Video: '8th November 1861: The Trent Affair nearly causes a war between Britain and the United States'

(Friday, November 8, 1861; during the Trent Affair, part of the American Civil War) — The USS San Jacinto, commanded by Union Captain Charles Wilkes, intercepted the British mail packet RMS Trent today in Old Bahama Channel between Cuba and the Bahamas and removed, as contraband of war, two Confederate envoys: James Murray Mason and John Slidell.

The envoys were bound for Britain and France to press the Confederacy’s case for diplomatic recognition and to lobby for possible financial and military support.

Video: 'Ken.Burns.The.Civil.War.1of9.The.Cause' (Nov. 8, 1861, at 1:30:15)

The British authorities demanded their release as diplomatic envoys, threatening war over the illegal act and provoking an international crisis for U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.

After several tense weeks, the crisis was resolved when the Lincoln administration released the envoys and disavowed Captain Wilkes’s actions, although without a formal apology. Mason and Slidell resumed their voyage to Europe.