Thomas Nast - Part 1

[00:00:07] Hello everyone, welcome to the Almost Immortal History Podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Powers. Many of us know the stories of Abraham Lincoln in Ulysses S. Grant, or the images of political symbols like the Republican elephant or Democratic donkey, though many might not know the artist

[00:00:23] and political cartoonist who created the latter and helped elect the former, all while being most responsible for taking on and taking down the most corrupt politician in New York City's history and even finding time to create the modern image of Santa Claus.

[00:00:38] So sit back and enjoy the story and the focus of today's episode, political cartoonist Thomas Nast. On a warm summer evening in Harlem, New York in 1871, a man knocked on the door of his unsuspecting host. The man's intentions were not pure. While he worked for a powerful

[00:01:08] local bank, he made most of his money through bribes from his most powerful client, Tammany Hall, and its feared leader, Boss Tweed. The man knocked again and this time the door opened. Standing in front of the banker in the

[00:01:20] hallway of his own home was Thomas Nast, political cartoonist for Harper's Weekly, one of the most famous men in America. Nast didn't know the man personally, but his guard was immediately up. After all, Nast was not only in the midst of a two-year-long campaign

[00:01:35] of his own making to expose the corruption of New York City's government, but all too predictably, the threats to him and his family had been relentless. From run-ins with Tammany Hall goons on the streets, to letters threatening his wife and children, Nast thought

[00:01:49] he had seen it all until today. After some polite small talk, the banker stated the reason for his visit. He understood that Nast would be taking some time off to travel to Europe and study art. When a surprise Nast who had no plans to go

[00:02:02] anywhere told the man he was far too busy to travel at present, the banker responded, I have reason to believe you could get $100,000 for your trip. Nast now understood what was happening. It was a bribe. Time to have some fun, he thought.

[00:02:16] A hundred thousand sounded good, said Nast, but what about two hundred thousand? The banker hesitated, but agreed. An amused Nast then asked, What about five hundred thousand? After a long cautious pause and a stern look, the banker said, You can. You

[00:02:32] can get five hundred thousand in gold to drop this ring business and get out of the country. The man had just offered Nast the equivalent of $10 million in today's money. Nast smiled

[00:02:43] and said firmly, No, I made up my mind not long ago to put some of these fellows behind bars and I'm going to do it. The shocked banker responded angrily, Only be careful,

[00:02:53] Mr. Nast, that you do not first put yourself in a coffin. Without context, it would seem strange for such anger to befall one magazine cartoonist rather than a group of political foes or wealthy power brokers. But this was no mere artist and his power was perhaps greater

[00:03:08] than anyone else in the city of New York or the whole of America. For what Thomas Nast was able to do was not just right about public corruption, he showed the hypocrisy and damage of that corruption to millions of people through his drawings. If a picture

[00:03:23] says a thousand words, then the narrative genius and ability of Thomas Nast was clear and overpowering. His enemies would do whatever it took to stop him. An immigrant from Germany as a young boy, Thomas Nast grew from not speaking a word of English into one of the

[00:03:39] most effective storytellers that millions of Americans had ever seen. But Nast's talent wasn't with words but images. For his ability to recreate in detail what he saw or his exactitude of likeness, there were few who could match him. But what set Nast

[00:03:55] apart was that artistic talent combined with his sense of how to tell a story by cutting to the heart of the matter with uncanny wit and clarity. His drawings could be funny and lighthearted or somber and cruel. He could be inspirational and patriotic or

[00:04:09] demean those that he believed were corrupt or hypocritical. He was short and rotund with a round face, dark goatee and boyish looks. He had an infectious laugh, fun loving spirit and self deprecating humor. He was proud but quite humble even when he

[00:04:25] became one of the most famous men of his day. Throughout his career that spanned five decades Nast would paint draw and publish thousands of images for the widest read magazines in the country reaching millions. When an idea hit him

[00:04:38] he had to begin at once or he would lose the thought. So he spent his life scribbling and sketching a sketch pad never far away if not always in his grasp. He reached the hearts and minds of all who saw his drawings. He created mass

[00:04:51] sentiment emotion and clarity around the most important and contentious issues of the day. He could comprehend complex political and cultural issues and then break them down to their simplest meaning using humor and wit that made his

[00:05:03] readers laugh and his targets cringe. In a melting pot culture like 19th century New York City not everyone could read English but everyone could be moved by imagery and no one's images move the public more than those of Thomas Nast.

[00:05:17] He understood the power of illustrated journalism and used it to make his adopted country live up to its ideals that he so cherished. As so many immigrants believed you could come to America and be anything you wanted

[00:05:28] to be. Few could have imagined the heights of a Thomas Nast but fewer still had such a unique talent and personality to make that success possible as Nast did. Thomas Nast was born at the military barracks in Landau Germany on

[00:05:43] September 27th 1840. He had one older sister. Several other siblings had come before him but had not survived. His parents were Apollonia and Joseph Nast. Joseph was a kindhearted trombonist in the ninth regimental military band. The first six years of Nast's life in Germany were happy ones.

[00:06:02] Thomas was one of the only babies and then young boys on the military barracks so he got plenty of attention. He was outfitted with military dress and referred to as captain. He attended his father's performances at local theaters. One of Nast's favorite memories was Christmas time.

[00:06:17] He was in all of the decorations, the holiday spirit and of course Santa Claus or Pell's nickel as he was known in Landau. As picturesque as it seemed a young Nast, political unrest in Germany and across much of Europe in the 1840s caused the Nast to immigrate to

[00:06:33] America. Joseph put his wife and two children on a ship in 1846 bound for New York City but he would not join them for another four years, likely to help finance his family's journey. Despite the separation from his home and

[00:06:46] father, Thomas was so enamored with his first impressions of New York City he said to his mother that he was glad he came. The Nast lived in a small but respectable home on Greenwich Street in New York City.

[00:06:56] He was enrolled in a nearby school. Not speaking a word of English was a challenge to say the least for Thomas and one that would have his mother soon move both their school and home. The inciting incident was when a

[00:07:07] teasing classmate of Thomas's told him to go stand in a line of students that Thomas assumed was for a class but instead was the line for punishment by spanking. Unable to explain himself, Thomas received a painful un-earned punishment. The Nast then relocated Thomas to a

[00:07:22] school where German was spoken but the trade-off was that their new neighborhood on William Street was far more dangerous, located just blocks from the area called the Five Points, the epicenter of the immigrant gangs of New York like the Dead Rabbits and Bowery Boys.

[00:07:37] Despite the danger that surrounded him, Thomas thrived. He was not a noted student but what he was noted for and what endlessly fascinated him was his ability to draw. One of Nast's William Street neighbors would make crayon sticks and give some of the extras to

[00:07:52] young Nast who would in turn draw images in school that wowed his fellow students and teachers alike. As he got older, what his neighborhood lacked in basic safety and hygiene more than made up for with a colorful world of characters, scenes and experiences

[00:08:06] for Nast to draw. While he drew anything and everything, what captured Thomas's interest most often were local building fires that would break out all over the city seemingly every day. Nast would hear the firebell in commotion and follow the

[00:08:18] crowd to the scene. The New York City fire brigades were almost as fascinating as the fires themselves with city paid trained and structured fire departments years away from existence. The mid 19th century fire brigades were more like

[00:08:31] rival gangs angling for work so much so that if more than one group of firemen responded to a call, they would usually settle who was to extinguish the fire with a brawl. Sometimes those brawls went on so long that the building they came to

[00:08:44] save would burn to the ground before the fight had concluded. One of the best known fire departments was the Big Six complete with its logo of a tiger's head with fierce jaws. The crew chief was a young up and coming local brawler named William

[00:08:57] McGare Tweed. At 511, Tweed was an imposing figure that coupled with his fearsome tiger made quite an impression on a young Thomas Nast. Joseph Nast rejoined his family in 1850 securing a job with a local band. Thomas Nast with a sketchbook in tow would accompany his father to his

[00:09:15] performances sketching the band and anything else that grabbed his attention. By 14, it was clear that art was the best path forward for Thomas to better develop his talent. His parents enrolled him in a local studio for young artist. The teacher was a talented German American painter Theodor

[00:09:31] Kaufmann who would become Thomas's first mentor. For the next two years, Thomas would learn first with Kaufmann followed by other artists mentors and finally with the Academy of Design within walking distance of Thomas Nast home. From all of these experiences, Nast further

[00:09:46] developed his abilities in drawing and painting. When he wasn't drawing scenes from surrounding neighborhoods, he was visiting museums with his class to copy the famous paintings hanging in the halls. By 1856, the Nast family could no longer afford to send Thomas to the design Academy. It was

[00:10:01] time for Thomas to find work. So we gathered up a collection of his drawings and approached Frank Leslie, owner and editor-in-chief of the eponymous Frank Leslie's illustrated news. The 16 page weekly publication was one of the most popular in the growing and competitive citywide

[00:10:16] marketplace for news. Unlike the other major newspapers of New York City, the illustrations in Leslie's appealed equally to English speaking Americans as well as the thousands of recently arrived immigrants into the city whose English proficiency varied widely, but all could appreciate illustrative pictures showing rather than just telling

[00:10:34] them about the major news of the day. For those who read English, the images help bring the stories to life. And for those who did not read English, it allowed them to better comprehend the events of the day in short informing

[00:10:45] and entertaining all. When Nast arrived for his meeting, a skeptical Frank Leslie's first comment was that Nast was awfully young, not yet 16. Still, Leslie told Nast to venture down to the local wharf, observe and draw the scene at the call for all aboard. Thomas did is

[00:11:01] instructed starting early in the morning. He painstakingly sketched every detail of the scene at the wharf, working around the ships passing in and out as the passengers flooded on and off the boats. Nast took mental pictures and sketch them into the scene, the racing

[00:11:15] boy, the barking dog, men and women in holiday attire. While Leslie assumed the task approved too complicated, Nast returned with a magnificent sketch and impressed Leslie asked him if he'd done this all by himself. Nast said yes. So Frank Leslie hired Thomas Nast at the age of 15,

[00:11:33] the youngest member of the staff by far to $4 per week. Nast was so overcome he couldn't speak to thank Leslie for the opportunity. Nast spent the next few years developing his skills, sketching scenes all over town. He would routinely wake up at 4am to practice his drawing

[00:11:49] before going out on assignment for the day and into the evening. Leslie's paper focused heavily on the disasters of the city like fires, floods, murders and other tragic events, ensuring an engrossed readership and steady work for Nast. After work, he would accompany his

[00:12:04] colleagues to Faf's beer cellar where he would meet the city's personalities and they in turn became fascinated with the young short portly German American who had an acute sense of humor and disarming self deprecation. Nast continued to carry a sketchbook everywhere with him, his

[00:12:19] artistic mind always at work capturing scenes of the city copying museum paintings or creating his own. The city was alive and provided Nast as much of an art education as he could handle. And as he would soon find out, a political education as well. Frank

[00:12:35] Leslie said an illustrated newspaper if it fulfills its mission must have its employees under constant excitement. Not only were they active, but there was an element of danger too, as Leslie believed that corruption should be exposed. He would send his artists

[00:12:50] out to help uncover such corruption and would keep the names of those he employed a secret to protect them from any reprisals. One of Leslie's targets was a group of local cow owners who were selling tainted milk from diseased cows to New

[00:13:01] York families. City officials were not only aware, but involved in the scam Leslie was determined to do something about it. He sent Nast and several others to investigate through their work. Leslie's was able to shine a light and help perform the

[00:13:15] practice. Well, now Scott to see the corrupt side of city government. He also realized that his talent as an artist could not only entertain but also be used to combat misdeeds and corruption. Leslie's was the ideal launching pad for Nast, but when the paper had financial struggles

[00:13:30] in 1859 they had to cut staff young Thomas among them. Fortunately for Nast, the popularity of Leslie's saw the rise of other illustrated magazines like the New York Illustrated News, the Sunday Courier, Comic Monthly and most notably Harper's Weekly. Nast began freelancing for

[00:13:46] all of them submitting sketches and having them printed. 1859 proved to be an important year for Nast, not only professionally, but personally. The Comic Monthly's editor Jesse Haney introduced Nast to the Edwards family who lived on Broadway Street. The Edwards entertained a wide variety of actors, artists and authors

[00:14:05] at their home with their four children, Sarah, Maddie, Eliza and Jack. Thomas and Sarah, who went by Sally, hit it off immediately. Sally had grown up upper middle class, but that mattered neither to her, Nast nor the Edwards when it came to welcoming the

[00:14:20] German-born artist into their home. Nast took part that summer in the lively Edwards family discussions of books, drama, politics and paintings. At Christmas time, the Edwards put on a performance and Nast played the role of scenic artist-in-chief. He also doubled as Bibibbo Bubble, a valet

[00:14:38] in barber. Nast had so much fun with the role he ad-libbed an Italian opera aria to close out his part that brought down the house. He was head over heels in love and that love was completely reciprocated by Sally and her family. Still, Nast knew

[00:14:53] he needed to make a better living if he was one day going to marry Sally. He joked with Sally about it, saying, I am very poor, in fact too poor to be romantic. To address the issue, Nast took a full-time job with one of his freelancers, The

[00:15:07] New York Illustrated News. Far from the four dollars per week he had made at Lesleys as a 15 year old, Nast would now make forty dollars per week as a 19 year old. Nast's first assignment was to cover and sketch the funeral of abolitionist John Brown, who had

[00:15:21] just been hung for his ill-fated raid on Harper's Ferry in West Virginia. Shortly after this, Nast was asked to cover an assignment overseas, the most famous heavyweight boxing match in the world, pitting American champ John Heenan against Britain's champ Tom Sayers. Get yourself ready to start for England,

[00:15:37] said Thomas Nast's own journal entry on January 30th, 1860, and he reminded himself in the same entry to get Sally's address and give her yours, and also by a German-French dictionary. This would not be the first boxing match Nast attended. While still at Lesleys, he covered Heenan's first major

[00:15:55] fight in 1858. Unlike today, boxing in the mid-19th century was fought with bare knuckles and was also illegal. Once in England, Nast had terrific access, meeting with both Heenan and Sayers separately. He treated us very nice, Nast said of the English Sayers upon their visit

[00:16:12] with him. If he were a Lord, he couldn't have treated us any better. Likewise, Nast would develop a strong relationship with the American Heenan, who Nast visited at all three of his training sites. Each move necessary over the eight weeks leading up to

[00:16:25] the fight as he got harassed by the British police. Heenan even loaned Nast money. Nast then offered Heenan two letters, one addressed to the New York Illustrated News asking them to pay Heenan back out of his next paycheck and another letter to Nast's mother

[00:16:39] asking her to pay Heenan if the newspaper did not pay Heenan first. Heenan tore up the letter to Nast's mother telling Nast not to worry, as he would make sure the newspaper paid up by threatening to punch their damn Dutch heads off if they didn't.

[00:16:53] The fight took place at Farmboro, 40 miles outside of London on April 17th, 1860. Although prize fighting was illegal in England as well and the fight took place in secret outside London to avoid the police, its popularity was global. The bulk of the people in England

[00:17:08] and America are heart and soul and grossed in a fight compared to which a Spanish bull is but a mild and diverting pastime, claim Harper's Weekly. Despite the fight's illegality, British Parliament even adjourned for the day. The crowd gathered in the field, pressed up against all four sides

[00:17:24] of the rope line that made up the ring. They were so close that Heenan would get sucker punched by the Sayers friendly crowd any time he found himself up against the ropes. The fight went on for 42 rounds. By the end, Heenan's eyes and cheeks were so badly bruised

[00:17:38] he was nearly blind and unrecognizable. Sayers right arm was useless after a series of shots to the shoulder from Heenan. The only thing that prevented the fight from going another 42 was the police finally discovered the location and scattered both the crowd and the fighters

[00:17:53] as the fight was officially declared a draw. Nass rendering of the fight complete with commentary was published as a special edition in The New York Illustrated News and republished in the London Illustrated News. The latter was so impressed with Nass work that they offered him a

[00:18:07] job covering Italy's war of independence led by General Giuseppe Garibaldi currently raging throughout the Italian countryside. Nass accepted immediately and sailed for Genoa. He spent the next six months in the company of Garibaldi and his troops from Palermo to Naples. He worked tirelessly to sketch

[00:18:24] the battles, their aftermath and life among the soldiers. Life growing up near the five points was not easy, but nothing compared to the scenes and horrors of war. Nass witnessed and sketched gruesome hospital scenes, the shooting of a general and even the burning of wounded

[00:18:40] but alive Garibaldi and soldiers by the Neapolitan Army. In response to Sally's request for a description of the Italian countryside, Nass said, when I get my sketches done after traveling nearly all day, I am so used up that I cannot do it even with my best wishes.

[00:18:55] He added though that she should not worry as he was always in a safe place when the firing commences. Once his time in Italy had ended, Nass made his way back to New York with one final stop to his former home in Germany to spend Christmas with relatives.

[00:19:08] He loved reliving the scenes of Christmas from his youth but was equally excited to get home for now he considered himself an American and he missed his home and Sally. He arrived in New York City that February to his home country that was just months away from

[00:19:23] resembling the war-torn country of Italy that he had just spent half a year covering. Abraham Lincoln had just been elected America's 16th president in November and southern states were in the midst of seceding from the Union. Nass's employer put him back to work immediately, covering the president-elect's

[00:19:39] travel to Washington, D.C. and inauguration. On February 19th, Nass was present to sketch Lincoln as he arrived in New York City by train from Illinois. The crowd was so raucous and excited to catch a glimpse of the incoming president they nearly overran him on the streets,

[00:19:54] clawing at him and tearing his coat. In drawing the scene, Nass was taken both by the fervor of the crowd as well as Lincoln's newly worn beard that Nass had never seen in previous Lincoln pictures. Nass managed to break through the crowd at one point to

[00:20:07] shake Lincoln's hand himself. I have the honor, sir, Nass said to Lincoln, which promoted a smile from Lincoln, which Nass noticed was an appreciative but somewhat sad smile, no doubt already feeling the enormous gravity of his responsibility and the ever present danger that awaited him

[00:20:23] and his fellow citizens. Nass followed Lincoln to Philadelphia and drew more sketches of Lincoln, delivering speeches at Independence Hall and the Continental Hotel. He was due to cover him again in Baltimore, but tipped off to a potential assassination attempt, Lincoln, dressed in disguise and accompanied by

[00:20:39] a female Pinkerton agent, snuck into Washington, D.C. on an earlier train bypassing Baltimore altogether. Once Nass caught up to Lincoln in Washington, he sensed the citywide tension immediately as if it was on the verge of a violent outbreak. Nass' instincts proved correct as one month after Lincoln's

[00:20:57] March 4 inauguration, the Civil War would begin. With war raging, there would be plenty of work for the developing 21-year-old talent, but he had a more important task on his mind before that. After a three-year courtship with a year of that overseas, Thomas Nass and Sally Edwards

[00:21:13] were married on September 26, 1861, just one day before Nass' 21st birthday. They honeymooned in Niagara Falls. Sally would send letters of their experiences back to her family and Thomas would add little drawings on the paper to illustrate the scenes. Once back home, Nass was

[00:21:30] in high demand as one of the only artists who had seen battle and knew how to sketch it. He briefly reunited with Leslie's and did more freelancing, but in 1862 he would formalize a full-time role with the now five-year-old Harper's Weekly that Nass had been contributing

[00:21:44] to since its launch. Four brothers, James, John, Joseph and Fletcher Harper founded the publishing company Harper and Brothers back in 1825. Over the years they evolved from a monthly, then to a weekly magazine. The youngest brother, Fletcher Harper, took a particular interest in Thomas Nass.

[00:22:01] He was the driving force to bring Nass to Harper's full time and it would be a relationship that would last for decades. When Nass joined Harper's in 1862, it was already considered the picture paper in the field. At Harper's, Nass was allowed both the freedom of what he

[00:22:16] wanted to draw as well as where he wanted to draw it. The location he preferred far more than any other was the comfort of his own home in the presence of his wife and now first child, daughter Julia, born July 1st, 1862. Sally was a critical partner

[00:22:31] in Thomas' success. She suggested titles for the drawings and checked the captions and quotes for errors. When he was drawing, she would read newspapers or novels allowed to him as he would for her when he wasn't working. Nass would often share his ideas allowed with Sally,

[00:22:45] pacing the floor as they talked them through. The matters were usually settled when Sally would quip, well, once more the affairs of the universe are settled. While still a relatively unknown artist, Nass would begin in 1862 to make a name for himself, depicting the war and its

[00:23:01] effects on families to millions of Americans. Nass was an unapologetic and provocative patriot for the Union cause and the rights of black citizens. So much so that male began to pour into Harper's Weekly headquarters. Most of it positive, but also plenty of negative angry letters from Confederate

[00:23:18] sympathizers who disliked the work and Nass passionately. Two drawings in particular that would help put Nass in the consciousness of many came at Christmas time in 1862. In a drawing titled Christmas Eve, Nass used for the first time a device that would become a staple for him, a double

[00:23:35] circle to show two separate scenes at the same time. In one circle, he drew a wife kneeling in a bedroom window with her two sleeping children in the background. Her gaze is cast far in the distance as she hopes and prays for the safety of her soldier husband.

[00:23:49] The second circle facing the first is of the husband sitting alone in his full military gear with musket in hand, staring at pictures of his wife and children. The images drew a strong response. The picture will bring tears to the eyes of many a poor

[00:24:04] fellow shivering over the campfire this winter season, wrote Union Colonel John Beatty of the Third Ohio Volunteers. Another Colonel wrote to Harper's directly to say that the picture had reached him on Christmas Eve. Upon seeing it, the soldiers tears fell directly upon the page.

[00:24:19] It was only a picture he said, but I couldn't help it. The second image that drew the strongest reaction was one that Nass would return to again and again each Christmas, the image of Santa Claus. As a youngster in Germany, Nass loved everything about Christmas time and was

[00:24:35] profoundly impacted by the imagery and festive spirit all around him. He drew on all of those memories to depict Santa as jolly with a round belly, red cheeks and a white beard and caring for the welfare of those who had been good all year, especially the children.

[00:24:51] Just one week later on New Year's Day, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in the Confederacy. Nass was not only wholly in favor of the proclamation, but believed that black Americans were entitled, just as much as white Americans, to not only freedom from slavery, but

[00:25:08] education, a job, dignity at work and at home. He depicted as much in the January 24th issue of Harpers with the drawing titled Emancipation. The imagery uses his circle method again, this time with one central circle depicting a middle class black family after emancipation, as readers were

[00:25:25] so often used to seeing white families depicted. A father playing with his children, a mother cooking dinner on the stove, the children smiling, the home warm and well appointed, a picture of Abraham Lincoln hanging over the fireplace. The images surrounding the central circle are even more evocative.

[00:25:42] On the left side, representing the past, are scenes from a black family's life as slaves being separated at a slave auction, being whipped and branded or runaways being chased by slave catchers, while on the right side, the exact opposite, showing images of a possible future

[00:25:58] with black children attending school, very intentionally with the words public school in view and black and white Americans working side by side together for equal pay. For Nast, this future was never a question but self evident of an American society whose time had come.

[00:26:14] Nast himself was witness to and directly affected by discrimination as an immigrant, and he neither forgot nor saw how it benefited his adopted nation of America to discriminate as it did. Nast would travel to South Carolina in mid 1863 and spend time in union camps

[00:26:30] under the commands of generals Benjamin Butler and Philip Sheridan. General Sheridan took such a liking to Nast, he supposedly asked Nast to stay on and travel from camp to camp with him. But Nast's value and desire was in his ability to present variety.

[00:26:43] During his time in the field, Nast observed the soldiers' experiences, camp life and battle. He captured the emotion of the war and connected that emotion through imagery to millions of Americans. When Nast got word that Confederate General Robert E. Lee was marching toward Gettysburg, he hurriedly

[00:26:58] made his way towards Pennsylvania by train. When he reached Harrisburg Pennsylvania, he applied for a battlefield pass to observe the conflict. As he waited, of all the people he could have encountered, who would be seated across from him but a cousin of his wife Sally's

[00:27:12] who was apparently being detained for spying. When the soldiers saw Nast conversing with the detainee, they then detained Nast to ascertain how he knew an alleged spy. Nast spent several frustrating days in union confinement before the soldiers could reach Fletcher Harper in New York to confirm Nast's identity.

[00:27:28] While thrilled at his release, he had now missed the battle at Gettysburg, though he did manage to sketch the aftermath. He then followed the soldiers to nearby Carlisle, Pennsylvania but his time away from Sally and Julia had made him homesick. In a letter home, Thomas

[00:27:43] apologized to Sally for the sloppiness of his writing but it was due to the rifle shots cracking in the background and he felt so very tired that I do not know with myself. Nast returned home to New York immediately after that on July

[00:27:56] 12th to a city that was at its boiling point. The Conscription Act of 1863 had just gone into effect. The law would draw thousands of names for service into the Civil War. Despite New York status as a Union state, New York City was far more conflicted over the

[00:28:12] war than most in the north. The heavy working Irish class immigrant population already had deep seated anger toward the free blacks in New York that they felt were taking their jobs. Many were not eager to fight a war to end slavery and potentially in their view make

[00:28:26] their situation even worse. Adding to that tension, immigrants and poorer citizens were going to make up the majority of those conscripted since they could not afford the $300 fee to name a substitute to go to war in their place as wealthier citizens could and did.

[00:28:40] Also, since so many of the initial war volunteers from New York City over the past few years had been Irish, they felt that they had already given more than their fair share and it had enough. The last straw came when local newspapers published the first 1200 names conscripted

[00:28:55] on Sunday, July 12th. With most off of work and many at local drinking holes, those conscripted and those likely to be next see with anger over exactly what they feared. A disproportionate number of Irish immigrants and lower class workers had been named in the initial conscription.

[00:29:12] The anger soon turned to violence and spilled into the streets. Many gathered around the offices of city officials and began to shout and throw rocks. Thus began four days of violence and a bedlam of insurrection. NAS returned home at the very moment the 1863 draft riots

[00:29:28] of New York began. He heard chants of Hurrah for Jeff Davis and down with the Negroes throughout the streets. He witnessed the disgraceful acts of mob violence as they burned buildings of known unionists and blacks, including an orphanage of black children. Black citizens were terrorized, beaten and murdered.

[00:29:46] City officials and other whites known to side with the union were treated with similar abuse. NAS was appalled at what he saw. He also knew he was a known unionist in his city. So he raced home terrified to confirm that Sally and Julia were safe.

[00:30:01] Once there, to his relief, he saw no mob out front and his family safe inside. He was able to get them and himself to safety, but the events of those four days left an indelible mark on NAS. Until then, he had been primarily a sentimental artist,

[00:30:16] but the death, destruction and hatred that was on display in the most violent urban riot in American history hardened NAS views and his zeal as a patriot. It would have a profound impact on his work and life.