Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in to episode number 21 of our Civil War podcast.

My name is Rich, and I'm Tracy. Hello y'all. Welcome to the podcast.

After an exhausting, cold, uncomfortable, 3-day, 1200-mile journey from his home in Illinois,

when Abraham Lincoln arrived in New York City on Saturday, February 25, 1860, there was

no one there to greet him. So Lincoln started walking into the bustling city, hauling

his trunk himself. But this was not Abraham Lincoln's first visit to New York City. He

and his wife Mary had been there three years before in 1857. But now, even since that

visit, he found the place much changed. In fact, in the spring of 1860, the Daily News,

one of the city's 174 newspapers reported, quote, the first impression of a stranger entering

New York is that it was built the night before. End quote.

In 1860, for someone more used to be call Springfield, or even rough in Tumble Chicago,

visiting New York City would have been like entering another world.

Over the past 10 years, the city's population had swelled from 515,000 to over 800,000. New

York City was now home to 2.5% of America's population. The city had more people than

all but 12 of the nation's 34 states. More than 300,000 of New York City's residents

were foreign-born, more than half of those immigrants hailed from Ireland.

In politics, the city leaned democratic, and because of its lucrative trade with the

slave-holding states, the city was openly southern in its sympathies. In 1860, like it

is today, New York City was the financial capital of America, and by the eve of the Civil

War, northern banks had extended some $200 million in loans and credits to southerners.

As the anti-slavery New York Evening Post newspaper observed, quote, the city of New York belongs

almost as much to the south as to the north. End quote.

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