The club dates its founding from February 6, 1863, during the
American Civil War. Tensions were running high in New York City at the time, because much of the city's governing class bitterly opposed the war and were eager to reach some kind of accommodation with the
Confederate States of America. Thus, pro-
Union men chose to form their own club, with the twin goals of cultivating "a profound national devotion" and to "strengthen a love and respect for the
Union." A foundational article of the club was the duty to resist and expose corruption, as well as to elevate the idea of American citizenship in the country. The
Union League (also known as Loyal Leagues) was actually a political movement before it became a social organization. Its members raised money both to support the
United States Sanitary Commission, the forerunner of the
American Red Cross, which cared for the Union wounded following battles, and the Union cause generally. The New York League was founded by four prominent professionals and intellectuals:
Henry Whitney Bellows,
Frederick Law Olmsted,
George Templeton Strong, and
Oliver Wolcott Gibbs. The men, all members of the
United States Sanitary Commission, desired to strengthen the nation state and the national identity. They first aimed to recruit a coalition of moneyed professionals like themselves. Strong believed that the club would only thrive with a respectable catalogue of moneyed men. Olmsted especially desired to recruit the new generation of young, wealthy men, so that the club might teach them the obligations and duties of the upper class. It did not take long for the club's enemies to make their displeasure felt with the new organization. On July 13, 1863, just five months after the club's foundation and only days after receiving word of the twin Union victories at
Gettysburg and at
Vicksburg, the
New York Draft Riots exploded right in the club's backyard. The Union League Club was high on the vandals' list of targets (right after the Colored Orphan Asylum), but some brave members kept them at bay by maintaining an armed vigil in the locked and barricaded clubhouse on East 17th Street, just off
Union Square Park. A few months later, the members decided to make an unmistakable gesture that they had not been intimidated. Authorized by the
U.S. War Department, the club decided to recruit, train and equip a
Colored infantry regiment for Union service. The
20th U.S. Colored Infantry was formed on
Riker's Island in February 1864. The next month, it marched from the Union League Club, down
Canal Street and over to the
Hudson River piers to embark for duty in
Louisiana. In spite of numerous threats, the members of the Union League Club marched with the men of the 20th, and saw them off. During
World War I, the club sponsored the 369th Infantry, the famed
Harlem Hellfighters, which was commanded by
William Hayward, a club member. During
Reconstruction, a major era of civil rights changes, Union Leagues were formed all across the South. They mobilized
freedmen to register to vote. They discussed political issues, promoted civic projects, and mobilized workers opposed to segregationist white employers. Most branches were segregated but there were a few that were racially integrated. The leaders of the all-black units were mostly urban Blacks from the North, who had never been slaves. Foner (p 283) says "virtually every Black voter in the South had enrolled." Black League members were special targets of the
Ku Klux Klan's violence and intimidation, so the Leagues organized informal armed defense units. After the end of Reconstruction, the Union League Club of New York devoted itself to civic projects and clean government. It and its members helped to found the
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Grant's Tomb, and the
Statue of Abraham Lincoln on
Union Square, Manhattan. They also assisted in building the
Statue of Liberty by raising funds through
Edouard de Laboulaye and
William Maxwell Evarts, as well as funding the Statue's pedestal through a committee chaired by member
John Jay. ==Previous clubhouses==