'Trent and the San Jacinto'

'Trent and the San Jacinto'

The interception of the RMS Trent on November 8, 1861, by the USS San Jacinto under Cpt. Charles Wilkes.

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 intended route, bringing his ship to impede their passage. Believing his actions to be in the interest of the Union war effort and justifiable as the seizure of war contraband, Wilkes ordered the Trent boarded. When Mason and Slidell, with their diplomatic assistants, come forward, they are arrested and removed from the Trent. Wilke's actions recieve praise in the Union, but set off a diplomatic crisis that lasted through the rest of the year, ending in the release of the diplomats.

Edward Sylvester Ellis

Image from the The Youth's History of the United States, etc, published by Cassel & Co in 1887

Electronically available through Wikimedia

1887

English