Америка Азамат Соғысы кезіндегі «Чесапик» оқиғасы

International diplomatic incident that occurred during the American Civil War
an incident during the American Civil War

The Chesapeake Affair was an international diplomatic incident that occurred during the American Civil War. On December 7, 1863, Confederate sympathizers from the Maritime Provinces captured the American steamer Chesapeake off the coast of Cape Cod. The expedition was planned and led by Vernon Guyon Locke (1827–1890) of Nova Scotia and John Clibbon Brain (1840–1906). When George Wade of New Brunswick killed one of the American crew, the Confederacy claimed its first fatality in New England waters. The Confederate sympathizers had planned to re coal at Saint John, New Brunswick, and head south to Wilmington, North Carolina. Instead, the captors had difficulties at Saint John; so they sailed further east and re coaled in Halifax, Nova Scotia. U. S. forces responded to the attack, violating British sovereignty by trying to arrest the captors in Nova Scotian waters. International tensions rose. Wade and others were able to escape through the assistance of William Johnston Almon, a prominent Nova Scotian and Confederate sympathizer. The Chesapeake Affair was one of the most sensational international incidents that occurred during the American Civil War. The incident briefly threatened to bring the British Empire into the war against the North.

Locke had arranged for John C. Braine and sixteen Confederate sympathizers from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to board the Chesapeake as normal passengers in New York. While en route to Maine, on the night of 7 December, just off the coast of Cape Cod, Braine and his men seized control of the vessel. The crew resisted; in the exchange of gunfire that took place, the ship's second engineer was killed, and three crewmen were wounded. After seizing the vessel, Locke took command at Grand Manan Island. Neutrality regulations forbade the bringing of prizes into British waters. Locke sailed Chesapeake to Saint John, New Brunswick, as planned but was unable to load coal for the voyage south. He next took Chesapeake to Nova Scotia. Chesapeake stopped at Shelburne (10 December) and at Conquerall Bank, Nova Scotia, on the LaHave River (14 December), where they loaded some coal. During the next two days, they sold some of the stolen cargo for supplies. In the meantime, two Union warships were closing in: the fast side wheeler Malvern, moving south from Halifax, and the Dacotah, coming north from Shelburne. Chesapeake was nearly caught by Malvern on the LaHave River. Under the cover of night, Chesapeake turned all lights out and slipped behind Spectacle Island and out on the LaHave without being detected. Chesapeake again avoided capture at Lunenburg and traveled on to Halifax. The vessel moved through Mahone Bay. At St. Margarets Bay, some crew left the ship. By 16 December, the ship arrived at Mud Cove harbour at Sambro. Once there Locke went to Halifax overland. There he arranged for a schooner come to Sambro with coal.

Upon the arrival of the American warships, most of the rebel prize crew on Chesapeake fled. Lieutenant Nickels of Malvern violated British sovereignty and international laws by arresting the three men who remained: one from New Brunswick and two from Nova Scotia. George Wade, who had killed a crew member during the raid, was among the prisoners. The Americans took Chesapeake to Halifax to get clearance for their actions from the British authorities. Chesapeake arrived in Halifax on 17 December, escorted by the two American warships. Three other warships followed, which had also pursued Chesapeake: Acacia, Cornubia, and Niagara. News of the capture and the fact that Maritimers were the assailants resulted in widespread anger in the North. The New York Herald condemned the attack as the "most daring and atrocious on record" and the assailants for showing "cold blood and feeble circulation of reptiles." Another paper derided the citizens of Saint John as "mere pimps" of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and "his fellow traitors." Seward informed Britain that the U. S. wanted Chesapeake returned immediately, and the hijackers arrested and extradited to the U. S. in accordance with Article 10 of the 1842 Webster–Ashburton Treaty, which provided the extradition of "all persons who, being charged with the crime of murder or Piracy".

William Johnston Almon was generally regarded as the unofficial Confederate consul in Halifax. He constantly harboured Confederate "refugees" and hosted numerous prominent Confederate officials, who were automatically welcomed at Rosebank during their stay in town. He was a friend and correspondent of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Almon and Keith arranged for Wade's escape in a rowboat to Ketch Harbour and to Hantsport. The Americans were outraged and, in response, the British put a warrant out for the rest of his crew. A few of the crew were tried but were found not guilty on a technicality.

The Southern sympathisers believed they were engaging in an act of war because they had an official letter of marque from the Confederacy. As the investigation into the affair unfolded, it was found their letter had no legal basis. As a result, rather than the Chesapeake Affair being an official act of war, it was an act of piracy and condemned as such by most of the newspapers in the Maritimes. Many high ranking Confederates settled in Canada after the war. Approximately 30 senior Naval and Army officers from the South settled in Halifax. Among the most prominent were John Wilkinson (commander of CSS Chickamauga), Thomas Edgeworth Courtenay, and John Taylor Wood.