From the June 3rd Washington Post "A House Divided" blog by Timothy R. Smith.
Commander Enoch Parrott of the USS Perry saw a suspicious schooner in the distance on June 3, 1861. It was closely trailing a brig about 60 miles off Charleston, SC. Might it be a Confederate privateer?
The Perry closed on it and it fled. A chase commenced and a shot fired across the privateer's bow which halted it. A flag was raised, but in the coming dark, the flag could not be determined. The Perry fired and the schooner returned it before surrendering twenty minutes later.
Fourteen men were arrested after the schooner was boarded and determined to be a privateer. They were taken to New York City to stand trial as pirates. The jury failed to reach a verdict.
However, in Philadelphia, the crew of another privateer was found to be pirates and sentenced to hang. When news of the verdict and sentence reached the South, the Confederate Congress authorized President Jefferson Davis to execute an equal number of Union prisoners.
Lincoln postponed the executions indefinitely, avoiding the confrontation. Eventually both crews were exchanged for Union POWs.
Fortunatelu, the issue never became one of trading executions., but it almost did.
Pirates Or Privateers. Thin Line. --Old B-Runner
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