in connection with the plan of taking as quota for the draft one- fifth of the enrollment of each district.

No proclamation was issued for this draft. Serious opposition to the enforcement of the law, it was thought, would be less likely to arise if the draft was quietly and successfully made in the districts where it was first undertaken. As soon, therefore, as a district was enrolled its quota was ascertained, and the President made and order in the following form for drafting therein:

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, D. C.,

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, 1863.

I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, having taken into consideration the number of volunteers and militia furnished by and from the several States, including the State of

-----

, and the period of service of said volunteers and militia since the commencement of the present rebellion, in order to equalize the numbers among the districts of the said States, and having considered and allowed for the number already furnished as aforesaid, and the time of their services aforesaid, do hereby assign

-----

as the first proportional part of the quota of troops to be furnished by the

-----

district of the State of ---- -, under this the first call made by me on the State of ----, under the act approved March 3, 1863, entitled "An act for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes," and, in pursuance of the act aforesaid, I order that a draft be made in the said ---- district of the State of ---- for the number of men herein assigned to said district, and 50 per cent. in addition.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this ---- day of

------

, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

This order, with the special instructions necessary in the case, was communicated by me to the provost-marshal of the district, and the State authorities were informed as to the action to be taken, and their co-operation solicited. The first drawings took place in the State of Rhode Island. They commenced on the 7th of July, 1863, and were made there, and soon after in the other New England districts, without difficulty.

On the 11th of July the drawing commenced in the city of New York. On the 13th the business was broken up by a mob, composed mainly of foreigners. The headquarters of two of the provost- marshals were burned and the public property was destroyed, excepting the records, which were, fortunately, removed to a place of safety.

The disturbance in New York City was followed by resistance to the draft in Boston and Troy. The riots in these cities to were but feeble responses to the great effort made in New York to defeat the execution of the enrollment act. Quiet was promptly restored in Boston by the local authorities. Though interrupted for the moment, the draft was not abandoned. On the 17th of July the following orders was issued.*

A large body of troops having been withdrawn form the field and sent to New York to enforce the law and maintain order, the draft was resumed on the 19th of August, and was carried through without further resistance.

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*See Circular Numbers 48, Provost-Marshal-General's Office, Vol. III, this series, p. 524.

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40 R R-SERIES III, VOL V