Civil War Draft Riots

In Search of History – Season 1

The year 1863, the President was Abraham Lincoln, a new law calling for more troops on the front lines came to pass and civil discontent was about to erupt in the worst violence our nation had ever seen. Soon there would be blood in the streets - the New York City Draft Riots of 1863. In the wake of the first federal draft in U.S.. history, the city exploded...and for a week it was chaos.