The massive draft riot in New York City "rippled out and spread" to other cities. Some of the riots were in neighboring cities, such as numerous towns on Staten Island, as well as Jersey City and Newark, New Jersey. Some erupted in cities some distance away from New York City. Drafts riots erupted 160 miles to the north in Troy, New York, 220 miles to the east in Boston, Massachusetts, and 270 miles to the northeast in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It is interesting to observe that some cities, like Philadelphia, with a history of rioting and where you might expect a draft riot to occur, no riots occured over the four years of the Civil War. There was even "fake news" about riots that never happened, such as what was reported about Hartford, Connecticut. There were draft riots in the midwestern states, including Illinois, Wisconsin and in Holmes County, Ohio.
Race, class, political and religious affiliations were underlying causative issues in these riots triggered by the draft.
Credits
Brian Valimont