President Lincoln believed in order to win the war, it was imperative to keep Britain and France out of the conflict. On this day in 1861 all that was threaten when Captain Charles Wilkes, aboard the USS San Jacinto, stopped the Trent by firing shots across her bow and then removed two confederate diplomats and held them prisoners. British outrage not only produced a stern letter from the foreign minister, but was also followed by deployment of 11,000 redcoats to Canada and vessels to the western Atlantic. Escalation of this event was avoided by releasing the diplomats; which was considered an acceptable apology that ended the matter. What was the date of this event?

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