TEXAS CONNECTION TO TRENT AFFAIR
(Please be aware this post was written in 2003 and published at that time in the Houston Chronicle (Houston, Texas) newspaper. Some of the news in this post, therefore, may not be current. Current and future posts on this blog may revisit and update news on this and other posts on this blog. If you have questions and/or suggestions, please send Mic a note using the comment page -Don’t forget to use the orange “subscribe” button to receive new posts-Thanks, Mic)
Students of Civil War history are usually aware of the Trent Affair but unaware of a Texas connection.
On November 8, 1861 the Trent an English mail steamer sailing from Cuba to a British port in St Thomas with two Confederate diplomatic envoys onboard was stopped by Commander Wilkes of the U.S. Navy in international waters.
The two Confederate diplomats, John Sliddell, the South’s envoy to France and James M. Mason, the South’s envoy to England and others in their party were arrested. They were taken as prisoners of war to Fort Warren in Boston.
Prior to the war Sliddell and Mason had both been U.S. Senators and were accused by the United States of having been conspicuous in the conspiracy to dissolve the Union. Their arrest was considered a great coup by the United States against the Confederacy and Wilkes was hailed a hero.
Fourteen days after the incident news reached England and the European continent. The English reacted quickly and ordered between eight and ten thousand troops to Canada at once. They also halted the United States’ orders for saltpeter which was needed to produce gunpowder for the U.S. Army.
Such a furor raged in England and Europe that the United States backed down and cheerfully liberated the captured Confederate diplomats to the protection of a British ship dispatched to retrieve them.
As for the Texas connection, albeit small. The name of Commander Wilkes’ ship was the USS San Jacinto. Wilkes’ USS San Jacinto was the first of the name in the United States Navy. Built in 1851 it served in the Mediterranean off the African Coast suppressing the slave trade. She was lost on New Years Day 1865 when she struck a reef near Great Abaco Island performing blockade duty during the Civil War.
The third and current USS San Jacinto, an AEGIS cruiser, was commissioned in 1988 and is based in Galveston. This USS San Jacinto served valiantly in the First Gulf War where it has returned for a possible encore performance.
LEARN GENEALOGY
Offered by Leisure Learning, Mic Barnette will teach an introductory course on conducting family history research. Roots of Genealogy-How To Research Your Family Tree will be held from 7 P.M. to 10 P.M. Tuesday January 14 at Leisure Learning’s 2990 Richmond Ave campus. The following week the class will tour Clayton Genealogical Library and conduct on-site census research. For more information and to register, contact Leisure Learning at 713-529-4414.
BOOKSHELF NEWS
Compiled by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck the Genealogical Publishing Company has published a book listing Naval Pensioners of the United States 1800-1851. It is available for $33.50, postpaid, from GPC at 1001 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD 21202.
Beginning in 1800, pensions for U.S. naval personnel were awarded on the basis of death or disability during active service. Under various acts of Congress, the number of pensions awarded between 1800 and 1851 grew from 22 in 1802 to 1,228 in 1851. Taking its cue from the ever- increasing number of applicants, this work presents an alphabetical directory of some 3,000 seamen and sailors who were awarded pensions in accordance with the various acts of Congress and special acts of the Senate or House of Representatives.
Information includes the pensioner’s name, rank, pension date, rate of pay, ship, years of service and other pertinent information. If the pension was granted to a widow or other relative the information is so stated.
Much of the information in this book is previously unpublished and will be of immense help to those researching naval ancestors.
