The Trent Affair
Poets involved
What happened
The United States warship USS San Jacinto stopped the British mail packet RMS Trent near Cuba and removed two Confederate diplomats. Conflicting interpretations of maritime law and inflammatory reports brought Britain and the United States close to war. Careful diplomatic wording allowed Washington to release the envoys without issuing a formal apology.
Literary impact
The crisis entered newspapers, cartoons, speeches and Civil War verse on both sides of the Atlantic. It forms part of the diplomatic world surrounding Walt Whitman's war poetry and Herman Melville's Battle-Pieces, in which fragmented reports continually reshape public understanding of conflict.
Source: Wikipedia
