“All of That Class That Infest N.Y.”: Loyalty, Patriotism, and the Irish American Response to the New York City Draft Riots in Connecticut and Wisconsin

In July 1863, New York City erupted in flames as men and women poured into the streets in protest of the draft and the shifting federal policies on emancipation. For Irish-Americans, whose sacrifice on the field of battle was largely forgotten and replaced with imagery of rioting and the rhetoric of ethnic disloyalty, the primary historical concern is the ways that this event was conceptualized by the press and whether these stereotypes accurately reflected larger issues of loyalty and patriotism among immigrant groups living in communities across the north. “Irish-America” was not monolithic in its response to issues such as emancipation, the draft, and the misuse of ethnic regiments on the battlefield. Local reactions to these issues among ethnic citizens in Connecticut and Wisconsin, in particular public rejection of the most visible display of Irish animosity, the Draft Riots, show the variety of attitudes that existed among immigrants in the north during this period.

The discord inherent in the New York City Draft Riots, because of very public and unsettling nature of events in July 1863, can mask the ways immigrants in other areas contended with changing federal policies. Although it is tempting to define Irish immigrants as part of a cohesive ethnic diaspora, we must keep in mind that these men and women were active participants in their communities and saw themselves as much a part of those communities as they did the broader “Irish-America.” This paper argues that the incorporation of this perspective into discussions of loyalty and disloyalty provides a more comprehensive understanding of the ways immigrants responded to major social and political changes during the Civil War and, in particular, illustrates far-reaching historical consequences that the New York City Draft Riots have had on defining (and at times misrepresenting) issues of Irish-American wartime loyalty.