• Location: Montreal
• Mood: geeky
• Music: Karmin-"Pulses"

Presidents at Peace: Abraham Lincoln and the Trent Affair

"One war at a time." That is what Abraham Lincoln reportedly said when some in his cabinet wanted him to go to war with Great Britain while the Civil War was on. Those crying out for war were incensed that Confederate representatives John Mason and John Slidell were on board the British vessel H.M.S. Trent. When an American ship stopped and boarded the Trent and took the two Confederates into custody. Great Britain demanded an apology for the US action of violating British sovereignty. Some in his cabinet cried for war on a second front. Lincoln believed one war was enough.



The Trent Affair was an international diplomatic incident that occurred in the first year of the Civil War. On November 8, 1861, the USS San Jacinto, commanded by Union Captain Charles Wilkes, intercepted the British mail ship HMS Trent and removed, as contraband of war, two Confederate diplomats, James Mason and John Slidell. The two envoys were bound for Great Britain and France to press the Confederacy’s case for diplomatic recognition and financial support for the Confederacy.

The news of the capture of Mason and Slidell did not arrive in London until November 27. The British public and newspapers viewed it as an outrageous insult to British honor, and a flagrant violation of maritime law. The initial reaction in the United States was to rally against Britain, threatening war. But President Lincoln realized that this was not the time to risk war. The British government formally demanded an apology and the release of the prisoners. It also took steps to strengthen its military forces in Canada.

After several weeks of tension and loose talk of war, the crisis was resolved when the Lincoln administration released the envoys and disavowed Captain Wilkes's actions, though no formal apology was ever issued. Mason and Slidell resumed their voyage to Britain but failed in their goal of achieving diplomatic recognition.