Browse Items (16 total)

Weed's letter is written in the midst of an deteriorating diplomatic situation between the United States and the British Empire. Informing Secretary Seward of a meeting between himself and the British Foreign Minister, Earl Russell, Weed's account…

In this letter, the Union agent - and friend to Secretary of State William Seward - informs the secretary of efforts made by the British government to strengthen the security of their Canadian territories. In response to the Trent Affair's escalation…

Former President Fillmore's letter to the current executive reflects the growing view among prominent American politicians that war with Britain, increasingly probable as the Trent Affair continued, was undesriable and disadvantageuous to the…

This letter from the Union agent addresses some of the concerns for the potential fallout of the Trent Affair in the case of further escalation. The threat of European intervention in the war, either militarily or as forceful mediators, amplified the…

This letter from the Wisconsin Senator was written at the height of the controversy over the Trent. Though the exact parameters of the diplomatic dialogue was still unknown to the majority of the American public, its tense nature was not lost. At the…

Written after the resolution of the Trent Affair controversy, this letter summarizes the American minister to Britain's perspective of the event. Noting the legal arguments surronding the case, particularly regarding the right of search. It reflects…

The news of the Trent's stopping and the arrest of its Southern diplomatic passengers, James Mason and John Slidell, by the Union provoked confusion and anger among the British. The popular views of the incident considered the actions of Union…

The Trent, a British packet ship transporting to England two Confederate diplomats, James Mason and John Slidell, had left Havana, Cuba on November 7th, 1861. Captain Charles Wilkes of the USS San Jacinto became aware of the diplomats' movements and…

The captain of the San Jacinto was hailed as a hero across the Northern public, receiving praise from Congress and the Lincoln administration for his role in the capture of James Mason and John Slidell. However, with the onset of the Trent Affair in…

Captured by the Union alongside his fellow Confederate diplomat, James Mason, in the 1861 Trent Affair, John Slidell's intended post was making appeals on the South's behalf to the French government under Napoleon III. After being released, Slidell…