Armed rioters clashing with Union Army soldiers. The New York City draft riots (July 13-16, 1863) were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan, motivated by discontent with laws passed by Congress to draft men to fight in the Civil War. The riots remain the largest civil and racially-charged insurrection in American history. The official death toll was listed at 120 individuals. The military did not reach the city until the second day of rioting, by which time the mobs had ransacked or destroyed numerous public buildings, two Protestant churches, the homes of abolitionists or sympathizers, many black homes, and the Colored Orphan Asylum, which was burned to the ground. Eleven black men were hanged over five days. The Illustrated London news, 1863.