New York City Before, During, and After the Civil War-What changed, and why?
In
its long and illustrious history, New York City (NYC) has gone through
tremendous change. From a small trading
post on the tip of Manhattan Island, to the greatest metropolis in the world,
NYC has continued to evolve over time.
One period in particular that had more degrees of change than many
others, was 1860 to 1865. The lives of
the residents of the great port city would be completely changed forever.
The common life of a NYC merchant in 1860 was that of a
well-rounded diplomat. One who was able
to make deals with both the Southern plantation owner, who sold him the cotton
from which the merchant made his money, and the European who the merchant sold
this cotton to. This merchant was well
aware of how the cotton came from the ground, through the gin, and into the
bales. He was well aware that his whole
economy was based on this cotton. He also
had moral feelings toward the "peculiar institution" that had given
him this cotton to trade. But the
question on his mind is, "why bite the hand that feeds you?"
Anxiety and fear were common emotions faced
by these merchants at that time. If you
were to sever the ties between the north and the south, what will America's
greatest importing and exporting city do?
Will this schism between the nation cause NYC's growth to stop? What effect, if any, would the formation of
a new republic in the south have on the lives of the people and commerce of the
City?
In 1860, there were several different
directions NYC could go. One option
would be to stay firm and represent the ideals of capitalism, freedom, and
liberty, which had made the city so strong.
To side with the nation that their grandparents had liberated from
tyranny, only eighty years before. Another option is to side with NYC's
oppressed southern brothers, who feel as though the federal government is
imposing upon their constitutional rights.
With a Republican in office, there would be an end to slavery and their
whole way of life.
Surprisingly it was the latter, that NYC
adopted first. There are several
important reasons for this. First, NYC
merchants, fearing that if the south formed a new nation, it would lower its
tariffs and make NYC's ports obsolete.
There was a great fear that New Orleans, not NYC, would be the major
port city to the continent, and would control all imports heading to the vast
lands west of the Mississippi river and all cotton exports. NYC's dominance of goods imported and
exported had lasted for almost 200 years, and many feared it would be over.
Another reason New Yorkers were southern
sympathizers was the debt owed to NYC merchants by the south, which had
accumulated to over 200 million dollars.
Many feared if the sectional conflict had continued, the debt would not
be paid. But if NYC sided with no one
and was neutral, the difference between philosophies would not interfere with
its commerce and payment of debt. The
flow of cotton, which made so much money for NYC, would not stop. Many NYC residents also had families and
owned homes in the south. What would
these individuals do?
Then on December twentieth, 1860 South
Carolina, after a special state assembly, declared that the state would secede
from the union. In January to June nine
other states joined them; Mississippi on January ninth, Florida on the tenth,
Alabama on the eleventh, Georgia on the nineteenth, Texas on the first of
February, Virginia on the seventeenth of April, Arkansas on the sixth of May,
North Carolina on the twentieth, and Tennessee on the eighth of June, all just
went and seceded. These states then
came together and formed the Confederate States of America.
What about the lesser sort, the
dockworkers, street sweepers, the lower class, how did they feel about the fragile
future of their nation. They especially
feared that their jobs would be lost to former slaves who would under bid them
every chance they had. Blacks had been
used as strike breakers in the past and many residents in NYC; especially the
Irish, who originally had taken the jobs traditionally held by black men,
feared that they would be out of work.
At the time of Abraham Lincoln's election,
there was a rift forming between the powers in control in Albany, and the Mayor
of NYC, Fernando Wood. Wood felt that
Albany had too much control over NYC; he was especially passionate about the
Metropolitan police, who took their orders from the governor. Wood felt that the police who patrol his
city should answer to him, that the city itself could and should have more
control over its everyday activities.
This animosity toward Albany and Police Superintendent John Kennedy was
displayed when the police seized the steamer Monticello, which was
traveling from NYC to Savannah, with a cargo of contraband goods including
several muskets. Mayor Wood apologized
to Governor Toombs, of Georgia; in a written letter stating how he regretted
what had happened and that he lacked the authority to prevent the seizure of
the arms.
With the nation imploding and a rigorous battle for more
self-rule of his city, Mayor Wood made the greatest, and most controversial
proposal of his life.
Wood
proposed that if the south leaves the Union, and forms its own nation, that NYC
should also leave the union and the rest of New York State, as a "Free
City". The idea was supported by
few, but opposed by many. One such
supporter was the New York Daily News, whose chief editor was Benjamin
Wood, Fernando's brother. Benjamin
praised the idea and the courage that the mayor displayed in his proposal. Unlike the Daily News, most papers
denounced Wood's idea. For instance the
Evening Post remarked, "It had never suspected Wood of being a
fool, and inquired if the city should take along the Long Island Sound, the New
York Central Railroad and the Erie Canal (1). Another newspaper, the Tribune
stated, " Fernando Wood evidently wants to be a traitor; it is lack of
courage only that makes him content with being a blackguard" (2).
Many prominent businessmen in NYC supported
Wood's idea, but only if the Union was" dissolved or on the verge of
dissolution" (3). The idea of a Republic of New York was not a bad one if
there were two separate nations. With
its vast ports and low tariffs, NYC would still be the trade capital of the
western hemisphere. Being a free city
that made its money on tariffs alone, Wood wanted a town whose monetary
problems could be dealt without the need to tax its people.
Arguing for a free city, Wood said
"Instead of supporting by her contributions in revenue two-thirds of the
expenses of the U.S., become also, equally independent? As a free city, with a nominal duty on
imports, her local government could be supported without taxation upon her
peoples…Thus, we conclude, we should live free from taxes, and have cheap goods
nearly duty free…When disunion has become a fixed and certain fact, why may New
York City disrupt the lands which bind her to a venal and corrupt master - to a
people and a party that have plundered her revenue, attempted to ruin her
commerce, taken away the power of self-government and destroy the confederacy
in which she was the proud empire city" (4).
Being a free city would have made NYC neutral
in the disagreement between the north and the south, and would not sever those
historically profitable ties between the two.
Mayor Wood never imagined that if fighting broke out, that NYC would not
side with the south. Wood stated,
"New Yorkers would not fight for the inferior Negro race" (5).
Unfortunately for the supporters of Wood's
proposal, it never made it to reality.
On April 12, 1861 at 4:30 in the morning confederate troops began to
bomb Ft. Sumter, a union fort off the coast of South Carolina. After a thirty-four hour siege, the federal
fort surrendered. Once news of the
attack reached NYC, the pro-union supporters of the city galvanized the town
and NYC was in full support of the Union.
As one NYC merchant said "There is but one feeling, and that is to
sustain our flag and government at all cost" (6).
The insurrection of the rebel states caused
Lincoln to call for 75,000 men to fight for three months and end the
revolution. Many Americans in the north
and the south began training and forming into regiments. In NYC many of the recruits were Irish
immigrants who had recently arrived from starvation and persecution in
Ireland. These men used the war to
prove their allegiance to the nation that let them in. For many of them, fighting in the war would
make them American, or at least show Americans that the Irish were here to
stay.
Many NYC residents fought bravely in the war,
those who didn't had to do something, as the cotton trade was all but
dead. The need to transport soldiers
and supplies became a major NYC industry.
Factories producing railroads and machinery emerged. Shipping those goods meant that the ports
were not abandoned after the end of the cotton trade. War supplies such as uniforms, boots, belts, and weapons had to
be manufactured and delivered to the front line. Huge canning plants were made to hold the food shipped to the
soldiers. Large scale manufacturing of
farming machinery became an important industry in NYC. Most of the farmland was south of the
Mason-Dixon line, the north had to, through the use of new technologies,
replace it.
As days became weeks and months became years,
the battles continued. Though looked at
as an advantage by many confederate generals, most of the fighting was done in
the states that had seceded. For the
rebels, they knew the land very well, for it was their home. For the federal advancement, rail had to be
laid to transport men and supplies to the deep down south. Once again NYC took advantage and produced
all the raw materials the Union could need.
As time went on, so did the fighting, which
most thought would end in a relatively short time. It didn't, and the casualty lists kept growing and growing. The need for more troops prompted the
greatest urban riot of the modern age.
On July 23, 1863, the new Draft Act was put into effect, which spawned a
mob, which began spilling out of the Bowery armed with iron bars, bricks, and
bludgeons, and began to angrily and drunkenly riot.
Ironically, it was Benjamin Wood who was
fanning the flames and inciting angry and anti-governmental views. In his Daily News he printed that the
riots were "a popular uprising against enforcement of the
Conscription", Wood also printed "Conscription draws lots… for its
victims from among the sons of industry, leaving the rich man to his luxurious
repose" (7).
The mob was made up of mostly Irishmen, who
feared that Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation would lead to their
unemployment. Newly freed slaves would
come north and compete for jobs in an already congested and overpopulated
working place, began to destroy the draft office. Many institutions, which supported Lincoln and the Republican
Party, had to barricade their entrances to keep the mob out. Horace Greeley's house was rumored to be
stoned, and many Fifth Avenue mansions were sacked, looted, and burned. The feeling that this was a rich man's war
fought by poor men was given more credibility because of the $300 that could be
paid for exemption. Thus the battle cry
for the rioters was "there goes a $300 man!" and "Down with the
rich men!" (8).
The fury, which over time had built up for
the Metropolitans, consumed the city quickly as most of the city's defenses
were off in Pennsylvania fighting General Robert E. Lee's army of Northern
Virginia. The small squads of police
called in were no match for the mob.
Anarchy was all around; even Police Superintendent John Kennedy was
beaten until he was unrecognizable. The
mob beat every policeman they saw; they even burned the houses of people they
thought were aiding the fleeing cops.
Unfortunately this was not the only portion
of the population to feel the crowd's fury.
The black population in the city was devastated. Blacks were dragged out of carriages and
beaten or hung or burned or all three.
A black Orphanage was burned killing over 200 children inside. After nearly four days, Lincoln sent in
union troops fresh from the fields of Gettysburg to put down the rioters. After all was said and done over a thousand
people are believed to have died.
The
NYC draft riots had been the largest single incident of civil disorder in the
history of the United States. The black
population in NYC dropped by 20% afterward and several black communities arose
in the outskirts of the city, in New Jersey and Brooklyn. The re-building process, which is common in
NYC didn't take very long. And after
the riots the city was back to business as usual. And the workers went back to work, the teachers taught again, and
the city tried to forget. But the
long-term scars of the riot could not be foreseen
The inhabitants who remained in NYC were able
to get back on their feet. One practice
that was common to get some quick cash was to trade with the enemy, but the
need to was lagging. One could get
cotton cheaper from captured confederate towns like Memphis, Vicksburg and New
Orleans. Trade on the stock market was
as good as it had ever been. Gold, with
government greenbacks, which were unsecured by precious metal, plunged and
soared depending upon the battlefield.
As the war dragged on, General Ulysses S.
Grant was slowly tracking down the Army of Northern Virginia, and General
William T. Sherman was inching his way to Atlanta, the fate of the 1864
election was not clear. Then as the
tide of the war continued to turn for the union, the slim lead former General
George McClellan had over Lincoln disappeared.
Although Lincoln never won NYC in both of his elections he again carried
New York State and the nation.
As a semi-direct retaliation for General
Sherman burning down Atlanta and the rest of the Shenandoah Valley several
confederate conspirators devised a plot to burn down NYC. On a chilly evening of the twenty-fifth of
November, the conspirators set several Broadway Hotels ablaze. The sounds "Find the rebels! Hang them from a lamppost! Burn them at the stake!" (9) Could be
heard as fire trucks quickly put out the fires. Only $400 worth of damage was estimated but the story made
headlines around the world as the culprits fled to Canada.
There was relief as the end of the war could
be seen. Then, it finally happened at a
courthouse at Appomattox, General Lee surrendered. This Great War had finally concluded, the sixteenth amendment was
put into effect and all the slaves had been freed. Then at Ford's theater, a young actor named John Wilkes Booth
assassinated the President, ending Lincoln's plans for reunification.
Before he was killed Lincoln tried to mend
the scars which divided the country," with malice toward none, with
charity towards all… let us strive to finish the work we are in; to bind the
nations wound…" (10). His slain body was brought straight through the
streets of NYC. Thousands filled the
streets to pay respect and mourn their fallen leader, whom few in the city
voted for.
The changes in NYC were dramatic, new
machinery was produced in new factories, new people had to fill the place of
those who had fallen on the battlefield.
A new force came into NYC more powerful then ten thousand ironclads,
mass Immigration. This would give the
new factories, which were recently created to aid in the war effort, but now
were creating an assortment of goods, workers and the drive that would keep NYC
the greatest city in the world.
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Political History of the State Of New York VII 1833-1861
New York: Ira J. Friedman, Inc.1909
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2. Barrows, Edwin g., Wallace, Mike a
history of New York City to 1898
New York: Oxford University Press, 1999
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3. Burns, Ric New York an Illustrated
History
New
York: Random House, 1999
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70-128
4. Cannable, Alfred, Silberfarb, Edward Tigers
Of Tammany – Nine men who ran New York
New
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Pages
133-140
5. Foner Ph.D., Phillps Business and
Slavery, The New York Merchants and the Irrepressible Conflict
New
York: Russell and Russell, 1968
6. Freeman, Andrew A. Abraham Lincoln Goes
to New York
New
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Pages
100-121
7. Harris, Bill The History Of New York
City
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York: Archive Publishing, 1999
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98-111
8. Pleasants, Samuel Agustus Fernando Wood
Of New York- Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law
New
York: Colombia University Press, 1948
Pages
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1.
Pleasants page
115
2.
Pleasants page
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3.
Pleasants page
116
4.
Alexander page
348
5.
Pleasants page
103
6.
Barrows page
869
7.
Pleasants page
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8.
Barrows page
893
9.
Barrows page
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10.
Gettysburg Address