NEW YORK
No state contributed more men to the war effort than did the state of New York. With a total population of 3,880,726 people, New York enlisted in its ranks 448,850 men, amounting to 8.6% of its population. The Empire State raised nearly 200 infantry regiments, 26 cavalry regiments, and more than 50 artillery regiments, batteries, and battalions. A total of 46,534 men died in service to the Union, with 19,085 killed in action or mortally wounded and 27,449 dying from diseases and other causes. 4,125 African-Americans from New York served in the Union ranks. 35,164 of the men joined the Navy or Marines. New York troops saw service in most of the major campaigns of the war in the East and along the coast; a few regiments went West.
No major actions took place in the state of New York, but the Draft Riots in New York City in July 1863 took several days to suppress. Some veteran troops from Gettysburg had to move north to quell the anti-war, anti-government, anti-Black rioters. New York politics were rough, with the Tammany Hall 'machine' working for the Democrats, and recruiting many of the immigrants. Meanwhile, upstate, there were strong Republican tendencies and the state voted for Lincoln in both 1860 and 1864. Abolition sentiment was strong in New York, in cities and farms alike. Before his Harper's Ferry raid, John Brown was living in a settlement with some free blacks in North Elba, used as a station in the Underground Railroad. His body "lies a-moldering" in Lake Placid, along with several sons and relatives.
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