Existing comment:
March 1863:
Instituting the Draft:
In March 1863, Lincoln's government announced a military draft -- the first in U.S. history (the Confederacy had resorted to similar measures several months earlier). Conscription was unpopular, not least of all because of a provision in the law that allowed anyone with $300 to hire a substitute or buy their way out of service.
Anti-draft riots broke out in several Northern cities. The worst erupted in New York that July. For three days, rioters -- most of them Irish immigrants too poor to buy exemption from the draft -- terrorized black neighborhoods, set fire to conscription offices, and ransacked the homes and businesses of prominent Republicans. Over 100 people died in the violence, which didn't end until the arrival of federal troops summoned from the recent battle of Gettysburg.
August 1863:
An Historic Meeting:
In August 1863, Lincoln met Frederick Douglass for the first time -- the first black man to have an audience with the president. Douglass, who had served as a one-man recruitment agency for African-American troops, complained that these recruits were paid $7 a month compared to $13 for white soldiers.
Lincoln was sympathetic, but he asked Douglass to keep in mind how many Americans opposed even the idea of blacks in uniform. He was taking a significant political risk, said the president. He also assured Douglass that pay inequities would be addressed -- as they were within the year.
In total, 180,000 African-Americans -- one of every ten Union soldiers -- fought for the North. Thirty thousand black soldiers would make the supreme sacrifice. |