The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Friday, December 23, 2011

This Week in the War 150 Years Ago: The Trent Affair Grows

From AP. For the week beginning December 18th.

It is kind of neat to be looking at the events and realize they took place 150 years ago to these days. that is a real Civil War connection.

The diplomatic crisis with Britain called the Trent Affair just continued to get worse. Confederate envoys Slidell and Mason had been taken off the British ship Trent on Nov. 8th. The British government and people were outraged that such an offense to their neutrality took place.

The British government demanded an apology and immediate release of the Confederate commissioners. Lincoln and his cabinet knew that fighting another country would be a real bad thing right now.

The British Minister in Washington, DC, sent a message to the US Secretary of State Dec. 19th demanding a reply.

That reply came Dec. 27th and said the Confederates would be released and reparations paid.

Another War Averted. --Old B-R'er

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