Button at the bottom of your screen. Well get to questions after our conversation. To lets turn our attention some objects that help us describe the civil war. The history museum, objects do a lot of heavy lifting and standing in for a larger historical narrative be the conditions of the objects themselves. Lets talk about this book, the civil war in 50 objects. Tell us about it and how 50 objects can tell the complex story of the civil war. Its extraordinarily when we undertook this project 18 years ago, it was difficult to find just 50 objects although we think they tell the story of the war. As you tell the story of arts theobjects standing in story about race, militarization, soldier life, civilian life. Its also a story about connecting collecting and the New York Historical society as the trove of this cities lower from the revolutionary period to today. So i think its a double story. Lets start with her objects of the evening. Remarkably topic is aligned with current events. The new york city draft riots during the civil war have been considered the largest civil disturbance and the most racially charged in American History that here are two objects the bore witness to this event which took place over four days and july 1863. In july 1863. The first object, the 19th century draft wheel. On july 10, 1863 following the union for trees in gettysburg and vicksburg, the New York Times praised the immediate enforcement of the new draft. Recruitse 300,000 new needed to shore up the union army and the now struggling confederacy. Days later, the first names of draft eligible men were drawn from wheels just like this one. Tell us about this object. Its an unusual looking object, but think of it as a large handcranked device. Look at the aperture with the cover with the lid at the top. Will well in this wheel were the names of conscripts. By july, new york had to begin conscription, the First Military draft in American History. So its not the most popular event in recruiting. Used at a draft office on the Lower East Side of manhattan. It contained a number of names and it would be cranked by a Provost Marshal in public and then someone would open that lid, stick his arm in, and the first unlucky draftees name would be called. Young men would be lined up outside and they would go right from that office into the union army. Objectas not a popular and it was a time of tremendous anxiety. Absolutely. This object came to the collection of the New York Historical society soon after the end of the war. Within in your book that this object were an ethnic tapestry of names and occupations and the object actually came with many little draft cards with names. All handwritten just like this. That thek we assume draft riots we will be describing momentarily interrupted the calling of names. We dont know how many were removed and announced. But there were plenty in the wheel when it came to the Historical Society and as people remember in our exhibition, we strung out the names in clothesline fashion. It was a huge cluster of names. You see william kuehne, im just guessing a german america and joseph ill wits or, probably a jewish shoemaker from first avenue. So this is the neighborhood willingly or unwillingly about to see action in the civil war. The federal conscription act was passed by congress in march of 1863. Explain to us what exactly it was and what its flaws were. Is again for want of real , thinks and reenlistees at the same time that africanamerican troops are being recruited in the border states and in new england. New york did not have a great record on that aspect. We didnt raise our first africanamerican regiment for another year and a half after this event. Passed to add to the ranks through conscription. But it has kind of a fatal flaw. Paid 300at if you for a substitute, but its really exemption from the draft, you can buy your way out of the draft. So that led to before the actual draft begins, a huge amount of criticism in the democratic. Ress that this is a rich mans war and a poor mans fight. Otherwise all men 25 to 45 are eligible for conscription. Average annuale wage of a labor in new york. So this is a big lift. In the days leading up to the first names being pulled, whether Republican Newspapers in and the like the times tribune are saying its our patriotic duty to go through with the draft, the democratic press, copperhead press to some degree is saying we will never war, we willord never fight for africanamericans. The emancipation proclamation is only two months old. Whipse democratic press the opposition into a frenzy. New york is a largely democratic town. 60 7 againstthan Abraham Lincoln in 1860. And we have a lot of irishamericans in the city who are not only angry about the 300 exemption, but have been told by an early form of yellow journalism that if they go to african whoe union, are freed will come into new york city and compete with them for their jobs on the docks and in the factories by accepting lower wages, having never been paid any wages. So a great deal of racial hatred is being stirred up in this population as well. Its ugly and thats the foundation of what occurred on july 13. Its literally hot. Its the summer. Talk us through the first few days of the draft. The weekend over and starting on monday the 13th . Ok and thends sunday the 12th there is a pause according to new york culture and tradition and then it resumes on a particularly hot day, monday, july 13. New yorkers can really visualize these streets because it begins around the 2nd avenue in the 40s. 46, 40 7th street. U. N. Neighborhood. Before the Provost Marshals office reopens, someone throws a brick or cobblestone through the window of the draft office and then sets the draft office on fire and that is the openinground in the defiance. Grows. Grows and protesters begin to march downtown and disrupt the draft in other places. The demonstration just metastasize is all over manhattan. You call them a race riot. That is what it turned into. We have an image of some of the violence that occurred. Were in these mobs and who did the mobs target . , and this ising going to sound eerily familiar. Over,nger boils irrational decisions sometimes are made. Brooks brothers for example was targeted and looted. Stores were targeted. Abolitionists and leading republicans were targeted. The mayors house was attacked. Beaten up. Cers were republican papers were attacked. Said, the ugly truth is that it turned into a hideous race riot early on. An African American child was beaten right near city hall at chambers street and broadway. And then the mob as it grew, as it intensified began attacking prostitutes who were known to entertain black men as clients. Interracial couples who lived in the Lower West Side of manhattan. Ultimately, africanamericans were just dragged from carriages, chased down the street somewhere were driven off the docks and just drowned. Scene, one infamous africanamerican was lynched, set a fire and then dragged. It was hideous. There was sexual mutilation going on. Blatant murder without punishment. Anytime the police did try to intervene to protect new yorkers of color, the mob turned its wrath on the police as well. We have another image actually of the police at the tribune office. Describe some details from these four days. And by july 17, what happens . It was also an antipress right as i mentioned. Papers areding sitting on newspaper row. Both newspapers arm themselves. Henry raymond was on the roof of his building with his investor. He had a nineyearold daughter named jenny was destined to be the mother of winston churchill. Henryonard jerome and raymond were on the roof of the times with a gatling gun aiming at protesters who were threatening the papers. The new york tribune armed itself with munitions and grenades from the Brooklyn Navy yard. And you seehis mob, that some of the caricatures are blatantly antiirish caricatures. They did crashed through the downstairs rooms of the tribune which were reserved for buying subscriptions and papers and adds and they set fire to this room and then army of new york police came out of the darkness down from City Hall Park south and attacked the mob and dispersed them. So the attempt to interfere with progressive newspapers was blatant also. This is just one of the scenes that took place in july. As you point out, it ended only a male anday, it was female riot. Mostly dug cobblestones out of the pavement and then gave it to their men to hurl through the streets. This went on down the Lower West Side. 59th street it was a lot of writing across 59th street. Central park was being built then. Ultimately Abraham Lincoln was totally silent on this. The governor was sorta friendly to the writers. He called them my friends. Ultimately lincoln authorized the deployment of and this is going to sound eerily familiar again, the deployment of federal froms who were dispatched the gettysburg area north on trains and they ultimately fired their weapons downtown and that ended the riots. We have other images of fires. There were a lot of burning buildings. Here is the army facing off against the rioters. I think the rioters here are a little better armed than they were in the city. Many we will never know the fatality rate. They say there were 120 deaths and 8000 injuries. In 1863. Lot but i dont believe the 120 figure. I dont think africanamericans pushed off the docks were counted. And people whose bodies were burned were counted. I would say it was 10 times as high as we believe. What happened to that 300 bounty provision in the aftermath of these riots . The bill was corrected. It is possible to correct legislation. Before it was corrected, the democratic mayor of new york passed a bill in the city council to have new york city pay the 300 bounty to anyone who didnt want to serve. The 300 exemption fee. So the city ultimately bore the expense to protect protesters or antiwar democrats. It was a mess. A lot of africanamericans did actually sign up voluntarily. Yorkersanamerican new had to find other places to volunteer because new york didnt raise its first troops until september 64. So the detritus of these riots, the mass and the burned stuff was thrown to the rivers and thrown out. Its really amazing that this draft we all survived. And the buildings might have been torn down, new structures took their place. Once we really look deeper into of thisn toll disturbance, the worst urban , the secondmemory object of the evening does speak to this in a very poignant and emotional and tragic way. Object . Ee our second book. A rare give us some background for this please. This is an emotional story to be sure. Bibleible is an original that was used at the socalled colored orphan asylum. An institution for africanamerican orphans that was founded about 10 years before the draft riots and was considered a model for the care of children. It had playrooms, it had gardens. It had sleeping quarters with very big windows to provide ventilation. It had good food. It had teachers and it had a population of orphans who actually, one of them went on to fight in the fabled 54th massachusetts regiment that achieved glory from the movie of the same name at fort wegner. Africanamericans died in huge disproportionate numbers defending the union. So this bible was used inside the asylum and i wont yet give away the story of why it is charred. The orphan asylum was founded i quaker woman from the New York Manumission Society in the and what happened at the asylum. Team, a large amount of maybe a thousand or more people masked outside of the orphan asylum. The building was breached. It was looted. Rioters carried off the beautiful beds and mattresses. They took enough straw out of the mattresses to use as kindling. They set the building on fire. Here is an artist rendering of this horrific scene. If you wonder where the ,fricanamerican children are that is the agonizingly heartbreaking horrific story. There were 200 33 children and they were all trapped inside when this place began with rioters outside taunting the teachers to bring the kids outside so they could be killed. Thats the moment when we dont know whether it was a teacher or little girl. There are many legends about what happened. I would like to think it was this one prescient brave little girl who said isnt that the bible that we were always told us to follow in this teacher picked it up and said, with smoke in this room, children, follow me out. If you follow the good book. Justgot outside and they piled outside very quietly and these children hurt unbearably horrible taunts as they made it outside. But there were a few people who sheltered these kids. Some of them were dispersed and andn in by white families their brownstones. A young irish kid took some of them down to a police precinct. Just harrowing imagery. We have another image which looks a little bit more benign than this. Bucolic nature of this site. In the foreground nature obviously some violence. Imagine thato those are not clouds over the trees, those are flames and smoke. As vivid. Ot quite dramatic. Event and a huge news a great shame on the city. I should say that there were religious leaders who tried very hard to stop this from metastasizing the way it did. Protestants and catholics. Protestant churches were targeted. Was a great black liberator who lived in manhattan. His daughter when she heard the rumblings went outside and pried his nameplate off of his door, which probably saved his life. His lookalike was beaten up instead. This is the worst. This is absolutely the low point of new york history i think. A lot of the times we dont learn about in history books. I think this is a serious problem for us in memory as weve heard in the last few days as we speak of more confederate statues being earmarked for removal. Plaques no monument or that attests to the draft riots. And the toll they took on the honor and the stability and the lives of new york and new yorkers. And i think that we have to have a movement to remember even unpleasant parts of our history because ultimately if they didnt make us better right away, at least they struck appropriate shame into the hearts of progressive new yorkers. Absolutely. Just a couple more questions before we go to our q a portion. Boathildren were taken by and were all the children saved . Thats hard to tell. Its hard to tell. We assume there were no casualties, but how can i say this. Black lives didnt matter in 1863. Even in new york. Thent have any faith in actuarial account. We think that most of the children were rescued. Nearly all the children. Thing was inortant fact saved and it was this bible. Uphave the inscription blown so you can see the inside of that object. And theres something so almost chilling about seeing the charred edges and the inscription inside. It is said this bible was in the asylum before the destruction of the asylum on fifth avenue by the rioters. It is charred around the edges. Is objects can testify historically and emotionally to events. A more think there is powerful relic in the collection than this. Records, all the records of the colored orphan asylum went to the New York Historical society, which i got to read so many of the minutes of the meetings before and after the riots. One can almost imagine the Child Holding this bible and just what this object bore witness to. Send chills up your spine to imagine that. There are moments when you can hold up the bible and it will do some good. Its not just a photo opportunity. I hate to say that and trivialize it. Just think of a Child Holding a beacon fors people to go through smoke and flames to escape into another mob. Its unimaginable. Im sure there were members of the century club on our call and zoom today that red brick wall in the background of this photo is the century club and this is goneant lot, the owner has bust trying to build gigantic office tower here. But it is still a vacant lot. I would love to see a plaque one day. By the way the orphan asylum never rebuilt here. Its a midtown manhattan was not safe for an africanamerican institution so they moved progressively uptown eventually to hartman harlem. They became a foster care agency. Riverdale andd to the colored orphan asylum building in riverdale ultimately became the hebrew home for the aged. Its a multigenerational transformation always devoted to care interestingly. We are ready now for our q a. The first question is was paying your way out of the draft done in the revolutionary war as well . Was the civil war the last time that was except . There was still conscription in the revolutionary war. The draft was introduced by Abraham Lincoln. He introduced us to the military draft and to federal income taxes. And again, the rich mans exemption was a big mistake and it was never employed again. The next question is did the wealthy people flee during the riots . There wasnt as much mobility as there is now. The new york exhibition, we came across a count of wealthy people who were terrorized and hidden in their attics. Most of the rioters who went after private homes were interested in property and we of peopleeat story finding engraved portraits of Abraham Lincoln in someones home and throwing them out the window and seeing them trampled in the streets. So i dont think people had the mobility that they do today. Horace greeley on the other hand got out of town and went to his country home. Why were black men not eligible for conscription . Eligible forwere conscription and enlistment. The new york culture was not yet ready to organize black regiments. You dont just join the union army. You have to sign up with a earlyn and new yorks civil war tradition was ethnic regiments. The irish brigade. Germanamerican regiments. The seventh regiment. We know where the armories today. It was in union square in those days. Now its on 68th and park. That was the elite regiment of wealthy people. You had to attach yourself to a regiment and not until the Union League Club organized an africanamerican regiment in 64. By the way, they had to be island on governors because people were so petrified of the idea of africanamericans arming themselves and what was essentially a white dominated town. So africanamericans are eligible to serve in the union forces officially bearing arms. When congress legislates expanding on the emancipation proclamation to open the services to a