely. When they
got close to the mob, affairs were different. The rioters disarmed the
police and gave them a most unmerciful beating, several being killed
outright. One had sought refuge in a house, where he was found hidden
under a mattress and thrown out of a second-story window. Everything in
the building was destroyed and the place set on fire. The same result
happened at every house where a policeman had been assisted or
sheltered. Next the Invalid Corps, composed of disabled soldiers, made a
charge on the crowd.
They were disarmed and driven back, and in a short time news of the riot
spread over the city and pandemonium reigned for the time being. All
places of business were closed and not a policeman dared to leave the
station-houses. A number of good citizens took possession of the
armories and arsenals and guarded them from capture by the rioters.
Buildings in different parts of the city were set on fire, and the
firemen would be on hand with their engines, but would not be allowed to
throw a single stream of water. The Coloured Orphan Asylum was pillaged
and burnt to the ground. The Old Firemen's was an organization that gave
its services without pay, but its members were exempt from military
duty. Their engines were worked by hand, the companies having from
seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five members each, and were
always present at the fires, but were powerless to do anything. The mob
had sense enough not to attempt to injure any of the engines, as that
would have precipitated a fight with the fire laddies, and they had the
reputation of being fighters from the word "Go."
Down town, the rioters made an attack on the New York Tribune building,
but old Horace Greeley was prepared for war. The doors and windows were
barricaded with bales of paper and behind that were all the employees,
all heavily armed. The mob took in the situation and went after
something that was easier, such as chasing negroes into the East and
North rivers and watching them drown. At Twenty-first Street they caught
several and hanged them to lamp-posts; then straw mattresses were placed
under them and set on fire. United States marines were sent from the
Brooklyn Navy Yard to guard the United States Treasury building on Wall
Street, as well as the banks in that neighbourhood. Towards evening the
rioters became drunk and more reckless; nothing could be done to check
them, and all the respectable citizens anticipated a night of terror.
Fortunately, about eight o'clock a heavy rain commenced to fall, and
that caused the drunken brutes to disappear. The rain also extinguished
the fire in the many ruins in different localities. The next day the
weather was quite pleasant, and the rioters, early in the morning,
recommenced their work of destruction; houses would be pillaged and then
set on fire. The lower class of people, especially the women and
children from the tenement-houses, could be seen carrying off everything
that was portable. The thieves were very busy stealing all the valuables
when a house was first raided, and they were usually the first to make a
demonstration at any building, the mob being always ready to follow, on
general principles. The police remained in the station-houses, not one
of them daring to come outside, as it would have been certain death to
do so.
Gun and hardware stores were broken into and looted of all arms and
ammunitions, and, by that means, a large number of the most desperate
rioters became armed. A mob composed of about five thousand men started
for the Fifth Avenue Hotel, situated on Madison Square, considered at
that time the finest and most aristocratic hotel in the United States.
As they came close to the building, yelling loudly, "Burn the Fifth
Avenue! Loot the Fifth Avenue!" all anticipating an exciting time as
well as plenty of rich plunder, the whole thing was suddenly changed.
The occupants of the hotel had been watching the advance of the mob--not
knowing their intention--and as the rioters entered the Square, howling
and hooting, every window in the building was occupied by the guests,
who loudly cheered and waved handkerchiefs to show that they were in
full sympathy with the mob. That ended the affair, as the rioters were
not disposed to injure any of their openly avowed Copperhead friends.
The cheers were returned, and no other demonstration was made. The Fifth
Avenue was a regular resort for secessionists and rebel sympathizers
during the war. In any other country such a place would have been
closed up and all of the occupants put in prison.
Towards night a few of the militia arrived in the city, and the rioters
killed a few of them by filing from the windows and house-tops in the
tenement districts. The morning of the third day more troops arrived,
and the mob scattered in all directions upon the approach of the
soldiers, only to mass together again in another locality. In the
morning a regiment of infantry marched down Second Avenue and the
colonel stopped on some private business on Twenty-seventh Street, when
two rioters sneaked up behind and knocked him senseless with a club.
Then the crowd quickly gathered, a rope was procured, and the colonel
was strung up to a lamp-post. In the meantime the regiment was marching
along in complete ignorance of their colonel's fate. The body was soon
cut down and dragged through the streets, receiving all kinds of
ill-treatment. Rioters' wives hurled paving-stones at the prostrate
body, and what was most strange was the fact of his retaining life until
late in the afternoon. He was a very powerful man and must have had
wonderful vitality. Near Tenth Street was a large building used as a
manufactory of muskets and revolvers. The rioters had broken in and were
helping themselves to everything portable, and, in fact, they were so
busy that they did not know that Colonel Lynch's regiment was at hand,
and when they did realize that fact it was too late, for, as they came
rushing out, they were shot down without mercy. A number of them jumped
out of the windows only to be killed or maimed for life as they struck
the sidewalk. Quite a large number was killed by soldiers, and those who
escaped spread to the different parts of the city and circulated the
story that the soldiers would shoot to kill.
That night the riot was nearly ended, for more troops had arrived and
the police were again on duty. The next morning the bakers, butchers,
and grocers resumed business. Those people who had not a good supply of
provisions on hand had a hard time while the riot lasted, as not a
single article could be purchased. For three days not a street-car or
vehicle of any description could be seen on the streets, nor was a
coloured person, male or female, visible during the period; probably the
only time in the history of New York that such conditions prevailed, for
a New York negro, as a usual thing, is not very bashful about making his
presence apparent to all who come in contact with him. The Southern
sympathizers were actually the ones who brought on that riot, for they
were always up to some mischief, and a few months afterwards assisted
Dr. Blackburn to distribute clothing infected with small-pox to the
poorer classes in the city, but the plot failed.
Next came the attempt to burn the whole city by starting fires
simultaneously in different localities. Each of the firebugs carried a
black satchel containing self-igniting chemicals, which were to be
dropped on the stairways of the large buildings. Barnum's Museum was set
on fire, and several other places also, with but little damage
resulting, and, about that time, any one caught with a black satchel
would suddenly come to grief.
My wife having recovered from her confinement, and the riot being ended,
I went to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and underwent a medical examination.
Next, I was thoroughly examined in navigation and then in seamanship.
Having passed in all, I was ordered to return again in a few days and,
in the meantime, to provide myself with the regulation uniform. My money
was all spent by that time, so I borrowed enough with which to buy my
new outfit. In due time, I received my appointment as an acting ensign
in the navy. The pay was thirteen hundred dollars a year. There were
three classes of officers in the navy: first, the regulars; second, the
volunteers, composed of officers who had resigned previously to the war;
and third, the acting officers who volunteered from the merchant
service. The rank and pay was the same in all classes. I was at once
ordered to the St. Lawrence, for instruction in gunnery. Quite a number
of ensigns and masters' mates was on board, getting initiation as to
how a ship's battery should be handled. The first day's exercise was
sufficient for me; I was pronounced proficient and excused from further
drill. The other officers were surprised at my learning my duties so
quickly, but I never mentioned my experience on the gunnery-ship
Excellent.