NYC Draft Riots

June 6, 2005 10:13 AM

The New York City Draft Riots:"As a hot and muggy Monday morning dawned on July 13, 1863, a large crowd of New York working people moved uptown, gathering workers from workshops and factories along the way... They banded together to express their collective outrage at the new draft law. Once they reached the Provost Marshall's office on 46th Street and Third Avenue, the scene of Saturday's first draft lottery, the crowd attacked the building, setting it on fire."
Maps, commentary, history. The main site is pretty cool too: Virtual New York City. Previously in the blue: a primary account from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle archives.
posted by OmieWise (10 comments total)

The climax of the movie Gangs of New York featured this.
posted by delmoi at 10:19 AM on June 6, 2005

Damned hippies.
posted by MrMoonPie at 10:29 AM on June 6, 2005

Wow, do you think 'muricans will have similar riots if this administration restores the draft? Or will they just mewl like cattle as they shop and be 'good little consumers' right up until the moment they graze along the malls until the recruiter goes *snag* right outside the induction centers they're sure to set up near the major shopping malls.
I mean, that's what I would do if I were a recruiter, set up the induction centers right next to the shopping malls. . .
posted by mk1gti at 12:06 PM on June 6, 2005

Gangs of New York got it almost entirely wrong. There was a similar riot in Detroit that summer, but the New York one got all the press. (Probably for good reason.)
posted by goatdog at 12:37 PM on June 6, 2005

More like damned Irish.
posted by Bonzai at 4:31 PM on June 6, 2005

How the Irish Became White
posted by meehawl at 4:50 PM on June 6, 2005

"How the Irish Became White
"posted by meehawl at 4:50 PM PST on June 6 [!]"

From the editor of Race Traitor zine.
posted by OmieWise at 4:56 PM on June 6, 2005

i've been thinking lately that we should have a draft in full effect all the time, war or peace with absolutely no exceptions for college students or low-tier politicians or anything.

might be the only way to keep us out of trouble. i wouldn't call for one right now, of course.
posted by es_de_bah at 5:16 PM on June 6, 2005

Good book on this subject is "The New York City Draft Riots: Their Significance for American Society and Politics in the Age of the Civil War" by Iver Bernstein. It's an academic text, chock full of information on the riot and its effects.
posted by kurtosis at 5:57 PM on June 6, 2005

es_de_bah
You've got the right idea about bringing back a full time draft like they do in Israel.
I think that if they do such a thing, everyone all over the country should be inducted to counter the majority of those who come from low income, primarily southern areas of the country. By doing this I think we will force substantial segments of the population into integrating with segments of society they otherwise might never experience and habitually deride. Examples: how many of you have ever hung out with poor whites from Alabama? Blacks from the projects in Detroit? Hispanics from El Paso or East L.A.? How do you think these people would react when they realized that whatever stereotypes they might have had about you were just so much fluff in the wind? And vice versa.
How do you think those who come from rich families would behave after their enlistment was up having spent substantial amounts of time around those people for a period not less than four years, coming back for a couple of weeks every year to maintain proficiency until retirement?
How likely do you think it would be for this nation to go to war if the only persons allowed to vote on warfare were the soldiers themselves, no pResidents, no congress or senate, no generals or admirals? There would have to be a *damn* good reason to go to war with such restrictions.
How humble do you think the rich would be once they found out there was no way to keep themselves from serving as grunts instead of 'automatic rank as Captain, Colonel, General' based on their father's income such as happened in the Civil war, WWI and other wars in this nation's history.
Yes, bringing back the draft would be a damn good idea.
After we have put to bed this black stain on 'murica's history once and for all. And brought those to justice who have sent this nation to war on lies and deceit.
posted by mk1gti at 8:42 PM on June 6, 2005