Black Warrior Affair

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Black Warrior, a vessel in the American coastwise trade, touched at Havana, Cuba on February 28, 1854, on her eighteenth voyage to New York City. In technical conformity with law, but contrary to informal agreements, a cargo manifest was demanded. Failing this, the ship was seized, but was restored to her owners on payment of a $6,000 fine, subsequently remitted. The controversy called forth able papers by the Secretary of State William L. Marcy but the tactics of Pierre Soule, American minister to Spain, temporarily threatened war. Linked somewhat with the Ostend Manifesto, the issue hung fire until August, 1855, when Spain paid an indemnity of $53,000.

[edit] References

• Dictionary of American History by James Truslow Adams, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940