This month we are marking the 160th anniversary of one of the most dramatic moments in New York City history – the Civil War Draft Riots which stormed through the city from July 13 to July 16, 1863.
Thousands of people took to the streets on Manhattan in violent protest, fueled initially by anger over conscription to the Union Army which sent New Yorkers to the front lines of the Civil War. (Or, most specifically, those who couldn’t afford to pay the $300 commutation fee were sent to war.)
In many ways, our own city often seems to have forgotten these significant events.
There are very few memorials or plaques in existence at all to the Draft Riots, a very odd situation given the numerous markers to other tragic and unsettling moments in New York City history.
In particular, given the number of African-Americans who were murdered in the streets during these riots, and the numbers of Black families who fled New York in terror, we think this is a very significant oversight.
In this episode, a remastered, re-edited edition of our 2011 show, we take you through those hellish days of deplorable violence and appalling attacks on abolitionists, Republicans, wealthy citizens, and anybody standing in the way of blind anger. Mobs filled the streets, destroying businesses (from corner stores to Brooks Brothers) and threatening to throw the city into permanent chaos.
Visit the website for more information
FURTHER LISTENING
Fernando Wood: The Scoundrel Mayor of New York
The Hoaxes and Conspiracies of New York
And did you see this performance from the musical Paradise Square, set during the Draft Riots?
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The Making of the Pledge of Allegiance
#412 The New York Parking Wars
#411 Miss Subways: Queens of the New York Commute
#410 The Roeblings: The Family Who Built The Brooklyn Bridge
Rewind: The Birth of the Broadway Musical
#409 The Great New York City Pizza Tour
#408 The Titanic and the Fate of Pier 54
#407 New York by Gaslight: Illuminating the 19th Century
Rewind: When The Irish Came To New York
#406 How Wall Street Got Its Name
#405 Mona Lisa at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The First Woman Ever Photographed
#404 Nighthawks and Automats: Edward Hopper's New York
#403 The Fulton Fish Market: History at the Seaport
Rewind: A Bar Named Julius', New York's Newest Landmark
#402 Treasures from the World's Fair
Side Streets: Good Diners, Great Pizza and Mars 2112
#401 The World Before Wordle: Talking Puzzles With AJ Jacobs
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