NF City of Sedition: The History of New York City During the Civil War

Non-Fiction

chellers

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John Strausbaugh (Author)
Twelve (August 2, 2016)

No city was more of a help to Abraham Lincoln and the Union war effort, or more of a hindrance. No city raised more men, money, and materiel for the war, and no city raised more hell against it. It was a city of patriots, war heroes, and abolitionists, but simultaneously a city of antiwar protest, draft resistance, and sedition.

Without his New York supporters, it's highly unlikely Lincoln would have made it to the White House. Yet, because of the city's vital and intimate business ties to the Cotton South, the majority of New Yorkers never voted for him and were openly hostile to him and his politics. Throughout the war New York City was a nest of antiwar "Copperheads" and a haven for deserters and draft dodgers. New Yorkers would react to Lincoln's wartime policies with the deadliest rioting in American history. The city's political leaders would create a bureaucracy solely devoted to helping New Yorkers evade service in Lincoln's army. Rampant war profiteering would create an entirely new class of New York millionaires, the "shoddy aristocracy." New York newspapers would be among the most vilely racist and vehemently antiwar in the country. Some editors would call on their readers to revolt and commit treason; a few New Yorkers would answer that call. They would assist Confederate terrorists in an attempt to burn their own city down, and collude with Lincoln's assassin.

Here in CITY OF SEDITION, a gallery of fascinating New Yorkers comes to life, the likes of Horace Greeley, Walt Whitman, Julia Ward Howe, Boss Tweed, Thomas Nast, Matthew Brady, and Herman Melville. This book follows the fortunes of these figures and chronicles how many New Yorkers seized the opportunities the conflict presented to amass capital, create new industries, and expand their markets, laying the foundation for the city's-and the nation's-growth.

About the author:
John Strausbaugh has been writing about the culture and history of New York City for a quarter of a century. The Village, his epic history of Greenwich Village, has been widely praised and was selected as one of Kirkus Review's best books of the year. His previous books include Black Like You, a history of blackface minstrelsy; and E: Reflections on the Birth of the Elvis Faith.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1455584185/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Disclaimer: This post is neither a recommendation nor solicitation by CivilWarTalk or Chellers. It is solely for informational purposes.
 
Gee whiz. You read of draft riots, Copperheads and war profiteers but not really thinking of such a large scale- not to mention really dedicated, organized resistance to participating in the war. Could be hard to read, thinking of men making fortunes on a war while others died, for one thing. It does sound like an important book- beyond the draft riots really had no other impression of New York City through the war.

Thanks for the head's up Chellers, for ' the list ', now so long this will be summer reading, 2021.
 
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John Strausbaugh (Author)
Twelve (August 2, 2016)

No city was more of a help to Abraham Lincoln and the Union war effort, or more of a hindrance. No city raised more men, money, and materiel for the war, and no city raised more hell against it. It was a city of patriots, war heroes, and abolitionists, but simultaneously a city of antiwar protest, draft resistance, and sedition.

Without his New York supporters, it's highly unlikely Lincoln would have made it to the White House. Yet, because of the city's vital and intimate business ties to the Cotton South, the majority of New Yorkers never voted for him and were openly hostile to him and his politics. Throughout the war New York City was a nest of antiwar "Copperheads" and a haven for deserters and draft dodgers. New Yorkers would react to Lincoln's wartime policies with the deadliest rioting in American history. The city's political leaders would create a bureaucracy solely devoted to helping New Yorkers evade service in Lincoln's army. Rampant war profiteering would create an entirely new class of New York millionaires, the "shoddy aristocracy." New York newspapers would be among the most vilely racist and vehemently antiwar in the country. Some editors would call on their readers to revolt and commit treason; a few New Yorkers would answer that call. They would assist Confederate terrorists in an attempt to burn their own city down, and collude with Lincoln's assassin.

Here in CITY OF SEDITION, a gallery of fascinating New Yorkers comes to life, the likes of Horace Greeley, Walt Whitman, Julia Ward Howe, Boss Tweed, Thomas Nast, Matthew Brady, and Herman Melville. This book follows the fortunes of these figures and chronicles how many New Yorkers seized the opportunities the conflict presented to amass capital, create new industries, and expand their markets, laying the foundation for the city's-and the nation's-growth.

About the author:
John Strausbaugh has been writing about the culture and history of New York City for a quarter of a century. The Village, his epic history of Greenwich Village, has been widely praised and was selected as one of Kirkus Review's best books of the year. His previous books include Black Like You, a history of blackface minstrelsy; and E: Reflections on the Birth of the Elvis Faith.

https://www.amazon.com/City-Sedition-History-during-Civil/dp/1455584185/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_7?ie=UTF8&dpID=514VxyW6ReL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR106,160_&psc=1&refRID=DCYNKD0JWJFJ30PCMZ5S

Disclaimer: This post is neither a recommendation nor solicitation by CivilWarTalk or Chellers. It is solely for informational purposes.

This one I am going to have to buy.

Thanks for the tip, chellers.

Sincerely,
Unionblue
 
"Confederate terrorists?" Oh, my.

This does look like an interesting read. Thanks for posting.
 
This seems to cover an important and worthy subject that is not usually discussed much. That is, the story of New York City during the CW was not one sided. Given the mercantile history of the city it's no surprise that its business and economic interests often took precedence in deciding support for either the Union or the Confederacy.
 
That does sound pretty interesting. I am aware of the long-time ties between New York city and the slave states but don't really know the nitty gritty of the individual actors - just that there were such ties. I also know that New York state was probably the largest northern slave state (i.e. had the most slaves) and didn't give it up completely until the 1820s so I can imagine there might still have been a certain sympathy for the slave states in 1861 in some circles in addition to the financial ties.

This is the sort of history that really interests me - what people believed and why. I'm also attracted to works that challenge the notion that there was unity everywhere on either side of the Mason-Dixon line. I'll put it on my list.
 
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Much is made of the pro-Confederate sympathies of many of the New Yorkers involved in the Southern cotton trade, but there were a lot of stalwart Unionists too. Above is the monument to the Tammany Regiment at Gettysburg.
 
I can imagine there might still have been a certain sympathy for the slave states in 1861 in some circles in addition to the financial ties.

Oh, indeed. New York City's Mayor Fernando Wood actually wanted to secede with the South and he wasn't kidding, but for the impracticality of the situation.

I'm going to have to order up a copy of this one.
 
Thanks, miz Chellers, I'd likely have missed this. The City was indeed conflicted, for many reasons. Fernando Wood was as much a symptom as a causative. It's good to know that hasn't been forgotten. Being a Bklyn native with quite a number of ancestors in service at that time, I enjoy finding new details about their lives. NY fielded a truly astounding number of Reg'ts to the Union, raising them even in the boroughs in the face of Copperheadism such as Wood's. As usual, it wasn't the spirit of the soldiers, but the pursuit of the Dollar that was so troubling.
For further inspiration and insight, take a look at a BBC series from a few years ago called "Copper", set in the" Five Points" precincts of Manhattan in 1864, and a little gem of a historical novel called "Walk Like A Man" written by Donald Honig about a couple of Captree, Long Island youngsters off to see the Elephant. It's a brilliant short read, by a man who wrote quite a few good CW mysteries. He was a newspaper-man in NYC, who knew my brother' s godparents. I read it the first time when I was eight, which shocked my parents, since it was decidedly NOT a kid's book, but ...lol...if they had a clue what else I was reading back then, they'd prolly have had coronaries....Honig is a writer who never fails to entertain, even as he educates.
 
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Much is made of the pro-Confederate sympathies of many of the New Yorkers involved in the Southern cotton trade, but there were a lot of stalwart Unionists too. Above is the monument to the Tammany Regiment at Gettysburg.

The book in question will disabuse anyone of Tammany's commitment to Union. Yeah, they sent a regiment, but it was mostly about how to make a buck. The book here is really entertaining and fascinating - read it.
 

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The book in question will disabuse anyone of Tammany's commitment to Union. Yeah, they sent a regiment, but it was mostly about how to make a buck. The book here is really entertaining and fascinating - read it.

Well, I don't think I am guilty of being naive about Tammany. My only point was that there were plenty of pro-Union men in NYC along with the Copperheads and war profiteers.
 
The 69th New York was another NYC unit. Part of the famous 'Irish Brigade," it took very heavy losses in the war.

Below are some of the Priest chaplains:

300px-Irish_Brigade_Chaplains%2C_c._1862%28corrected%29.jpg
 

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The book in question will disabuse anyone of Tammany's commitment to Union. Yeah, they sent a regiment, but it was mostly about how to make a buck. The book here is really entertaining and fascinating - read it.
Tammany was War Democrat. Mozart Hall was anti-war and allied with Fernando Wood. Mozart also sent a regiment.
 
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