New York City in the Civil War

New York City during the American Civil War (1861–1865) was a bustling American city that provided a major source of troops, supplies, equipment and financing for the Union Army. Powerful New York politicians and newspaper editors helped shape public opinion toward the war effort and the policies of President Abraham Lincoln. The port of New York, a major entry point for immigrants, served as recruiting grounds for the Army. Irish and Germans participated in the war at a high rate.

The city's strong commercial ties to the South, its growing immigrant population, and anger about conscription led to divided sympathies, with some business men favoring the Confederacy and other opinion in favor of the Union. The Draft Riots of 1863, provoked by fears of labor competition and resentment of wealthy men being able to buy their way out of the draft, was one of the worst incidents of civil unrest in American history and featured widespread ethnic Irish violence against blacks in the city. The neighboring and more populous city of Brooklyn in contrast was more pro-war.

New York City had long been the largest, and in many ways, most influential city in the United States. By 1860, its population was a wide variety of diverse cultures, views, opinions, and politics. As Southern states began seceding with the election of Lincoln, New Yorkers in general supported the war effort, but there were several notable early exceptions.

The city and the state had strong economic ties to the South; by 1822 half of the city's exports were related to cotton, which also fed the upstate and New England textile mills.Mayor Fernando Wood won reelection to a second term, serving from 1860 to 1862. He was one of many New York Democrats who were sympathetic to the Confederacy, called 'Copperheads' by staunch Unionists. In January 1861, Wood suggested to the City Council that New York City secede as the "Free City of Tri-Insula", to continue its profitable cotton trade with the Confederacy. Wood's Democratic machine was concerned to maintain the revenues and jobs in the city (which depended on Southern cotton), which also supported the patronage system.

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