American History Tellers - Civil War | The Fires at Home | 4

Episode Date: August 17, 2022

As the Civil War raged on, families on the homefront faced increasingly heavy tolls, enduring crippling economic turmoil, food shortages and explosive class tensions.Meanwhile, Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis waged their own battles with congressmen and governors over war policies. And in 1863 politics clashed with realities on the ground when hundreds of starving women rioted in Richmond, the Confederate capitol, and the Union draft sparked deadly riots in New York City.Listen ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App. https://wondery.app.link/historytellersPlease support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Imagine it's October 1862, and you're at home on the small farm you share with your husband John in southern Arkansas. You're pulling out carrots, wondering how you'll put together a decent supper. A severe drought this summer ruined your corn crop. And since the war against the North started last year, food prices at the general store have soared. You and your husband have been struggling to make ends meet. As you wipe your brow and walk to the front of your small, dilapidated house, the general store have soared. You and your husband have been struggling to make ends meet.

As you wipe your brow and walk to the front of your small, dilapidated house, you're surprised to see a man in a gray uniform striding out your front door. He climbs onto a horse and rides off. John walks out onto the porch and watches him go, a dazed look on his face. You climb the porch steps to join him. Who was that man? What did he want? That was the county enrollment officer. He came to tell me I've been conscripted into the army. What do you mean you've been conscripted?

You're 44 years old. That's much too old to serve. Did you tell him he's made a mistake? John shrugs and runs a hand through his white hair. It's the new law. Apparently they raised the age limit last month. You drop your basket of carrots to the ground in shock. But that's completely unfair. It's bad enough that our son is off fighting God knows where. You think that's unfair? I asked the officer if I could get some sort of exemption. He said not unless I'm hiding 20 slaves somewhere.

There's a new provision exempting owners and overseers of 20 slaves or more. That's outrageous. Those men can already afford to buy their way out of service. All they need to do is hire a substitute. What about people like us? I can't manage this place without you, John. How long are you supposed to serve? He said three years. Three years?

I don't even know how I'm going to make it through the winter. You're just going to have to stay home. I can't do that. They'll come after me. So flee. Go hide in the woods. Some swamp where they can't do that. They'll come after me. So flee. Go hide in the woods, some swamp where they can't find you. John reaches out and puts his hand on your shoulder. I have to do my duty.

How will I look you in the eye otherwise? Or our neighbors? How dare those men in Richmond take you away? They force our men to fight while letting their wives and children starve. John turns warily back to the front door. I better go pack a few things. I have to report for duty in the morning. You fight back tears as you watch him trudge back inside. You're furious that the war has come to this, conscripting every man in your family. You're not sure how you'll be able to keep the farm going by yourself.

But more than anything, you're terrified about the danger awaiting your husband. From Wondering comes a new series about a lawyer who broke all the rules. Need to launder some money? Broker a deal with a drug cartel? Take out a witness? Paul can do it. I'm your host, Brandon Jinks Jenkins. Follow Criminal Attorney on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. 90 seconds to pitch to an audience of potential customers. If the audience liked the product, pitch them in front of our panel of experts.

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and this is American History Tellers. Our history, your story. Music As the Civil War dragged on, volunteering dwindled, and both the Union and the Confederacy were forced to resort to a draft for the first time in American history. But the draft stoked resentment in both the North and the South, where civilians were already grappling with the hardships of a war fought on American soil. The war did not just impact soldiers in far-flung battlefields. The fighting raged in towns and farms, especially in the South, leaving civilians to clean up the

wreckage. And with more and more men enlisted or drafted, women and children were left to fend for themselves at home, where they faced rampant inflation, food shortages, and uncertainty about the fate of their loved ones. And as conditions on the home front grew worse, long-standing racial and class tensions erupted into deadly riots. This is Episode 4, The Fires at Home. In early October 1862, President Abraham Lincoln visited his top military commander in the East, General George McClellan, on the battlefield. The Union had just won a hard-fought victory at Antietam, so far the war's deadliest battle.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee had retreated back across the Potomac River after his failed invasion of Maryland, and Lincoln wanted McClellan to pursue him. But McClellan refused. He insisted he needed more men and supplies before he could wage battle. This infuriated Lincoln, who knew that Lee's army of Northern Virginia was in far worse shape than McClellan's army of the Potomac. The rebel soldiers regularly fought hungry and barefoot. They were vulnerable to another Union assault. On October 13th, Lincoln warned McClellan that the General's overcautiousness was holding back the Union from victory.

But McClellan continued to stall and make excuses. When he complained that the Army's horses were too tired, Lincoln fired back, writing, Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your Army have done since the Battle of Antietam that fatigues anything? Lincoln rarely lost his patience. It was a sign of how desperate he was for the Union to take the initiative. On October 26th, more than five weeks after the last shots were fired at Antietam, McClellan's forces finally began crossing the Potomac River into Virginia. It took them six days to march a distance that Lee's men had crossed in a single night after Antietam. And as McClellan's troops trudged south, Lee's forces moved swiftly to block their advance. For Lincoln, McClellan's glacial pace was the final straw. On November 7th,

he stripped McClellan of his command and appointed a new head of the Army of the Potomac, Major General A.E. Burnside. Burnside was a respected commander, with impressive facial hair that inspired the term sideburns. He reluctantly accepted the appointment, fearing he was unqualified for the job, and he would soon be proven right. Burnside decided to swiftly attack Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy. He planned to take his 120,000-man army across the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg, 35 miles north of Richmond. His campaign depended on speed and surprise. But Burnside's plan was foiled by miscommunications and bad weather.

When he arrived in Fredericksburg, he discovered the floating pontoon bridges he needed for the river crossing were missing. The delay allowed Lee to fortify his position. By the time the pontoons arrived, Lee had placed 75,000 soldiers on high ground above Fredericksburg and the river. On December 13th, Burnside's men charged, but the Confederates repelled one Union advance after another. It was a bloodbath. Nearly 13,000 Union soldiers were killed or wounded, and the defeat caused Burnside to openly weep. When Lincoln heard the news, he confessed, if there is a worse place than hell, I am in it. He soon relieved Burnside from command too. But Lincoln took the brunt of the blame for the disaster. Critics attacked him for forcing Burnside to wage a campaign he could not win.

And the bloody defeat at Fredericksburg caused a crisis of morale in the North. That winter, soldiers sent despondent letters home. One Wisconsin officer wrote, This winter is indeed the valley forge of the war. Later in December, news of setbacks in the war's Western theater worsened the national mood. Many Americans wondered whether the war was worth such tremendous loss of life. And as Lincoln's military leaders scrambled to regain momentum, the president confronted growing discontent within his own government.

Some began to question whether a country lawyer and one-turned congressman had the political experience necessary to lead the nation through such a grave crisis. But despite his inexperience, Lincoln had an iron resolve and razor-sharp political instincts. He was able to command a room with a powerful speech or diffuse tension with a funny story, and he had an infinite well of patience for his critics. This made Lincoln uniquely equipped to lead the United States through the war. And with the North's efforts faltering, he needed every ounce of patience and skill to respond to the growing attacks from within his own Republican Party. But Lincoln's loudest critics were members of the rival Democratic Party, especially the so-called Peace Democrats, who favored negotiating with the South and ending the conflict without victory.

The most extreme Peace Democrats were known as Copperheads after the poisonous snake. To Republicans, this anti-war stance amounted to treason. They accused Copperheads of trying to destroy the Union from within. But in the wake of the fiasco at Fredericksburg, the Copperheads only grew louder in their criticism of the war effort. In January 1863, Lincoln told Senator Charles Sumner that he feared Copperhead opposition more than he feared losses on the battlefield. The most notorious Copperhead was Clement Vlandingham, a brash congressman from Ohio. Vlandingham had deep sympathies with the South. He had family roots in Virginia and was married to the daughter of a Maryland planter. In the November 1862 midterms, Republican gerrymandering cost him his seat in Congress.

But despite losing the election, the Landingham refused to leave public life quietly. He went on a speaking tour, attacking Republicans for their fanaticism in waging a destructive war to end slavery. And soon he launched a campaign to win the Democratic nomination for Ohio governor. Copperheads like Vallandigham had strong support in the border states, in what was known as the Butternut region, the southern parts of Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. Many Butternut residents were descended from southern settlers, and they resented that the war threatened their trade routes along the Mississippi.

But their biggest complaint was the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by Lincoln in January 1863. An Ohio editor called Lincoln a half-witted usurper and declared his Emancipation Proclamation to be monstrous, imprudent, and heinous, insulting to God as to man, for it declares those equal whom God created unequal. After the proclamation, many butternut soldiers deserted the Union Army, refusing to go to battle against slavery. But the fight against the Copperheads was not just a political one. In March 1863, Lincoln transferred General A.E. Burnside to the Ohio River Valley,

where he would command troops in Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. After taking up his new position there, Burnside decided to crack down on Copperheads himself. Without Lincoln's approval, Burnside issued Order No. 38, declaring that treasonous speech would be subject to trial by military court. In certain cases, convictions could be punished by death. Burnside hoped to silence opponents of the war, but his order had the opposite effect. Copperheads accused Burnside of violating their freedom of speech and continued staging their anti-war rallies.

Clement Vlandingham saw an opportunity to seize the spotlight and advance his political fortunes. On May 1, 1863, he spoke at a rally in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and denounced the war, calling it a wicked, cruel, and unnecessary war for the freedom of the blacks and the enslavement of the whites. He attacked Lincoln and called on Ohio residents to resist Burnside. Standing in the audience were two officers under Burnside's command. When they reported what they witnessed, Burnside ordered a squad of soldiers to arrest Vlandingham, hoping to silence him once and for all. Imagine it's 2.30 a.m. on May 5th, 1863. You're standing outside Clement Vlandingam's house in Dayton, Ohio.

You're the captain of a company under the command of General Burnside. He sends you and your men to arrest Vlandigham for making treasonous speeches against the war. You pound on the door and wait for a response, exchanging nervous glances with a fellow soldier. You hate Vlandigham for opposing a war you've sacrificed so much for, but you feel uneasy about carrying out Burnside's orders, which do seem harsh. You crane your neck to see Vlandigham peering out a second floor window. Clement Vlandigham, we're here under the orders of General Ambrose Burnside. You're under arrest. It is pronounced Vlandigham and no military officer has the lawful right to arrest me.

Sir, unless you come down, we'll have no choice but to shoot you. Never. I will not submit to this tyranny. You turn around and face your men. All right, break down the door. Two of the soldiers swing axes and break the door away from its hinges. You make your way inside the dark house with the men of your company following behind you. With your bayonets raised, you rush upstairs. At the top of the landing, you open a door and walk into a large bedroom.

On the other side of the bed, you find the landing ham cowering beside his wife. Congressman, you're under arrest for violating General Order No. 38. That sham order, I spit upon it. I trample it with my feet. Sir, it doesn't matter what you do, that order is the law. How dare you men trespass my home and upset my wife like this? This government is violating my right to free speech. This is all simply more proof of Lincoln's despotism. Sir, rant and rave all you want, I'm going to follow orders. The military should have no authority over a civilian.

This is an outrage! You stare at Vallandigham, struck by the truth of his words. But you know your duty has to come first. You look over your shoulder and nod at your two men. All right, he's not going quietly. I will not! Your men grab Vallandigham by his elbows and drag him out the door. But now that it's done, you feel a creeping sense of doubt about arresting a civilian.

You know you have to follow orders, but you fear that Vallandigham's arrest won't do nothing to silence him or his fellow Copperheads. Instead, it might just turn him into a martyr. In the early hours of May 5, 1863, soldiers broke down the door of Clement Vlandingham's Dayton home and arrested him. When news broke the next morning of his arrest, his furious supporters took to the streets. A large mob burned down a local Republican newspaper in protest. The next day, May 6,, Vallandigham was tried by a military tribunal and convicted of expressing sympathy for the enemy. The court declared he had uttered disloyal sentiments and opinions with the object and purpose of weakening the power of the government

to suppress an unlawful rebellion. He was sentenced to spend the remainder of the war in federal prison. President Lincoln learned about Vallandigham's arrest in a newspaper. Though he was embarrassed by Burnside's decision, he felt he had no choice but to back the general. Determined to minimize the political fallout, he commuted Vallandigham's sentence to exile and banished the Copperhead to the Confederacy. On May 25th, Union cavalrymen raised a flag of truce and escorted Valllandingham across Confederate lines. The cave sparked questions throughout the North about the limits of civil liberties during wartime. Many wondered whether speech could be classified as treason,

and if it was constitutional for a military court to try a civilian. Lincoln made his own feelings clear a month later, when he revoked Burnside's order to shut down a Chicago newspaper that was critical of the war. One of the few bright spots for Lincoln in early 1863 was the Union's economy. The war triggered industrial expansion and sweeping prosperity in the North. Coal and iron production soared, traffic on the railroads doubled, and an explosion in manufacturing bred millionaires. The North did experience some wartime inflation, but on the whole, its economy thrived. It was a different story in the Confederacy. The Southern economy

was wholly unprepared to wage a modern war. And as the conflict wore on, civilians in the South suffered through food shortages and runaway inflation. And in the Confederate capital, tensions over the war's heavy toll would finally reach their breaking point. I'm Tristan Redman, and as a journalist, I've never believed in ghosts. But when I discovered that my wife's great-grandmother was murdered in the house next door to where I grew up, I started wondering about the inexplicable things that happened in my childhood bedroom. When I tried to find out more, I discovered that someone who slept in my room after me, someone I'd never met, was visited by the ghost of a faceless woman. So I started digging into the murder in my wife's family, and I unearthed family secrets nobody

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House now in hardcover or digital edition, wherever you get your books. When the Civil War began, Jefferson Davis seemed tailor-made to lead the Confederate rebellion. He ran a cotton plantation in Mississippi. He was a West Point graduate and a veteran of the Mexican-American War. And he was utterly devoted to the Confederate cause. But Davis had little personal popularity. He was stubborn, humorless, and thin-skinned. Even his wife Verena admitted, if anyone disagrees with Mr. Davis, he resents it and ascribes the difference to the perversity of his opponent. His chronic illnesses exacerbated his temper.

Davis suffered partial blindness, searing headaches, digestive troubles, and recurring bouts of malaria. But more than anything, Davis was hindered by a fatal weakness at the core of the Confederacy. As president and commander-in-chief, Davis hoped to wield strong, centralized power. But he led a nation founded to resist federal interference. The Confederate Constitution limited the power of the central government, which weakened its ability to lead a united war effort. Davis tried to argue against such a decentralized approach, declaring, Our safety, our very existence, depends on the complete blending of the military strength of

all the states into one united body to be used anywhere and everywhere for the good of the whole. But under the Confederate Constitution, state militias could deny the Confederate government the use of their troops. It had Davis constantly battling governors and state legislatures who saw his actions as infringements on states' rights. At times, he struggled to persuade state militias to serve outside their own borders. In January 1862, Davis was outraged when the governors of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida all demanded the return of their state-owned arms at a time when the Confederacy was short on weapons.

Davis commanded the Confederate government from its capital in Richmond, Virginia, and there his attention was soon called to a local crisis. By 1862, the population of Richmond had soared. Soldiers, bureaucrats, and refugees flooded the Confederate capital, as did speculators, gamblers, and prostitutes. Overcrowding fueled rising violence and crime. In March 1862, Davis responded by proclaiming martial law enrichment. He also suspended the writ of habeas corpus, allowing the government to detain suspects and keep them in custody without bringing them to trial. Like Lincoln, Davis came under attack for violating civil liberties. But the Confederacy's most unpopular act was the institution of the draft. When the war began, both the North and South relied on volunteers.

But the Confederacy was far less populated than the Union. Just a year into the war, it was forced to resort to conscription. In April 1862, the Confederate Congress passed a Conscription Act, the first draft in American history. All healthy, white men between the ages of 18 and 35 had to serve for three years if called. Many state leaders were outraged. Virginia Governor John Letcher declared conscription the most alarming stride toward consolidation that has ever occurred. Georgia Governor Joseph Brown undermined Davis's

authority by eventually appointing thousands of residents as constables, coroners, and county surveyors, all occupations exempt from conscription. The draft also stoked anger and resentment among poor Southerners. A loophole in the law allowed some men to avoid service by hiring a substitute. But typically, only the wealthy could afford to buy their way out of battle, sparking cries that the conflict was a rich man's war and a poor man's fight. In September 1862, the Confederate Congress raised the draft age limit from 35 to 45, forcing even older men to serve. But the lawmakers included a new exemption for white men who owned or oversaw 20 or more enslaved laborers.

What became known as the 20 Negro Law provoked more outrage and exacerbated class tensions. By the end of 1862, Confederate desertions soared as poor soldiers fled home to support their struggling families. One Mississippi farmer who deserted declared, I did not propose to fight for the rich men while they were at home having a good time. All over backcountry areas, deserters and draft dodgers hid out in caves and hollows.

Some formed armed bands to resist authorities or join secret anti-war societies. The draft was not only unpopular, but it also worsened the economic troubles of a region already crippled by war. As more and more able-bodied white Southern men went off to fight, the South's labor force was depleted, adding to the strain. A severe drought in 1862 added to the region's misery, causing crippling food shortages leading to rampant inflation, which Confederate economic policy only made worse. In the North, the Union paid for the war by

levying the first income tax in U.S. history. But Southerners resisted the idea of heavy, direct taxation. Instead, the Confederacy simply printed more money to fund the war effort. By the war's end, prices would rise 9,000 percent, putting what little food was available out of reach for all but the wealthiest citizens. The hunger crisis was especially critical in the overcrowded Confederate capital of Richmond. By 1863, the population there had grown to 120,000 people, three times its pre-war size. A harsh winter strained food and fuel transports to the city, and nearby military operations decimated local crops. The food shortage caused hoarding and rampant speculation,

driving prices up even higher. And in the midst of this food crisis, Jefferson Davis declared March 27th a National Day of Fasting and Prayer for the Success of the Confederate Armies. Many Richmond residents felt that Davis was oblivious to their struggles and sacrifices. One man wrote, Fasting in the midst of a famine. May God save this people. Simmering tensions were ready to boil over.

Soon, hungry and desperate women across the city reached a breaking point, and they resolved to take action. Imagine it's a cold and snowy morning in March 1863. You're walking through a market in Richmond, Virginia. You're a peddler and mother of four, and you're fed up with a food shortage in the city. You're determined to do something about it, and you're hoping to recruit more women to join you. As you walk past the bare stalls, you spot a soldier's wife you recognize. Elizabeth, have you managed to find anything today? Nothing.

I was hoping to pick up a packet of bacon for my boys, but not for $10. They had some that had gone rancid for a dollar fifty. I just couldn't do it. You shake your head and point to a sign to your left. Look at this. Forty dollars for a barrel of flour. Just last week it was thirty dollars. I remember when it was only a few dollars before the war. It's outrageous. Is it true that agents on the city outskirts have been stopping loaded trains and wagons and seizing food for the army? That's what I've heard. Elizabeth looks over her shoulder and takes a step closer to you. Well, I heard from my neighbor that some soldiers broke into one lady's hen house and stole all her chickens. And these are the men who

are supposed to be defending this city. What is this war even good for? And to think, they said it would all be over quickly. If these shortages continue, we're all going to starve. That's why I'm planning a meeting. It's time us women take action. Elizabeth raises an eyebrow. What kind of action? I've heard about women protesting shortages in Alabama and North Carolina. With the men away at war, it's our job to fight against hunger. To fight for our lives.

But with all these soldiers around? Elizabeth shifts her gaze, like she's looking for an exit. You notice how her coat is hanging off her body. Look at you. Your skin and bones. I give most of what I can to my children. Join us for them. We're meeting at the Belvedere Hill Baptist Church on the night of April 1st. I want to take our demands to Governor Letcher. Well, all right. As long as you don't plan to make a scene. You nod as Elizabeth turns around to leave. Despite what you told her, you have no intention of remaining quiet.

Richmond is on the verge of starvation. If your demands are not met, you're willing to do whatever it takes to feed your children. Mary Jackson was a 34-year-old peddler and mother of four children. Her eldest was a soldier in the Confederate Army. On the night of April 1, 1863, she gathered 300 women in a Richmond church to address soaring local food prices. Many of the women worked at a local ironworks, putting in long shifts making weapons and ammunition for the rebel armies. The women decided to take their demands to Virginia Governor John Letcher. Before the meeting concluded, Jackson urged them to bring whatever weapons they could to defend themselves.

The next morning, the women gathered at a local market. Jackson brandished a pistol and knife as she led the protesters to the governor's mansion. As the emaciated women marched, hundreds more joined in, all carrying clubs, knives, and bayonets. The protesters reached the governor's mansion and asked for a meeting with Letcher, but they were rebuffed. So they marched on to Richmond's business district, gaining more followers. Soon, more than 1,000 people joined the mob. The crowds chanted bread or blood. One woman cried out,

The mob then descended on warehouses and grocery stores, seizing ham, flour, and shoes. Soon they looted jewelry and other luxury items. The governor and the mayor of Richmond tried to get the women to disperse. A militia company arrived and loaded their muskets, but the women refused to stand down. Finally, Jefferson Davis himself climbed into a cart to address the mob. To attract their attention, he took coins out of his pocket and threw them into the crowd. He said, You say you are hungry and have no money. Here is all I have. It's not much, but take it. When his appeals failed, he took out a watch and gave the crowd five minutes to disperse

before he ordered troops to fire. At last, the crowd scattered. Authorities arrested 70 protesters. The incident became known as the Richmond Bread Riot. Military officials ordered newspapers to censor information about it to prevent Northerners from learning about the food shortages in the Confederate capital. But the news soon leaked out. The New York Times ran a front-page story on the chaos on April 8th. In the aftermath, the Richmond City Council expanded a food aid program, and the government distributed stores of rice to the hungry.

But food shortages would persist throughout the South. Earlier that spring, other food riots had erupted in North Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. And the desperate struggles of Southerners on the home front continued to plague the Confederate war effort. But the North had its own internal conflicts. In the summer of 1863, racial tensions in New York City exploded into deadly violence. Are you in trouble with the law? Need a lawyer who will fight like hell to keep you out of jail? We defend and we fight just like you'd want your own children defended. Whether you're facing a drug charge, caught up on a murder rap,

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Are we excited for this moment? Ah! I cannot believe it. Woo! Buy it now. Stream free on Freeview and Prime Video. In the summer of 1862, the Union war effort in Virginia was going badly. Realizing that the Union needed more manpower to defeat the Confederacy, Lincoln issued a call for 300,000 militiamen for three-year terms

and an additional 300,000 men for nine-month terms. He hoped to fill the ranks with volunteers, but it was becoming clear that this would be a tall task. So he gave each state a strict quota. If the state failed to meet its target, it would be forced to draft soldiers. The militia draft sparked violent resistance. Mobs murdered two draft officers in Indiana and wounded another in Wisconsin. The Army was forced to deploy troops to maintain order. But Lincoln was undeterred, and September 1862, he suspended the writ of habeas corpus and applied martial law to all individuals resisting

militia drafts. As volunteering slowed, Congress finally resorted to a federal draft in March 1863, a year after the Confederacy began its own conscription. The U.S. Enrollment Act established a national draft system requiring the enrollment of every citizen between the ages of 20 and 45, as well as male immigrants applying for citizenship. But one group was exempt. Black men did not have to register for the draft because, according to the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision, they were not citizens. As in the South, wealthy men had a way out, too. They could hire substitutes or pay $300 to buy an exemption outright. Future business tycoons J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie all avoided service by paying the exemption fee. $300 equaled roughly a year's wages for an unskilled laborer, putting that option far

out of reach for most ordinary workers. Democratic newspapers soon popularized the slogan, $300 or your life. Like the Confederate draft, the Union draft inspired charges of a rich man's war and a poor man's fight. In reality, wealthy men were as likely to serve, the Union draft inspired charges of a rich man's war and a poor man's fight. In reality, wealthy men were as likely to serve in the Union army as poor ones. But the perception of unfairness persisted. For many Democrats, opposition to the draft was tied to their opposition to Lincoln's new goal in the war, the emancipation of Southern slaves. A Democratic convention in Illinois adopted a resolution

declaring, we will not render support to the present administration in its wicked abolition crusade, and we will resist to the death all attempts to draft any of our citizens. In New York City, such rhetoric found a ready audience in the city's large Irish working class. Irish workers faced discrimination themselves, and they feared competition from black workers for the few low-paying jobs they could find. Anti-war politicians and newspaper editors exploited those fears, warning that New York would soon be flooded with black Southerners freed from slavery. The fact that black Northerners were exempt from the draft only deepened the resentments of the Irish and other white, working-class New Yorkers. By the summer of 1863, the city was a powder keg.

On July 11, the first draft offices opened in New York City. At first, the draft lottery proceeded peacefully. But two days later, a company of volunteer firefighters led a mob of 500 people in an attack on a recruiting office. They smashed windows and set the building on fire. The mob continued down 3rd Avenue, attacking the homes of wealthy white abolitionists and businesses known to employ black workers. The anti-draft protests had quickly turned into a bloody race riot. Imagine it's July 13th, 1863 in New York City. You're stacking shelves in the grocery store you run on 3rd Avenue in Manhattan. It's been a challenging few years getting the store up and running.

But you take pride in owning your own business. It's a far cry from the life your father lived. He grew up enslaved in Virginia. At the sound of breaking glass, you drop the tin can you're holding and rush toward the front of your store. You look down to see a brick on the floor. Outside the broken storefront window, you see a mob of white men brandishing clubs. You feel paralyzed as the men stride into your store. A man with a heavy beard takes a whack at a shelf full of dry goods.

Bags of oats and grains scatter on the floor. What do you think you're doing? Get out of my store! The bearded man leers at you and tightens his grip on his club. You must think you're pretty special, huh? Running a store like this. You think that makes you better than us? I don't know what you're talking about.

Must be nice to have your own business, to know they're not gonna send you away to war. Haven't you heard? They're not draft and colored men, but they can't wait to send us poor folks to the battlefields. You look around at the men. There must be a dozen of them,

and the only weapon you have is a knife, but that's behind the counter, out of reach. Look, I don't want any trouble. Please, just take whatever you want and get out. Oh, we will. Clear the shelves. I'm sure the missus would love some of this for supper. The men nod and start tossing bags of apples and potatoes out the door. You take a few steps toward your back office, hoping you can make a run for it, but the bearded man blocks your path. Stop right there. Don't move a muscle. You freeze,

watching as the man grabs a can of oil off a shelf in a corner. Please don't. The man smiles and begins pouring it all over the wooden floor. Everyone out! Two men grab you by your arms and drag you out of the store. The bearded man then lights a match and throws it through the broken window. You watch in horror as flames ripple across the floor. The men gather up a few bags of stolen goods and move off down the street, leaving you to stare helplessly as everything you've worked for goes up in flames. On July 13, 1863, white mobs in New York City descended on businesses and homes that signaled the growing power of black people, Republicans, and the wealthy.

They attacked businesses known to employ black workers in places that catered to the upper classes, like the Brooks Brothers clothing store. And they set fire to the ground floor of the New York Tribune, a leading Republican newspaper. Later in the afternoon, the rioters marched to the city's colored orphan asylum. 200 black children made desperate escapes

as the mob looted the asylum and set it ablaze. Firefighters tried to save the building, but it quickly burned to the ground. As rioters moved through the streets, their ire was directed toward black men who were beaten, burned, mutilated, and hung from lampposts. The next day, the chaos continued to rage. Mobs attacked two white women who were married to black men. They also brutalized a white prostitute known to accept black clients. As the rioting continued into a third day, it spread from Manhattan to Brooklyn and then Staten Island.

New York City police struggled to contain the violence, even with the help of local militias. There were 120 recorded deaths, but likely hundreds more had died at the help of local militias. There were 120 recorded deaths, but likely hundreds more had died at the hands of the mobs. Most of the victims were black, including 11 black men who were lynched. On July 17th, the mayhem finally subsided after the War Department sent 4,000 troops to New York to quell the violence. It was the end of the deadliest riot in American history. In the wake of the violence, only a handful of people were jailed, and many black residents fled Manhattan permanently.

Tempers in New York cooled, and the draft resumed, but the riot left lingering scars on the city. What had begun as a protest against the draft had devolved into an ugly massacre, a symbol of the deep and bitter divisions that ran through northern society even during wartime. Throughout the war, morale on the home front rose and fell with the victories and defeats of soldiers on the battlefields. And for the Union, the military continued to struggle through a series of crushing setbacks. For two years, President Lincoln was unable to find a military commander who could reverse the Union's fortunes.

But in the summer of 1863, the North and South would face each other on the banks of the Mississippi and in the fields of Gettysburg. These battles would turn the tide of the Civil War. From Wondery, this is Episode 4 of The Civil War from American History Tellers. On the next episode, Confederate General Robert E. Lee goes on the offensive with a daring invasion of Pennsylvania, but he encounters unexpected resistance from Union forces at a place called Gettysburg. If you like American History Tellers, you can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on

Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Lindsey Graham for Airship. Audio editing by Molly Bach. Sound design by Derek Behrens. Music by Lindsey Graham. Voice acting by Ace Anderson and Cat Peoples. This episode is written by Ellie Stanton, edited by Dorian Marina. Our managing producer is Tanja Thigpen. Our coordinating producer is Matt Gant. Senior producer is Andy Herman. And executive producers are Jenny Lauer Beckman and Marsha Louis for Wondery. that the Air Jordans were initially banned by the NBA? We'll explore all that and more in The Best

Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy. This is Nick. This is Jack. And we've covered over a thousand episodes of pop business news stories on our daily podcast. We've identified the most viral products of all time. And they're wild origin stories that you had no idea about. From the Levi's 501 jeans to Legos. Come for the products you're obsessed with. Stay for the business insights that are going to blow up your group chat. Jack, Nintendo, Super Mario Brothers, best-selling video game of all time.

How'd they do it? Nintendo never fires anyone, ever. Follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus.