1863 Broadway New York Riot Check

1863 New York “Riot” Check

It’s estimated that as many as 1,200 people were killed in 1863 between July 11 and July 16 in New Nork City experienced one of the worst riots in American history due to the passage of the Civil War Military Draft Act which required all men between the ages of 20 and 45 to register for the draft. Working-class men especially were angered because rich people were able to buy their way out of service leaving the common man holding the bag. The violence was finally suppressed following President Abraham Lincoln’s decision to divert several regiments of militia and volunteer troops to New York. In addition to the deaths, riots caused more than $5 in damages—the equivalent of $85 million in today!

A Southern “Victory” Staged By Violent Northern Protestors

Issued in 1863 during the Civil War, this is a historic, 159-year-old bank check issued from the County Treasurer of New York at the Broadway Bank. It was printed by the Snyder, Black and Stern Company and has a gorgeous, ornate border with a vignette of a sailor and Native American flanking the state coat of arms. Checks like this one were being printed and redeemed even as police, National Guardsman and the Union Army were trying to quell the demonstrations. According to some historians, the riots were akin to a Southern victory not only in the cost of damages, but in the fact that it happened soon after the Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg. Rather than chasing down the battered and defeated Army of Northern Virginia as it retreated south, Federal troops were forced to spend time suppressing the riot.

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