jessgettysburg1863
2nd Lieutenant
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2012
Submitted by tonyp on Tue, 04/17/2012 - 08:48.
After Fort Sumter surrendered to Confederate forces on April 13, 1861, President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers to serve for 90 days to preserve the Union. The South scrambled to respond. Realizing the Confederacy lacked an effective navy, President Jefferson Davis issued a proclamation on April 17 offering to give sanction to any armed private vessel that was willing to attack Northern ships.
This official sanction was called a “letter of marque”: essentially, a license for privateers to attack at will. Without such sanction, acts of violence on the high seas by private vessels were acts of piracy. With a letter of marque, however, these privateers could ennoble their plundering by acting on behalf of the Confederate States of America.
In his proclamation, Jefferson Davis was careful to demand a high standard of conduct by these privateers. He had no interest in collaboration with lawless pirates. Private armed vessels serving under a Confederate letter of marque had to post a bond and follow all laws and regulations governing their behavior.
President Davis’ proclamation was obviously of great interest to the North. The entire proclamation was published in the April 26, 1861, issue of the Farmer’s Cabinet (Amherst, New Hampshire).
See the link for the full article.
http://www.newsinhistory.com/blog/confederate-president-davis-encourages-privateers
After Fort Sumter surrendered to Confederate forces on April 13, 1861, President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers to serve for 90 days to preserve the Union. The South scrambled to respond. Realizing the Confederacy lacked an effective navy, President Jefferson Davis issued a proclamation on April 17 offering to give sanction to any armed private vessel that was willing to attack Northern ships.
This official sanction was called a “letter of marque”: essentially, a license for privateers to attack at will. Without such sanction, acts of violence on the high seas by private vessels were acts of piracy. With a letter of marque, however, these privateers could ennoble their plundering by acting on behalf of the Confederate States of America.
In his proclamation, Jefferson Davis was careful to demand a high standard of conduct by these privateers. He had no interest in collaboration with lawless pirates. Private armed vessels serving under a Confederate letter of marque had to post a bond and follow all laws and regulations governing their behavior.
President Davis’ proclamation was obviously of great interest to the North. The entire proclamation was published in the April 26, 1861, issue of the Farmer’s Cabinet (Amherst, New Hampshire).
See the link for the full article.
http://www.newsinhistory.com/blog/confederate-president-davis-encourages-privateers