The Old Bahama Channel, lying between the Bahamas and the northern coast of Cuba, must have seemed worlds away from the deepening hostilities of the American Civil War on Nov. 8, 1861. Yet for a short while around noon that day, it would become the war's most important battleground.
For those aboard the British mail steamer the Trent, the first sign of trouble came in the form of an unidentified vessel, off in the distance. As the Trent drew closer, the other ship fired, raised an American flag, and dispatched three landing boats. D. M. Fairfax boarded the Trent, identifying himself as an American lieutenant and his ship as the San Jacinto, and demanded that the captain hand over four of the Trent's passengers. In so doing he set off an international firestorm that almost changed the course of the American Civil War.
The four passengers were the Confederate commissioners James M. Mason and John Slidell and their secretaries George Eustis and J. E. Macfarland, on their way to Europe to lobby for support. Theirs was a vital mission. The Confederacy's quest for diplomatic recognition in Europe was clearly failing. The “King Cotton” confidence that had carried the first three Confederate commissioners to Europe in March 1861 now seemed misplaced; the impact of the European cotton shortage was not what Confederates had hoped. In light of the widespread assumption that European recognition would lead to Confederate victory, Mason and Slidell might become their nation's saviors — but only if they actually made it to Europe.
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