Four days of rioting began in New York City in response to laws passed by the U.S. Congress to draft men to fight in the American Civil War.

The New York City draft riots, sometimes referred to as the Manhattan draft riots and known at the time as Draft Week, were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan, widely regarded as the culmination of working-class discontent with new laws passed by Congress that year to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War. The protests turned into a race riot against African Americans by Irish American rioters. President Abraham Lincoln diverted several regiments of militia and volunteer troops after the Battle of Gettysburg to control the city. The official death toll was listed at either 119 or 120. One historian estimated a loss in killed and wounded of 1000, most of whom were of the mob, and a probable damage to private property of $1,500,000. According to another historian, 18 people are known to have been killed by the rioters, 11 of whom were Black.