Recruitment station in City Hall Park, New York. New York City provided a major source of troops, supplies, and equipment for the Union Army. Local politicians and newspaper editors helped shape public opinion towards the war effort and the policies of President Abraham Lincoln. The port of New York served as recruiting grounds for the Army as immigrants, mostly Irish and Germans, stepped off the ships and into the muster rolls. New York City's strong financial and commercial ties to the South, its growing immigrant population, and anger about conscription led to the Draft Riots of 1863, one of the worst incidents of civil unrest in American history.
