The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1916-01-12
NEW WORKERS KILLED MANY
IN FAMOUS WAR RIOTS
OPPOSED CONSCRIPTION
Terrible Times in Great City When
United States Government Tried to
Force Men to Join the Army
Against the South-Troops Restor-
ed Order.

that are linked with any discussion
Of the subject, says the Kansas Cit!
Star.
The vast majority of men do moi
volunteer for war. The United Stete:
found that out in the rebellion anc
had to use the draft. And the draft
was, in a way, the last resort. II
produced results.
1t is said that England dares moi
try conscription in the face Of the
present opposition, but conscriptioI
in the United States, too, was bitterly
opposed. It was charged that the
administration was reckless and ire
sponsible and was promulgating the
doctrine OF compulsory military ser.
vice to further political ends. Lin.
coin was slandered and abused.
New York was the centre Of op.
position, and when the enrolling of.
ficers opened their booths the city
was thrown into state of bloody
riot that lasted nearly a week, in
which many were killed and wounded
and property damaged to the extent
Of s2.000,0O0.
In January, 1868, the Quarterly
Review published an article urging
CONSUMPTION. It said: "The country
calls for sacrifices at. the commands
Of duty, and people that refuses to
make them has ceased to be worthy
Of liberty or nationality"
The South was forcing it's men into
service, and the North was trying to
fight the war with volunteers and
not succeeding to any great extent.
Some one pointed out that the Con-
federates had come nearer taking
Washington than the federals had
taking Richmond.
Many newspapers opposed the
draft in fiery editorials. The New
York Daily News said: "The mis-
creants at the head of the govern
ment are bending all their power to
securing perpetuation Of their
ascendency for another four years,
and their triple method Of accom-
! phshing this purpose is to kill off
Democrats, stuff the ballot box with
| bogus soldier votes and deluge the
recusant district with negro suffrage.
The people are notified that one out
Of about two and half OF our citi-
zens are to be brought off into
5. LluCOiu O. w. . SAo4 GS&
house. God forbid"
The World said: "Weak and reck-
less men at the head of the govern
ment are forcing conicription as an
unnecessary stretch of governmental
control over individual liberty
But the government had to take
the risk. The Confederacy, on April
lie, 1852, had adopted measure
placing all white mon between the
ages of Is and 25 at the disposal of
their executive, and those already en-
listed for one or two years were notl-
fed that they would be held for the
duration Of the war.
Nearly q year later the Union was
struggling along with the volunteer
system and meeting reyerSes. Like
England Of to-day, the pleas to
patriotism were about exhausted and
thousands Of able bodied men were
shirking from battle. Human life
then, as now, was not the cheapest
thing, despite such fatuoCs state
ments. Men lost in battle could not
be replaced in munitions factories.
Lincoln summed the situation up.
eve are contending with an enemy
who, as I understand" he said,
s'driyes every able bodied man he
can reach into his ranks very much
as a butcher drives bullocks into a
slaughter pen. No time is wasted, no
argument used. This produces an
army with a rapidity not to be match
ed on our side II we first waste time
to experiment with the volunteer sys-
tenn"
Conscription was decided upon and
adopted March 8, 1853, by vote OF
lis to 49 in the House. A motion
to delay the measure was overwhelm-
ed in the Senate, and it was adopted
without a roll call Of the yeas and
nays.
The act provided that all men, in
cluding negroes and aliens who had
declared for citizenship, between the
ages Of Is and As, were to be draft
ed by the president, at his decretlon,
for not more than three years. Those
between the ages Of 20 and 35 were
to be in the first class and the others
in the second. Federal provost mar
shals were to enroll the men within
the scope Of the act and those not
reporting were to be considered as
deserters.
A communication of service could be
bought for $500. Federal judges and
governors Of states were exempt, as
were only sous Of widowed and de-
pendent mothers or Of aged and in
firm fathers. Fathers Of motherless
children less than - years old were
excluded, and there were several
other classes set aside.
The first draft for conscrlpt IN
New York was advertised for July IL,
1863. In the days Immediately pre-
ceding incendiary handbius had ap-
peared mysteriously and had incited
revolt. Several newspapers denounc-
ed the draft-or any form of con-
scription-as needless, unconstitu-
tional and outrageous. 1t was as
serted that the enrolment from New
York was too high already and that
there would be fraud in drawing the
names from the wheel.
The morning the enrolling officers
took their stations crowds began to
gather especially in the uptown dis
trict, where there was a compact.
foreign-born laboring population.
!
at Forty-ninth street ard Third ave-
nue., and nearly hundred LANES had
been drawn out peacably, when a
pistol shot was fired in the street in
the midst of a large crowd.
It must have been signal. The
house was showered instantly with
bricks and stones, and wild mob
rushed in, driving out the officers
and clerks with bricks and clubs.
The papers were tor up and the
books destroyed.
Some one produced can of tur-
pentine and poured it over the furni-
ture and struck a. match. Policemen
and draft officers made feeble at
tempt to disperse the rioters and
check the flames, but they were
driven off by bombardment OF
stones.
John A. Kennedy, superintendent
Of police, appeared in response to a