The Trent Affair 1861

trent affair?sounds like infidelity but actually this just might be the closest great britain ever came to helping the confederacy win independence.  the csa hoped england would help in some way especially when a thriving cotton market would be hurt by a blockade by the united states. some in the south hoped france would help but they always seemed to listen but had other ideas. france perhaps thought they might gain from a division between the two sections-an empire in mexico.  great britain was thier best bet,king cotton would prevail or so they thought. but markets opened up elswhere,plus and a big plus english trade was flourishing with the u.s,-england needed american corn.crop failures made it more so and america needed saltpeter they could provide,try and fight a war without saltpeter.  would england back a slave country>i dont think it was really much of a choice until the “trent affair”. the confederacy sent two men, one to england-john mason of virginia and james slidell of louisanna to france[via great britain,they were to replace others already there].  they left charleston sc on a blockade runner for cuba,the usn knew of this and hoped to capture the two.  they made havanna however and there switched to a british ship the unarmed mail packet steamer “the trent”,with them were family and one secretary a piece. leaving havana cuba on november 8th 1861 they sailed towards a country that at least had granted the csa “belligerent status”which gave them the right to trade and purchase supplies from nuetral countries. well in the old bahama channel with two shots across the ‘trents’ bow a us warship named the”san jacinto”under command of 63 year old captain charles d. wilkes forced the british to stop .wilkes sent a boarding party under loud protests from the british captain and his crew to arrest the envoys and thier secretaries-wilkes felt that at the least the diplomatic pouches they were sure to have would warrent the search-all this was without orders and without knowledge from us officials. wilkes basiclly did to england what england had done to the u.s.years ago which led to the war of 1812.  on november 15th wilkes brought his charges to union held fort monroe va[where the james river meets the chesapeake bay]by the end of this day wilkes will be a hero to the north, a villain in great britain and a godsend to the fledgeling confederacy for in time we can see this is the closest england ever came to csa reconition. more to come on this story as it unfolds.    kevin a. kearns