Staten Island draft riot
Over the course of July 14th to July 20th, several episodes of violence and destruction occurred on Staten Island. Just like in numerous other cities, the massive riots in New York City appeared to have rippled out to the adjacent island. Rioters in Staten Island broke into two militia headquarters and stole muskets in the towns of Stapleton Landing and Stapleton (where 30 muskets from the Tompkins Lyceum were stolen). Rioters burned down the car barn owned by the Staten Island Railroad at Vanderbilt Landing Depot in the town of Clifton. Rioters looted, vandalized and destroyed at least thirteen black residences. Black residences on McKeon Street in Stapleton were especially targeted, and black whitewasher (painter) David Wormsley’s home was burned down.[1]
According to the newspapers, rumors swirled that riotous activity might be underway on Staten Island. One rumor involved engaging in vandalism against the residences of prominent Republicans. These potentially included Sydney Howard Gay, a prominent abolitionist and managing editor of the notoriously Republican New York Tribune. Deputy Provost Marshal John C. Thompson was also threatened with violence. The threats caused several concerned families, both black and white, to move out their furniture and valuables and to temporarily vacate their houses. Another rumor circulated that suggested the ferry building and adjacent piers in Port Richmond would be targeted for vandalism. This apparently caused a group of concerned citizens to band together for the protection of the ferry property. Yet despite the rumors, neither of these events transpired.[2]
In the town of Stapleton, a mob of about thirty men and boys descended upon a black neighborhood on McKeon Street. Fortunately for the black residents, they had already fled into the fields and woods. The mob proceeded to loot and vandalize the houses, throwing furniture and possessions into the street. Black grocer William Wilson’s store was looted and vandalized. In Richmondtown, the sheriff was informed that a mob was planning to break into the jail to get a black man that was being held there on rape charges, with the intention of hanging him. Colonel Landsing from nearby Camp Sprague (in New Dorp) mobilized soldiers to the Richmond County Court House, which prevented such a jailbreak.[3]
On the morning of July 15th, a group of workers (possibly around three hundred of them) from Southfield, Fort Tompkins and Richmond held a meeting. Newspapers reported that they had gone on strike because they had not been paid for two months and decided to take action. The papers reported that the workers marched to the town of Stapleton and held a meeting over their pay situation. William Reekstin, however, reports that at this meeting (under the leadership of William Shaw and Dwight Townsend) it was resolved that the citizens of Southfield would raise $15,000 to pay the $300 commutation fee necessary for Southfield to meet its draft quota of fifty men.[4]
Over the course of the tumult across Staten Island, soldiers under the command of Col. William Wilson stationed about 100 cavalrymen at the town of Quarantine. Additionally, Wilson armed about one hundred citizens with rifles for additional reinforcement. The 74th New York Regiment was taken to Richmond by tugboat and stationed there.[5] The precise number of injured during the Staten Island draft riot is unknown. By the end of the year, people began filing claims for compensation for the damages inflicted during the riots. The Staten Island Railroad was promptly compensated $1,336 for its burned car barn. Mrs. Corson, whose barn was adjacent to it, received $92. J.M Evans and Son were compensated $222. All in all, white claimants were paid for 1,711 for damages.[6]
The extent to which the rioters targeted black persons and property was seriously under-reported in the New York newspapers. If you assessed the impact on blacks by news accounts, the extent would be perceived as “the burning of two negro shanties in Rocky Hollow, and another in Stapleton, and the beating of one negro." But Reekstin’s examination of the local Richmond County Gazette revealed that the impact to the black community was far greater. The Richmond County Board of Supervisors delayed and attempted to prevent the compensation of black claimants. It took almost three years (until 1865) for Staten Island’s blacks to be compensated. Richmond County even employed four lawyers to fight against their claims. Black citizens had to hire their own attorney, George Greenfield, to defend their claims. In time, thirteen black claimants were compensated $9,315, but it cost the County an additional $3,481 in legal costs and fees for delaying and fighting against these claims! Additionally, Richmond County paid another $4,610 to the attorneys that were hired to oppose the black claimants. By fighting against the black claims to damage, the county paid nearly double the cost.[7]
[1] William Reekstin, “The Draft Riots of July 1863 on Staten Island. (The Staten Island Historian 19, Oct.-Dec. 1958). 28.
[2] New York Daily Herald July 17, 1863. New York Tribune, July 17, 1863. Reekstin, “Draft Riots on Staten Island,” 28.
[3] Reekstin, “Draft Riots on Staten Island,” 28.
[4] New York Daily Herald July 17, 1863. New York Tribune, July 17, 1863. Reekstin, “Draft Riots on Staten Island,” 28
[5] New York Daily Herald July 17, 1863. New York Tribune, July 17, 1863.
[6] Reekstin, “Draft Riots on Staten Island.” 29.
[7] New York Daily Herald July 17, 1863. New York Tribune, July 17, 1863. Reekstin, “Draft Riots on Staten Island,” 29-30.