The Port Washington Draft Riot Begins
On Monday morning of November 10, 1862, Draft Commissioner William Pors set out to undertake Port Washington’s draft. Rumors had been swirling about town that many citizens were vehemently opposed to conscription. Pors understood in advance that there might be a protest against it. His life was even threatened the evening before. By 10 A.M., a crowd of around 1,000 people gathered at the courthouse, many of whom brandished clubs, large stones and other implements in their hands. The reporter for the Milwaukee Daily Wisconsin identified the crowd as Belgian Catholics from Luxembourg. The county history also identifies those gathered as “principally Catholics.” No Irish, who comprised 6% of the city's populace, were identified as among the rioters, but little was said of the German-Americans in the community, who comprised about 51 percent of Port Washington. So, there is some preliminary identifications made about the participants, but I need to do much more research to document their socioeconomic identities. Pors set up the draft documents and a box for drawing names on a table in front of the courthouse. When he asked the crowd to step back, they instead surged forward, demolished the draft box, and tore up the enrollment lists. Members of the crowd attacked Pors, beat, tripped, and trampled him, then threw him down the courthouse steps. The sheriff and deputies stepped in to rescue Pors from the severe assault.
Pors was implored to run, and he ran towards the Post Office while members of the crowd hurled stones at him as he fled. One stone struck him on the side of the head just above his temple. This knocked him down, but he got up and continued running, only to be struck by another stone on the back of his head. Pors fell again, could not get up, and was carried inside (by whom it was not made clear). The postal workers locked the doors behind Pors when he got inside and then he hid in the cellar. Members of the crowd demanded access to Pors, but the employees delayed their entry until he could escape out through the back and into a covered carriage which whisked him by back roads to Milwaukee. The mob outside became increasingly agitated in their demands, some even threatening to hang Pors. The Post Office staff eventually let them in, but by this time he was gone.
Over the course of the next several hours, between 200 to 300 the rioters proceeded to damage or demolish over a half dozen houses, loot a warehouse, sack the courthouse, vandalize the Masonic Hall, damage the wharf, barricade some streets and assault several citizens of the town. Additionally, another 100 to 200 more people accompanied the rioters and cheered them on in their “work.” The rioters proceeded to various buildings in search of specific persons to assault. In the process, they vandalized about a dozen structures and committed multiple robberies. The rioting continued for the remainder of the day, though fortunately no one was killed.
