11/28/1864
The capture a few weeks earlier of the British-built Confederate raider C.S.S. Florida in neutral Brazilian waters had trigggered an international incident. The captured raider, held off Norfolk, Virginia was conveniently holded in a collision and sunk, thereby making moot any possible diplomatic ruling for her return to her Confederate owners. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation:
Chronicles of the Great Rebellion Against the United States of America ... (Philadelphia, A. Winch, 1867), 89.
Emma Martin Maffitt, The Life and Services of John Newland Maffitt (New York: Neale Publishing Company, 1906), 383-386.