Gangs of New York

Across the Hudson River, in New Jersey, Joel Parker assured President Lincoln that his state would fulfill its allotted number of men. The letter was sent on 21 July 1863 - just days after the deadly riots.

The President had been advised of the conscription riots in New York. Within weeks of those riots, Mr. Lincoln personally denied a request by Horatio Seymour (then governor of New York) who had asked to delay implementing the draft in New York.

One can understand Governor Seymour’s concern. More than 300 buildings were burned or destroyed as the rampaging mob turned on its own city. But one can also under the President’s reaction: Weeks before the riots, the North and South had lost a combined total of more than 45,000 men in the Gettysburg battle.