The New York Draft Riots (July 11 to July 16, 1863; known at the time as Draft Week), are violent disturbances in New York City that are the culmination of discontent with new laws passed by Congress to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War.
The riots are the largest civil insurrection in American history apart from the American Civil War.
President Abraham Lincoln sends several regiments of militia and volunteer troops to control the city.
The rioters number in the thousands and are mainly Irish.Smaller-scale riots erupt in other cities about the same time.Initially intended to express anger at the draft, the protests degrade into "a virtual racial pogrom, with uncounted numbers of blacks murdered on the streets".
The conditions in the city are such that Major General John E. Wool statea on July 16, "Martial law ought to be proclaimed, but I have not a sufficient force to enforce it."
The military suppressea the mob using artillery and fixed bayonets, but not before numerous buildings have been ransacked or destroyed, including many homes, the New York Tribune office, and an orphanage for black children.
