Yonkers with a population estimated between 9,000 and 12,000 at the time of the Civil War had 254 enlisted men, 212 draftees and 16 dead. There are 139 veterans buried in St. Mary's cemetery (some did not live in Yonkers during the Civil War). One inscription reads "Died from wounds from the Battle of the Wilderness." One veteran, Capt. William Heermance, received the Medal of Honor for his service with the 6th New York Calvary at the battle of Chancellorsville. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery. However, Yonkers was a divided city over the war, especially the emancipation of the slaves. This is clearly seen in the two weekly Yonkers newspapers, the Yonkers Herald and the Yonkers Examiner. As was the custom of the time, they were very partisan. The Yonkers Statesman was Republican, the Party of Lincoln, and pro- abolitionist. The Yonkers Herald was Democratic, anti- abolitionist and anti- Lincoln. So vitriolic was its attacks on President Lincoln that charges were brought against the editor for preventing the prosecution of the war. Accused of being a Copperhead (poisonous snake against the war effort) paper, the editor, Thomas Smith, resigned.
Although most of the parishioners of St. Mary's were Democrats, some, like Thomas Cornell, were Republican and Abolitionist. In the 1860 elections Lincoln won the vote in the Town of Yonkers by -three votes. In the 1864 elections, he lost the Yonkers vote by 232 votes. The second district, heavily Irish, voted overwhelmingly against Lincoln.

In 1861 most people thought the war would end soon. The Irish signed up for the usual reasons: patriotism, adventure, money ($300 bonus). James Sheridan, a parishioner of St. Mary's, signed up almost immediately. Edward Mitchell, much against the wishes of his mother, left St. Mary's School and enlisted. For many who enlisted the main reason for the war was the preservation of the Union, not the abolition of slavery. Although slavery was the main cause (the South broke from the Union because with the election of Lincoln it would be blocked from extending slavery to the new territories of the United States), the rallying cry was the preservation of the Republic. As the war grinded on and the casualties mounted (a recent estimate of the casualties of war is 750,000 dead from both sides), the justification for this sacrifice became a moral one: the abolition of slavery. As more and more deaths, especially among the Irish, were being published in New York City, ("and orphans roamed the streets") opposition to the war increased, especially since its main purpose now was the abolition of slavery.
Looking back it seems strange that so many Irish Catholics would be opposed to the freeing of fellow human beings from slavery. Daniel O'Connell, the "Great Emancipator" of the Irish from the English Penal Laws, wrote to the Irish Americans about their opposition to the abolition of slavery: "It was not in Ireland that you learned this cruelty. Your mother was gentle, kind, humane. How can your soul have become stained with a darkness blacker than the negro's skin."
The opposition to the emancipation of the slaves by the Irish is primarily explained as an economic one. The freed African Americans would come north and take jobs from the huge number of Irish workers who were desperate for work. In fact many African Americans were hired when Irish workers went on strike for better wages. There were other factors. The Democratic Party to which most Irish belonged was against abolition. Some of the more prominent Abolitionists were upper class Protestants who despised this unruly lower class that were Irish and even worse Catholic.
Catholic religious leaders were not helpful. Pope Gregory XVI finally condemned the slave trade in 1839 but not slavery itself. Archbishop John Hughes advised the government that "Catholics will fight to the death" to uphold the Union, but never for the abolition of slavery. He himself believed that slavery was legitimate.

And there may be something more primal. To escape the ugly racism directed at them, they became racist themselves. For some the Irish were at the bottom of the evolutionary ladder. They were referred to as "niggers turned inside out." African Americans were sometimes called "smoked Irish."
In an ideal world, the Irish, who had experienced the injustice of the Penal Laws in Ireland, would have identified with the suffering of the slaves and fought for their freedom. But it was not to be so. The Irish whose bodies and souls were almost annihilated by the Famine did not have the psychological resources nor the spiritual or political leaders to make this great leap of solidarity.
This was the tinderbox that exploded in the Draft Riots in New York City on July 6, 1863. The Federal Conscription act, which was passed in March, 1863, seemed very unfair to the poor Irish. For $300 (equivalent to $5,000 today?) a person could buy his exemption. Few Irish had this kind of money. The battle of Gettysburg had just published the list of casualties. Irish casualties were high. Although we now know that this was the turning point in the war that eventually lead to the surrender of the South two years later, at the time no one even knew who won the battle. There was great fear that General Lee's army was marching on Washington D.C. Reserve troops from New York (including Yonkers) were pulled out to defend the Capitol. The Draft Riots began on July 6 as an orderly protest against the draft but soon turned into a murderous racial riot. When it was finally put down by five Union army regiments on July 16, there were at least 105 dead and thousands wounded. Among the casualties were eleven African American males who were killed and mutilated by the rioters.
Yonkers was justly afraid that the riots would spill over into their village. Yonkers knew that it had spread into other parts outside New York City. In White Plains the house containing the lists was burned down. Telegraph offices were destroyed. Railroad tracks at the Harlem and New Haven lines were ripped up. Bands of Irish workers from the quarries in Ossining marched on the abolitionist Horace Greely's house in Chappaqua. Another crew of Irishmen from the quarries in Tuckahoe marched towards Tuckahoe.

In Yonkers, rumors spread that rioters were headed for the Starrs Munitions Factory on Vark St. (between the present day Riverdale and Buena Vista Ayes.) to steal firearms and ammunition. Since the Yonkers Reserve Guard had been called Guard of 300 men and drilled in the streets. The owner of the munitions factory distributed arms to their employees and surrounded the factory.
To the relief of everyone, nothing happened. There are many reasons. Many of the Irish had homes, families and jobs in Yonkers. They would have discouraged any riots. The Home Guard of Yonkers may have been too old to frighten anyone, but the hundred of armed employees at the munitions factory was certainly a deterrent. The influence of Thomas Cornell, a respected leader and founder of St. Mary's parish, cannot be discounted. However, I think that the major deterrent was the pastor of St. Mary's who knew his parishioners very well and was respected and loved. He was a supporter of the Union and would not have tolerated any riots. In a small (compared to parishes in N.Y.C.) and tightly- knit Irish parish like St. Mary's, the parish priest would have been obeyed.

Next Chapter