The Trent Affair: The American Civil War

The Trent Affair is as google puts it “The Trent Affair was the diplomatic crisis that potentially brought Great Britain and the United States closest to war during the first year of the American Civil War. Although war seemed possible, both sides managed to avoid an armed conflict, and in the process gained greater confidence in one another”.

The Confederacy and its president, Jefferson Davis, believed from the beginning that European dependence on cotton for its textile industry would lead to diplomatic recognition and intervention, in the form of mediation. As the Historian (Charles Hubbard) puts it:

Davis left foreign policy to others in government and, rather than developing an aggressive diplomatic effort, tended to expect events to …show more content…
On October 1 Slidell and Mason were in Charleston in South Carolina. Their original plan was to run the blockade in CSS Nashville. The main channel into Charleston was guarded by five Union ships. Nashville's draft was too deep for any side channels too. A night escape was considered, but tides and strong night winds prevented this.A steamer named Gordon was suggested as an alternative. It had a shallow enough draught to use the back channels and could make over 12 knots, more than enough to elude Union pursuit. Gordon was offered to the Confederate government either as a purchase for $62,000 or as a charter for $10,000.The Confederate Treasury could not afford this, but a cotton broker named George Trenholm, paid the $10,000 in return for half the cargo space on the return trip. The British government was aware that the United States would attempt to capture the diplomats and believed they were on Nashville. They were adventually captured.Most Northerners learned of the Trent capture on November 16 when the news hit afternoon newspapers. By November 18(A monday), the press seemed engulfed in a wave of chauvinistic elation.Everyone was eager to present a legal justification for the capture. Meanwhile a banquet was given to honor Wilkes at the Revere House in Boston on November

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