USA > New York > New York City > The Memorial History of the City of New York: From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892, Volume III > Part 54
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Preparations for the proposed draft were rapidly pushed forward by the war department. Those affecting the city comprised the appointment of a provost-marshal for each congressional district,2 and an assistant provost-marshal-general to supervise their work, for the cities of New-York and Brooklyn; this officer was Colonel Robert Nugent, Sixty-ninth New-York Volunteers, a gallant soldier, a discreet officer, an Irishman, and a Democrat. As early as April 24, 1862, Governor Seymour and Mayor Opdyke were informed of this. The first order for making a draft in the State under the Enrolment Act was issued July 1. Notwithstanding the knowledge, which the municipal authorities possessed, that an unpopular public measure was about to be put into execution within the city limits, it does not appear that any unusual precaution was taken to preserve the peace. Indeed, the force available for that purpose, outside of the police, was limited to a handful of regulars in the harbor garrisons, and a few disabled men of the Invalid Corps. The local militia regiments had been summoned to repel the threatened invasion of a neighboring State in cooperation with the armies in the field, leaving their own homes open to an enemy in the rear more to be dreaded than the soldiers of Lee. Nevertheless, the police department comprised numerous resolute, experienced, and able officers, especially its presi- dent, Thomas Acton, and its superintendent, John A. Kennedy.
1 "New-York and the Conscription."
2 Provost-Marshals : 4th Congressional District, Joel B. Erhardt; 5th Congressional District, John Duffy ; 6th Congressional District, James B. Farr;
7th Congressional District, Frederick C. Wagner ; 8th Congressional District, Benjamin F. Manierre ; 9th Congressional District, Charles E. Jenkins.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
The morning of Saturday, July 11, had been selected for the com- mencement of the draft in the city, and the day passed without much interference with the officers charged with its supervision; and the local authorities felt encouraged to think that the remainder of the work would be completed without serious opposition. The follow- ing day, being Sunday, was undoubtedly seized by those intent upon obstructing the provost-marshals in the discharge of their duty to foment trouble among the ignorant or reckless element that abounds in every large city. On Monday morning a few policemen were sent to the enrolling-offices at 677 Third Avenue and at 1190 Broadway. At the last-named place the mystic wheel was set in motion, and the drawing of names was continued without interruption until noon, when the provost-marshals suspended operations as a measure of precaution. Up to ten o'clock in the morning the city had been com- paratively quiet. At that hour Superintendent Kennedy, while upon a tour of inspection, without escort, and in plain clothes, was attacked by a mob at the corner of Forty-sixth street and Lexington Avenue, and, after being severely beaten, barely escaped with his life through the intervention of an influential friend. He was disabled for some days, and the immediate command of the police devolved upon Mr. Acton. That officer established himself at police headquarters in Mulberry street, and, with the advantage of a complete telegraphic system centering there, practically directed the operations of the campaign which ensued. The entire police force of the city had now been assembled at its respective station-houses, and for the next three days was constantly employed in stamping out the sparks of insurrection which were flying about and at times breaking out into sheets of flame that threatened the existence of the city. From the Cooper Institute to Forty-sixth street, Third Avenue was black with human beings, who hung over the eaves of the buildings, filled the doors and windows, and packed the street from curb to curb. Small bodies of police were driven away or trampled under foot, houses were fired, stores looted, and a very carnival of crime inaugurated. Negroes became especially obnoxious, and neither age nor sex was regarded by the white brutes in slaking their thirst for blood: from every lamp-post were suspended the victims of their blind fury. With one accord several thousand rioters swooped down upon the Colored Orphan Asylum, then occupying the space from Forty-third to Forty-fourth street on Fifth Avenue. The two hundred helpless children were hurriedly removed by a rear door while the mob rushed in at the front; the torch was applied in twenty places at once, and despite the heroic efforts of Chief Engineer Decker and other firemen to save the structure, it was burned to the ground. Emboldened by the progress they had made in lawlessness, the principal body of the
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rioters, numbering some five thousand men, moved upon the citadel of the oppressor, as they considered the central office of the police in Mulberry street.
To meet this threatening demonstration President Acton detailed Sergeant (afterward Inspector) Daniel Carpenter, a man of great courage and ability, and placed under his command about two hun- dred policemen who had been held in reserve at that point. It was a duty of supreme importance, and well was it executed. Without unnecessary delay, Carpenter moved his column down Bleecker street to Broadway, at the same time sending a detachment up the nearest parallel streets to the east and west, to strike
1 the flanks of the infuriated mass bearing down upon his front. At the proper moment a combined charge utterly demoralized the undisciplined horde, which, sinking under the well-planted blows of the police, fled in every direc- tion. The street looked like a battle-field, broken heads were count- less, and the spoils of war included the stars and stripes and a banner inscribed "No Draft."
As the night closed in, it became evident that the disturbance was too wide-spread and deep-seated to be controlled by clubs, and that reinforcements must be called for. To this end Mayor Opdyke called for troops upon General Wool, commanding the Department of the East, and General Sandford, commanding the National Guard. Gen- eral Wool directed Brevet Brigadier-General Harvey Brown, Colonel Fifth U. S. Artillery, commanding the troops in the harbor, to report with his available force to Major-General Sandford of the State militia for duty. General Brown declined to obey what he considered an illegal order, but finally yielded to the solicitations of certain promi- nent citizens, and agreed to waive a part of the question in dispute, stipulating that he should personally direct the operations of the troops drawn from the military posts under his command, according to his previous assignment by the war department.2
General Brown established his headquarters at the central office,
1 George Opdyke was born in Hunterdon County, N. J., in 1805. When a young man he went West, and afterward to New Orleans, returning to New- York in 1832, where he subsequently established the banking-house of George Opdyke & Co. He served in the legislature in 1858, faithfully pro- tecting the franchises of New-York city from spoliation. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Na- tional Republican Convention, and was instru- mental in the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. He was mayor of New-York in 1862-63, was a pa- triotic sustainer of the national government, an energetic worker in raising and equipping troops, and exercised a strong influence in preventing commercial panics. He was a member of the New-York Constitutional Convention in 1867-68, of the New-York Constitutional Commission in
1872-75, of the New-York Chamber of Commerce from 1858 to 1880, and its vice-president in 1867-75. Mr. Opdyke was the author of a "Treatise on Po- litical Economy," a "Report on the Currency," and a volume of "Official Documents, Addresses, etc." He died in New-York city, June 12, 1880. EDITOR. 2 WAR DEPARTMENT.
(G. O. 36.) ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
WASHINGTON, April 7. 1863.
6. . . . The duties of military commanders above defined will devolve, in the City of New-York and the military posts in that vicinity. on Brevet Briga- dier-General H. Brown, Colonel Fifth U. S. Artil- lery. By order of the Secretary of War.
(Signed)
L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
remaining there, in active cooperation with the police board, during the continuance of the riot. General Sandford did not attempt to control the operations of the regular troops, but, at the head of some seven hundred men of the militia, temporarily absent from their regi- ments, proceeded to occupy the State Arsenal at Seventh Avenue and Thirty-fifth street.
The second and third days were marked by fresh outbursts and much bloodshed: bayonets and bullets were substituted for police- men's billies. The territory of the disturbance had extended to Harlem, and westward beyond Sixth Avenue. Evidences of able leadership among the bands of marauders were visible. The roofs of houses became vantage-ground from which stones were hurled and shots fired at the police and troops in sight. Detachments composed of mixed civil and military forces were sent out from Mulberry street to disperse the more formidable bodies of law-breakers. In one of these encounters Colonel O'Brien of the 11th New-York Volunteers (then on recruiting service in the city), although not assigned to duty with the troops, was conspicuous in opposing the mob near the cor- ner of Second Avenue and Thirty-second street. With a disregard of ordinary prudence, he ventured shortly after, alone and in uniform, to return to the same locality. With fiendish glee the roughs seized him, and, after beating him unmercifully, dragged him up and down the street, and finally, after subjecting him to every conceivable abuse, tossed him, covered with filth, into his own back yard, where he ex- pired after lingering without relief for several hours. Among his most cruel persecutors were women who emulated the worst deeds of the most brutal Indian squaw. Although the insurgents received some salutary checks during the second day, the disorder was far from los- ing strength. Driven from one section, it quickly made its appear- ance in another. It gradually crept over to the North River. Public buildings were threatened. The "Tribune" building received a large share of sinister attention, and the residences of the mayor and other obnoxious citizens were often in peril. In the mean time the general government had taken precaution in the way of placing gunboats at various points in the waters surrounding the city, and at the Navy- yard, to cooperate with the weak land force available. Orders were issued to the Seventh and other city regiments to return home, and quite a large force was under orders in the Army of the Potomac and at Washington to move on New-York at a moment's notice. But the admirable arrangements of General Brown and President Acton, and the excellent discipline of the force under their direction, finally pre- vailed against the unorganized army of anarchy and misrule, and by midnight of the third day the wires reported "all quiet." The back- bone of the beast was broken, but nevertheless all good citizens drew
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ath of relief when, shortly after, it was known that the Seventh eturned to aid in defending home and fireside.
the fourth day proclamations were issued by the governor and r- the one setting forth revalence of insurrection, ther announcing the prac- close of hostilities. It ne necessary during the ;o break up two or three erously inclined bands, succumbed only to a free f canister. In these affairs ins Franklin and Putnam1 Lieutenant Wood of the distinguished themselves. was announced by the r that the draft had been nded, while the common il appropriated $2,500,000 'd paying $600 each for itutes for the poor who t be drafted. In the after- the 65th and 152d New- Volunteers arrived and 1 the force at police head- ers in Mulberry street. THE OLD BRICK CHURCH.2
rly on the morning after the battle of Bull tarted with wine, fruit, and other articles o the condition of invalids, and visited the t hospitals about Washington, relieving as could the wounded of our own State. As aving the hospital at Georgetown, the sur- rited me to see a patient who had shown linary endurance. I found a young man :ot. The surgeon removed some lint from It-ball wound. He then asked the young raise himself, so that, while resting upon w, I saw that the ball had passed through ", avoiding any vital spot. The patient, the informed me, had, after being the last to le field, reformed the thinned ranks of his y and marched at their head from the round to their former encampment near gton, and then reported himself as a d officer. Notwithstanding this fearful he was calm and hopeful. He came, as he d me, from Minnesota, and was in com- ! a company in a Minnesota regiment. He , his name, and I left, strongly impressed e idea that, if his life was spared, he was I for future usefulness. I went directly secretary of War, who directed a commis- be issued for my protege. I went from
Secretary Cameron to President Lincoln, who not only cheerfully approved the commission, but was only prevented by pressing duties from taking it over to Georgetown himself. In less than three hours after I left him, Captain Putnam, of the Minnesota Volunteers, found himself designated as Captain Putnam of the United States army. . . . During the sanguinary riots of July, 1863, I was in New-York. . . . When sitting at Police Headquar- ters a U. S. officer came in who had been directed to disperse the rioters who had murdered Colonel O'Brien. Our recognition was mutual, as was the surprise and the gratification. . . . Captain Put- nam, as I learned from the Commissioners, con- tinued active and vigilant, making thorough work wherever he went, until the riots were over." Thurlow Weed, in "Galaxy," IX. 837.
2 The old Brick Church was situated on the cor- ner of Nassau and Beekman streets, where it was erected in 1767. The present Brick Church, erected in 1858 on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-seventh street, is very similar in gen- eral style to its down-town predecessor, but is larger and more imposing. The history of this church is notable for the long pastorate of Dr. Gardiner Spring, who, called to the position in 1810, remained in office sixty-two years.
EDITOR.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
One of the most satisfactory features of the terrible experience through which the city passed at this time was the mutual respect and confidence which existed between the regular troops and the police force combined to preserve law and order. In the final report of the police commissioners, a grateful tribute was paid the soldiers! and General Brown, in relinquishing his command to General Canby, said that "having during the present insurrection been in immediate and constant cooperation with the Police Department of this city, he desires the privilege of expressing his unbounded admiration of it. Never in civil or military life has he seen such untiring devotion and such efficient service."
Order having been restored, the draft was resumed and completed without further interruption,-Governor Seymour having issued a proclamation warning the people against disorders, and saying: "I again repeat to you the warning which I gave to you during the riotous proceedings of last month, that the only opposition to the con- scription which can be allowed is an appeal to the courts." General Dix, commanding the Department of the East, in a letter to the gor- ernor at this time said: "The recent riots in this city, coupled as they were with the most atrocious and revolting crimes, have cast a shadow over it for the moment. But the promptitude with which the majesty of the law was vindicated, and the fearlessness with which a high judicial functionary is pronouncing judgment upon the guilty, have done and are doing much to efface what, under a different course of action, might have been an indelible stain upon the reputation of the city. It remains only for the people to vindicate themselves from re- proach in the eyes of the country and the world by a cheerful ac- quiescence in the law. That it has defects is generally conceded. That it will evolve cases of personal hardship is not disputed. War, when waged for self-defence, for the maintenance of great principles, and for the national life, is not exempt from the sufferings insep- arable from all conflicts which are decided by the shock of armies,
1 "The military forces in command of Brevet Brigadier-General Harvey Brown reported at the Central Department, and there General Brown established his headquarters, and from there ex- peditions, combined of police and military force, were sent out that in all cases conquered, defeated, or dispersed the mob force, and subjected them to severe chastisement. In no instance did these de- tachments from the Central Department, whether of police alone or police and military combined, meet with defeat or serious check. During the whole of those anxious days and nights, Brigadier- General Brown remained at the Central Depart- ment, ordering the movements of the military in carefully considered combinations with the police force, and throughout the struggle, and until its close, commanded the admiration and gratitude of the Police Department and all who witnessed his firm intelligence and soldierly conduct. It is un-
derstood that he had at no time under his imme- diate command more than three hundred troops. but they were of the highest order. and were com- manded by officers of courage and ability. They cordially acted with, supported, and were sup ported by the police, and victory in every contest against fearful odds was the result of brave fight- ing and intelligent command. In the judgment of this Board, the escape of the city from the power of an infuriated mob is due to the aid furnished the police by Brigadier-General Brown and the small military force under his command. No one can doubt, who saw him, as we did. that during those anxious and eventful days and nights Bris- adier-General Harvey Brown was equal to the situation, and was the right man in the right place. We avail ourselves of this occasion to ten der him, in the most earnest and public manner, the thanks of the department and our own."
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and it is by our firmness and our patriotism in meeting all the calls of the country upon us, that we achieve the victory and prove our- selves worthy of it and the cause in which we toil and suffer." General Fry thus tersely sums up the situation: "The real cause of the riot was that in a community where a considerable political element was active in opposition to the way the war was conducted, if not to the war itself, and where there was a strong opinion adverse to the principles of compulsory service, certain lawless men preferred fight- ing the Government at home, when it made the issue of forcing them by lot to fight its enemies in the field."
Among the sensational incidents of the spring of 1864 may here be noted the despicable attempt to use the misfortunes of the country for stock-jobbing purposes. It was just after the bloody affair of Cold Harbor, when Grant and Lee, having locked horns in the Wilder- ness, were taking a breathing spell, and the public suspense was at its height. It was very early in the morning of May 18, 1864, and "steamer-day" in the city, when an unknown messenger appeared at the door of the press-room of the "Journal of Commerce" with what purported to be the telegraphic "copy" of a proclamation by the president.1 A similar document was handed in to the men in charge of the offices of all the other principal papers. It was an hour cal- culated to favor the designs of the reckless promoter, but the fraud
1A DAY OF FASTING RECOMMENDED .- CALL FOR FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND TROOPS.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 17, 1864.
Fellow-citizens of the United States :
In all seasons of exigency it becomes a nation carefully to scrutinize its line of conduct, humbly to approach the Throne of Grace, and meekly to implore forgiveness, wisdom, and guidance.
For reasons known only to Him, it has been decreed that this country should be the scene of un- paralleled outrage, and this nation the monumental sufferer of the nineteenth century. With a heavy heart, but an undiminished confidence in our cause, I approach the performance of a duty ren- dered imperative by my sense of weakness before the Almighty and of justice to the people. It is not necessary that I should tell you that the first Virginia campaign under Lieutenant-General Grant, in whom I have every confidence, and whose courage and fidelity the people do well to honor, is virtually closed. He has conducted his great enterprise with discreet ability. He has crip- pled their strength and defeated their plans. In view, however, of the situation in Virginia, the disasters at Red River, the delay at Charleston, and the general state of the country, I, Abraham Lincoln, do hereby recommend that Thursday, the twenty-sixth day of May, A. D. 1864, be solemnly set apart throughout these United States as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer.
Deeming, furthermore, that the present condi- tion of public affairs presents an extraordinary
occasion, and in view of the pending expiration of the service of (100,000) one hundred thousand of our troops, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the citizens of the United States between the ages of (18) eighteen and (45) forty-five years, to the aggregate number of (400,000) four hundred thousand, in order to suppress the existing rebellious combina- tions, and to cause the due execution of the laws.
And furthermore, in case any State or number of States shall fail to furnish by the fifteenth day of June next their assigned quota, it is hereby ordered that the same be raised by an immediate and peremptory draft.
The details for this object will be communicated to the State authorities through the War Depart- ment.
I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the power, the in- tegrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular Government.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this seven- teenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty- eighth.
(Signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President.
WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
was discovered in time by all except the "Journal of Commerce " and the "World." Immediate and strenuous efforts were made to discover the author of the forgery. The war department ordered the arrest of the editors of the two newspapers mentioned-although upon due representation of the facts by General Dix, commanding the Depart- ment of the East, the order was promptly re- voked. The final dis- position of the matter is stated in a report made by General Dix. HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE EAST, NEW-YORK CITY, May 20, 1864
Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War : I have arrested and am sending to Fort Lafayette Joseph Howard, the author of the forged Proclamation. He SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MEMORIAL ARCH.1 is a newspaper reporter, and is known as " Howard, of the Times." He has been very frank in his confessions-says it was a stock-jobbing oper- ation, and that no person connected with the Press had any agency in the transaction except another reporter, who manifolded and distributed the Proclamation to the newspapers, and whose arrest I have ordered. He exonerates the Independent Tele- graphic Line, and says that the publication on a steamer-day was accidental. His statement, in all essential particulars, is corroborated by other testimony. JOHN A. DIX, Major-General.
An event of great local importance opened the year 1864. It was the Metropolitan Fair in aid of the United States Sanitary Commis- sion. Like the fairs in other large cities, it was a recognition of the labors of those disinterested men and women who had already sacri- ficed health and substance in the Union cause by the bedside of sick and wounded soldiers. Large buildings in Fourteenth street and on Union Square were filled to overflowing with the rich treasures of art, science, literature, and the varied industries represented in the metropolis, tastefully arranged and classified, and offered for sale to
1 The beautiful memorial arch here shown was dedicated in Brooklyn, October 21, 1892, to the soldiers and sailors who fought between the years 1861 and 1865. The ceremonies were held imme- diately after the parade in honor of the four-hun- dredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus, the date of the Brooklyn celebration
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