OTD 165 YEARS AGO: Captain Charles Wilkes of the U.S.S. San Jacinto halts the neutral British steamship R.M.S. Trent on the open sea and seizes two Confederate envoys under dubious circumstances.
Tag: John Slidell
Mason and Slidell Escape
165 YEARS AGO TODAY: Confederate envoys board a steamship in the hopes of eluding the Federal blockade and reaching Europe to gain Confederate recognition.
The Confederacy Looks to France
Edmund Kirby Smith urges Confederate foreign envoy John Slidell to get France to intervene on the Confederacy’s behalf so that the French puppet regime in Mexico will have a friendly neighbor to the north.
The Erlanger Loan
Confederate commissioner John Slidell and representatives of Emile Erlanger, head of France’s most influential bank, negotiate a loan to the Confederacy for $15 million to help finance the war.
The Current is Against Us and Strong
Confederates try to curry favor with France, and Great Britain suffers a severe economic downturn due to the lack of southern cotton.
Drawing Us Into Their Quarrel
The government of Great Britain receives the official news that the U.S. would release Confederate envoys James Mason and John Slidell, thus averting an international crisis.