Detroit race riot of 1863

Instance of civil unrest

Detroit race riot of 1863

Part of American Civil War
Date| March 8, 1863
Location|

Detroit, Michigan

Resulted in| Creation of full-time police force
Casualties
Death(s)| 2

* v
* t
* e

Northern Theater of the American Civil War

* Detroit Race Riot
* Battle of Portland Harbor
* New York City draft riots
* Philo Parsons Affair
* St. Albans Raid
* 1864 New York City arson attacks

The Detroit race riot of 1863 occurred on March 6, 1863, in the city of Detroit, Michigan, during the American Civil War. At the time, the Detroit Free Press reported these events as "the bloodiest day that ever dawned upon Detroit."[1] It began due to unrest among the working class related to racism and the military draft,[1] which was heightened after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln. Based in a free state, some recent immigrants and other workers resented being drafted for a war that they thought was waged for the benefit of slaves in the Southern United States, and they feared competition from Black people.

At least two civilians were killed, one white and one Black, and numerous others, mostly African Americans, were badly beaten and injured. In total, 35 buildings were destroyed by fire, with many others damaged, and Black residents lost property and cash to the looting and stealing of the mob. Losses were estimated at minimum US$15,000 to as much as US$20,000 (equivalent to US$494,919 in 2023). More than 200 people, mostly Black, were left homeless.[2] Although the Michigan Legislature recommended compensation, the Detroit City Council refused to approve it. As a result of the riot, the city of Detroit established a full-time police force, which was dominated by whites into the late 20th century.

## Background

[edit]

During the months preceding the riot, social tensions rose in the city. It had a white majority but a thriving black community, made up both of free black people who had migrated there and refugee slaves who had fled the South. Located just across the Detroit River from Canada, which had abolished slavery in 1834, the city was a major "station" on the Underground Railroad in the antebellum years. Some fugitive slaves chose to settle in Detroit, since Michigan was a non-slave state.

The City Council was dominated by Democrats, and many of the Irish and German immigrants belonged to that party. The Detroit Free Press was a Democratic Party paper that was opposed to President Abraham Lincoln's conduct of the American Civil War and its increasing demand for recruits. The newspaper advocated white supremacy and was pro-labor.[2] In the months leading up to the riot, the newspaper frequently published articles connecting "blacks to labor problems, blacks to citizenship issues, blacks to the war, and blacks to crime and a general degradation of the moral order", stressing how they were a threat to working-class white men and their limited power.[2] Following the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863, the newspaper published articles that frequently opposed the interests of blacks.

By contrast, the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune largely spoke for the Republican Party, supporting abolitionism and the war as a just cause. It criticized the Free Press for inciting the riot by inflaming passions and agitating against blacks. For a month after the riot, the Advertiser and Tribune published articles referring to the "Free Press Mob".[2]

Three days prior to the beginning of the riots, Congress passed the Enrollment Act which required single men age 20 to 45 and married men up to age 35 to register for the draft. This act angered many northern whites, mainly Irish immigrants who had accepted U.S. citizenship, not realizing that citizenship also made immigrants liable for the draft. Fuel was added to the fire of their anger when black men, mostly freed slaves, were excluded from this same draft. The Irish feared that newly freed slaves from the South would migrate to the North and create further competition in the labor market. Many Irish saw this as a "rich man's war and a poor man's fight" since the policies of substitution and commutation were controversial practices which allowed drafted citizens to opt out of service by either furnishing a suitable substitute to take the place of those drafted, or pay $300 each. Both of these provisions were created with the intention of softening the effect of the draft on pacifiers, the anti-draft movement and the propertied classes. The result however was general public resentment which then turned to fury. [3]

## Events

[edit]

A mixed-race man, Thomas Faulkner, was arrested for allegedly molesting a young white girl and tried in court. Although Faulkner had voted regularly (a privilege reserved to whites) and identified as Spanish-Indian, both newspapers described him as "negro", and that was how the whites came to regard him.[2]

The trial attracted volatile crowds of whites, who threw items at Faulkner and guards as he was escorted to and from the court. The second day of the trial, whites started to attack blacks outside the courthouse. The commander of the Provost Guard escorting Faulkner ordered the firing of blanks to push back the crowd. Next, live ammunition was fired (although it is not clear that the commander ordered it). A white civilian named Charles Langer who observed the rioting was killed. The crowd was enraged that a German was killed at the trial of a man they considered less worthy.[2]

They immediately started attacking black civilians on the street and went to a nearby known black business, a cooper's shop. Workers tried to defend it, but the mob burned the shop and adjacent house, threatening black women and children inside. They attacked the five men who escaped from the flames, severely wounding Joshua Boyd (an escaped slave from the South; he had been saving his earnings in order to buy his wife and children out of slavery). He was later beaten more by the mob and died four days later. Although grievously wounded, the other four men survived, as did the women and children. Some were aided by whites.

Survivors said the mob attacked black businesses and houses, looting them of anything valuable and stealing from the residents. The whites eventually moved beyond the black area into poor white areas, continuing the destruction. Some blacks fled the area, going across the Detroit River to Canada or west to what was then the independent community of Corktown. The city finally ordered in troops from Ypsilanti and Fort Wayne and by 11 p.m. had suppressed the violence. More than 200 blacks and some whites had lost their homes to the destruction. There was an estimated $15,000 to 20,000 in property damage, mostly suffered by blacks.[2]

## Aftermath

[edit]

Faulkner was convicted and sentenced to prison for life. Several years later, the two girls who testified against him recanted their story, and Faulkner was pardoned. He returned to Detroit, where some white businessmen helped him start a produce business.[4]

The city held an inquiry on the death of Boyd, but no one was prosecuted for his death. Although the Michigan Legislature encouraged compensation for the victims of the riot, the Detroit City Council, dominated by Democrats, refused to do so. These tax-paying citizens, who had not been protected and whose property had been stolen and destroyed, were left to recover and remake their lives on their own.[5]

As a result of the riot, the city established a full-time police force.[4] It was dominated by ethnic whites into the late 20th century. This became a civil rights issue, as the city's minority population had been closed out of the force.

## See also

[edit]

* Michigan portal

* Great Lakes Patrol
* Detroit race riot of 1943
* 1967 Detroit riot
* List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Detroit Free Press, 7 March 1863
2. ^ a b c d e f g Kundinger, Matthew (2006). "Racial Rhetoric: The Detroit Free Press and Its Part in the Detroit Race Riot of 1863" (PDF). University of Michigan. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
3. ^ Shiels, Damian (2013). The Irish in the American Civil War. ISBN 9781845887681.
4. ^ a b Willis Frederick Dunbar; George S. May (July 1995). Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 334–335. ISBN 978-0-8028-7055-1. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
5. ^ Anonymous, A Thrilling Narrative from the Lips of the Sufferers of the Late Detroit Riot, March 6, 1863, With the Hair Breadth Escapes of Men, Women and Children, and Destruction of Colored Men's Property, Detroit: The Author, 1863; includes accounts by people attacked in the riot, and excerpts from articles published by the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune

## Further reading

[edit]

* Richard Bak, A Distant Thunder: Michigan in the Civil War, Huron River Press, 2004
* Tobin T. Buhk, True Crime in the Civil War: Cases of Murder, Treason, Counterfeiting, Massacre, Plunder & Abuse, Stackpole Books, 2012[1]
* Martin J. Hershock. The Paradox of Progress: Economic Change, Individual Enterprise, and Political Culture in Michigan, 1837 – 1878.
* Norman McRae, Negroes in Michigan During the Civil War, series editor, Sidney Glazer, Michigan Civil War Centennial Observance Commission, 1966
* John C. Schneider, "Detroit and the Problem of Disorder: The Riot of 1863," Michigan History, Spring 1974, No. 12
* J. C. Schneider, Detroit and the Problem of Order, 1830 -1880: A Geography of Crime, Riot, and Policing, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1980
* Richard Walter Thomas (1992). Life for Us Is What We Make It: Building Black Community in Detroit, 1915–1945. Indiana University Press. pp. 5–7. ISBN 978-0-253-35990-2. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
* Arthur M. Woodford (1 June 2001). This is Detroit, 1701-2001. Wayne State University Press. p. 71\. ISBN 978-0-8143-2914-6.
* Frank B. Woodford, Father Abraham’s Children: Michigan Episodes in the Civil War, Wayne State University Press, 1961 (Civil War Centennial)

## External links

[edit]

* Anonymous, A Thrilling Narrative from the Lips of the Sufferers of the Late Detroit Riot, March 6, 1863, With the Hair Breadth Escapes of Men, Women and Children, and Destruction of Colored Men's Property, Detroit: The Author, 1863.

* v
* t
* e

Riots and civil unrest in the history of the United States (1607–1865)

Colonial era/
1776–1789|

| Massachusetts|

* 1689 Boston revolt
* Boston bread riot (1710–1713)
* Knowles Riot (1747)
* Liberty affair (1768)
* Boston Massacre (1770)
* Shays' Rebellion (1786–1787)

|

New York|

* Leisler's Rebellion (1689–1691)
* New York Slave Revolt of 1712
* New York Conspiracy of 1741
* Battle of Golden Hill (1770)
* 1788 doctors' riot

North Carolina|

* Culpeper's Rebellion (1677)
* Cary's Rebellion (1711)
* War of the Regulation (1765–1771)
* Battle of Alamance (1771)

Pennsylvania|

* Philadelphia Election riot (1742)
* Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783

Virginia|

* Gloucester County Conspiracy (1663)
* Bacon's Rebellion (1677)
* Chesapeake rebellion (1730)

Others|

* Protestant Revolution (Maryland) (1689)
* Stono Rebellion (1739)
* Gaspee affair (1772)
* Pine Tree Riot (1772)

1789–1849|

| Iowa|

* Honey War (1839)
* Bellevue War (1840)

|

Massachusetts|

* Ursuline Convent riots (1834)
* Abolition Riot of 1836
* Broad Street Riot (1837)

New York|

* Eggnog riot (1826)
* New York anti-abolitionist riots (1834)
* Flour riot of 1837
* Anti-Rent War (1839–1845)
* Astor Place Riot (1849)

Ohio|

* 1792 Cincinnati riot
* Cincinnati riots of 1829
* Cincinnati riots of 1836
* Cincinnati riots of 1841

Pennsylvania|

* Whiskey Rebellion (1791–1794)
* Fries's Rebellion (1799–1800)
* Philadelphia race riot (1834)
* Destruction of Pennsylvania Hall (1838)
* Buckshot War (1838)
* Lombard Street riot (1842)
* Muncy Abolition riot of 1842
* Philadelphia nativist riots (1844)

Rhode Island|

* 1824 Hard Scrabble race riot
* 1831 Snow Town race riot
* Dorr Rebellion (1841–1842)

Others|

* 1811 German Coast uprising
* Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831)
* Blackburn Riots (1833)
* Baltimore bank riot (1835)
* Snow Riot (1835)

1849–1865|

| California|

* Squatters' riot (1850)
* San Francisco Vigilance Movement (1851–1856)

|

Illinois|

* Lager Beer Riot (1855)
* Charleston riot (1864)

Kansas|

* Bleeding Kansas (1854–1861)
* Wakarusa War (1855)
* Sacking of Lawrence (1856)
* Pottawatomie massacre (1856)
* Battle of Black Jack (1856)
* Battle of Fort Titus (1856)
* Battle of Osawatomie (1856)
* Battles of Franklin's Fort (1856)
* Marais des Cygnes massacre (1856)
* Battle of the Spurs (1859)

Maine|

* Bath anti-Catholic riot of 1854
* Portland Rum Riot (1855)

Maryland|

* Know-Nothing Riots of 1856
* Baltimore riot of 1861

Michigan|

* 1849 Detroit riot
* Detroit brothel riots (1855–1859)
* Detroit race riot of 1863

New York|

* New York City Police riot (1857)
* Dead Rabbits riot (1857)
* Buffalo riot of 1862
* New York City draft riots (1863)

Ohio|

* Cincinnati riot of 1853
* Cincinnati riots of 1855
* Battle of Fort Fizzle (1863)

Others|

* Erie Gauge War (1853–1854)
* Bloody Monday (1855)
* Washington D.C. Know-Nothing Riot (1857)
* New Orleans Know-Nothing Riot (1858)
* John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry (1859)
* Morrisite War (1862)
* Southern bread riots (1863)

Related|

* List of incidents of civil unrest in Colonial North America
* Mass racial violence in the United States

* v
* t
* e

Lynching in the United States

List of lynching victims in the United States

| Before 1900|

* Francis McIntosh (1836)
* Elijah Parish Lovejoy (1837)
* Josefa Segovia (1851)
* Pancho Daniel (1858)
* Joshua Boyd (1863)
* Henry Plummer (1864)
* Bill Sketoe (1864)
* Clubfoot George (1864)
* Steve Long, Ace and Con Moyer (1868)
* Wyatt Outlaw (1870)
* John W. Stephens (1870)
* Alexander Boyd (1870)
* Jim Williams (1871)
* David Jones (1872)
* Jo Reed (1875)
* Arthur St. Clair (1877)
* Michael Green (1878)
* Joseph Standing (1879)
* Big Nose George Parrott (1881)
* Charles Thurber (1882)
* John Wesley Heath (1884)
* Eliza Woods (1886)
* Samuel "Mingo Jack" Johnson (1886)
* Amos Miller (1888)
* Joseph Vermillion (1889)
* George Meadows (1889)
* Ellen Watson (1889)
* Brown Washington (1890)
* Jim Taylor (1891)
* Dick Lundy (1891)
* Joe Coe (1891)
* Robert Lewis (1892)
* Ephraim Grizzard (1892)
* Samuel J. Bush (1893)
* John Peterson (1893)
* Alfred Blount (1893)
* Henry Smith (1893)
* Richard Puryear (1894)
* Stephen Williams (1894)
* Amos Hicks (1894)
* Jacob Henson (1896)
* William Andrews (1897)
* Joseph H. McCoy (1897)
* John Anderson (1898)
* John Henry James (1898)
* F. W. Stewart (1898)
* Sam Hose (1899)
* Benjamin Thomas (1899)

|

1900–1940|

* Fred Rochelle (1901)
* Ballie Crutchfield (1901)
* George Ward (1901)
* Walker Davis (1903)
* J. D. Mayfield (1903)
* George White (1903)
* David Wyatt (1903)
* Marie Thompson (1904)
* Paul Reed and Will Cato (1904)
* Bunk Richardson (1906)
* Ed Johnson (1906)
* Slab Pitts (1906)
* William Burns (1907)
* Earnest Williams (1907)
* Jim Miller (1909)
* James Hodges (1909)
* Matthew Chase (1909)
* "Mose" Creole (1909)
* "Pie" Hill (1909)
* William "Froggie" James and Henry Salzner (1909)
* Grant Richardson (1910)
* King Johnson (1911)
* Name unknown (TX) (1911)
* Laura and L. D. Nelson (1911)
* Will Porter (1911)
* Zachariah Walker (1911)
* Mary Jackson (1912)
* Rob Edwards (1912)
* George Saunders (1912)
* Robert Perry (1913)
* ? Anderson (1913)
* Charles Fisher (1914)
* John Evans (1914)
* Leo Frank (1915)
* Name unknown (MS) (1915)
* Jesse Washington (1916)
* Anthony Crawford (1916)
* Jeff Brown (1916)
* Paulo Boleta (1916)
* Frank Little (1917)
* Charles Jones (1917)
* Ell Persons (1917)
* Robert Prager (1918)
* Mary Turner and her unborn baby (1918)
* Hazel "Hayes" Turner (1918)
* George Taylor (1918)
* Jim McIlherron (1918)
* Olli Kinkkonen (1918)
* Wallace Baynes (1919)
* Will Brown (1919)
* Wesley Everest (1919)
* John Hartfield (1919)
* Jay Lynch (1919)
* Berry Washington (1919)
* Willie Baird (1920)
* Roy Belton (1920)
* Dick Rowland (attempted) (1921)
* Henry Lowry (1921)
* James Harvey and Joe Jordan (1922)
* Joe Pullen (1923)
* Samuel Smith (1924)
* L. Q. Ivy (1925)
* Raymond Byrd (1926)
* James Clark (1926)
* Fred N. Selak (1926)
* Tom Payne (1927)
* John Carter (1927)
* Dan Anderson (1927)
* Will Sherod (1927)
* Bernice Raspberry (1927)
* Owen Flemming (1927)
* Joseph Upchurch (1927)
* Joe Smith (1927)
* Albert Williams (1927)
* Thomas Bradshaw (1927)
* Winston Pounds (1927)
* Thomas Williams (1927)
* Henry Choate (1927)
* Leonard Woods (1927)
* J. C. Collins (1928)
* George Hughes (1930)
* James Cameron (1930)
* Lynching of Raymond Gunn (1931)
* Matthew Williams (1931)
* Shedrick Thompson (1932)
* George Armwood (1933)
* Cordie Cheek (1933)
* Claude Neal (1934)
* Austin Callaway (1940)
* Elbert Williams (1940)

After 1940|

* Felix Hall (1941)
* Johannes Kunze (1943)
* Robert "Bobbie" Hall (1943)
* Willie James Howard (1944)
* Recy Taylor (1944)
* John Cecil Jones (1946)
* Willie Earle (1947)
* Lamar Smith (1955)
* George W. Lee (1955)
* Emmett Till (1955)
* Judge Edward Aaron (1957)
* Willie Edwards (1957)
* Mack Charles Parker (1959)
* Louis Allen (1964)
* Lemuel Penn (1964)
* Frank Morris (1964)
* James Reeb (1965)
* Vernon Dahmer (1966)
* Wharlest Jackson (1967)
* Carol Jenkins (1968)
* Henry Marrow (1970)
* Marian Pyszko (1975)
* Betty Gardner (1978)
* Arthur McDuffie (1979)
* Michael Donald (1981)
* Yusef Hawkins (1989)
* James Byrd Jr. (1998)
* James Craig Anderson (2011)
* Ahmaud Arbery (2020)

Multiple victims

* Death of Joseph Smith (Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith) (1844)
* Marais des Cygnes, KS, massacre (1858)
* Great Hanging at Gainesville, TX (1862)
* New York City draft riots (1863)
* Detroit race riot (1863)
* ? Lachenais and four others (1863)
* Fort Pillow, TN, massacre (1864)
* Plummer Gang (1864)
* Memphis massacre (1866)
* Gallatin County, KY, race riot (1866)
* New Orleans massacre of 1866
* Reno Brothers Gang (1868)
* Camilla, GA, massacre (1868)
* Steve Long and two half-brothers (1868)
* Pulaski, TN, riot (1868)
* Samuel Bierfield and Lawrence Bowman (1868)
* Opelousas, LA, massacre (1868)
* Bear River City riot (1868)
* Chinese massacre of 1871
* Meridian, MS, race riot (1871)
* Colfax, LA, massacre (1873)
* Election riot of 1874 (AL)
* Juan, Antonio, and Marcelo Moya (1874)
* Benjamin and Mollie French (1876)
* Ellenton, SC, riot (1876)
* Hamburg, SC, massacre (1876)
* Thibodeax, LA, massacre (1878)
* Mart and Tom Horrell (1878)
* Nevlin Porter and Johnson Spencer (1879)
* Elijah Frost, Abijah Gibson, Tom McCracken (1879)
* T.J. House, James West, John Dorsey (1880)
* New Orleans 1891 lynchings (1891)
* Ruggles Brothers (CA) (1892)
* Thomas Moss, Henry Stewart, Calvin McDowell (TN) (1892)
* Porter and Spencer (MS) (1897)
* Phoenix, SC, election riot (1898)
* Wilmington, NC, insurrection (1898)
* Julia and Frazier Baker (1898)
* Pana, IL, riot (1899)
* Watkinsville lynching (1905)
* 1906 Atlanta race massacre
* Kemper County, MS (1906)
* Walker family (1908)
* Springfield race riot of 1908
* Slocum, TX, massacre (1910)
* Laura and L.D. Nelson (1911)
* Harris County, GA, lynchings (1912)
* Newberry, FL, lynchings (1916)
* East St. Louis, IL, riots (1917)
* Lynching rampage in Brooks County, GA (1918)
* Jenkins County, GA, riot (1919)
* Longview, TX, race riot (1919)
* Elaine, AR, race riot (1919)
* Omaha race riot of 1919
* Knoxville riot of 1919
* Red Summer (1919)
* Duluth, MN, lynchings (1920)
* Ocoee, FL, massacre (1920)
* Tulsa race massacre (1921)
* Perry, FL, race riot (1922)
* Rosewood, FL, massacre (1923)
* Jim and Mark Fox (1927)
* Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith (1930)
* Tate County, MS (1932)
* Thomas Harold Thurmond and John M. Holmes (1933)
* Roosevelt Townes and Robert McDaniels (1937)
* Beaumont, TX, Race Riot (1943)
* O'Day Short, wife, and two children (1945)
* Moore's Ford, GA, lynchings (1946)
* Harry and Harriette Moore (1952)
* Anniston, AL (1961)
* Freedom Summer Murders (James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner) (1964)
* Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore (1964)

| General|

* Lynching
* Indiana White Caps
* Jim Crow laws
* Ku Klux Klan
* Nadir of American race relations
* Red Shirts
* Jews

|

Anti-lynching movement|

* American anti-lynching activists
* American Crusade Against Lynching
* Jessie Daniel Ames
* Martin C. Ansorge
* Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching
* Flossie Bailey
* William O'Connell Bradley
* Ella Barksdale Brown
* Father Divine
* "Flag Salute"
* N.A.A.C.P.
* National Conference on Lynching
* Paul Robeson
* "Strange Fruit"
* Ida B. Wells

| Legislation|

* Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill
* Costigan-Wagner Bill
* Justice for Victims of Lynching Act
* Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act
* Emmett Till Antilynching Act

|

Defenders of lynching|

* Theodore G. Bilbo
* Cole L. Blease
* Julian S. Carr
* Sidney Johnston Catts
* Thomas Dixon Jr.
* Rebecca Latimer Felton
* John Temple Graves
* John Trotwood Moore
* John T. Morgan
* James Rolph
* Goodloe Sutton
* Benjamin Tillman
* James K. Vardaman
* Thomas E. Watson

Memory|

* America's Black Holocaust Museum
* Civil Rights Memorial
* The Legacy Museum
* National Memorial for Peace and Justice
* National Museum of African American History and Culture
* Southern Poverty Law Center

Related articles|

* James Allen (collector)
* "And you are lynching Negroes"
* Attack on John Shillady
* Battle of Liberty Place
* The Birth of a Nation
* The Clansman
* Deaths in police custody
* Fury (1936 film)
* Hang 'Em High
* Lynching postcard
* Mississippi Burning
* Mississippi Cold Case
* Murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson (1965)
* The Ox-Bow Incident
* Parade (musical)
* Reconstruction era
* Red Summer
* Scottsboro Boys
* Silent Parade
* Stone Mountain
* Summer in Mississippi
* Sundown town (list)
* They Won't Forget
* "The United States of Lyncherdom" (Twain)
* United States v. Shipp
* Vendetta (1999 film)
* Wilmington insurrection of 1898

Categories|

* Lynching in the United States
* Lynching deaths in the United States

1. ^ "Bloody Detroit riot sparked by rape trial part of Jenison author's 'True Crime in the Civil War'", Michigan News, MLive

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