Lieutenant Charles Hunter, USN, and the Blanche Affair by Evelyn M. Cherpak to take his ship to Philadelphia and report to Secretary of the horrly after the Confederates bombarded Charleston's Fort Sumter on 12 April 1861 , Jefferson Davis urged the ouditNavy Gideon Welles, thus ending his controversial service on the ting of privateers to attack Union shipping and, with his Texas coast. authority as the newly declared president of the ConfederOn 6 October 1862, the Montgomery sailed from New York ate States of America, issued letters of marque and reprisal. PresC ity, where she had undergone repairs, and put into port at Haident Abraham Lincoln followed suit on 19 April 1861 with an vana, Cuba, on the way to join the West Gulf Blockading Squadron off Mobile, Alabama. Hunter went ashore in Havana and announcement of the blockade of Southern ports. The blockade was to cover 3,500 miles of the Southern coast from Alexandria, called on United Stares Consul, Robert W. Shufeldr, and then Virginia, to Brownsville, Texas. The returned to his ship. He sa iled rhe Montgomery along the C uban coast, Un ired Stares claimed the right to stop where his crew spied rhe Blanche, a and search neutral vessels as well as 417-ton steamer Hying English colors, Confederate blockade runners and seize those carrying contraband. anchored close to shore. Suspecting Lieurenam Charles Humer of that it was a blockade runner, Hunter ordered shells fired, bur none hit Newport, Rhode Island, served in rhe their target. The captain of the US Navy from 1831 until 1855, when he was placed on leave for health reaBlanche had Spanish authorities come sons. H e had been assigned to ships on board and promptly hoisted the Spanish ensign atop the English Bag. of rhe Brazil and African Squadrons Hunter sent a crew in rwo armed boats during the 1830s and 1840s, where he to board the Blanche and bring her in became ill with fevers, hence his request for leave. Once relieved of duty, if they determined that she was a blockade runner carrying contraband. he returned to his family in Newport, seemingly never to return to active The party boarded the steamer and naval service, bur six yea rs later the almost immediately rhe ship was set Civi l War changed that. on fire as her crew abandoned ship. On 21 April 1861 , Lieutenant One of the passengers, Englishma n Humer offered his services ro the Robert C lemem, came aboard the Montgomery and admitted that the United States Navy and reported to ship was carrying 500 bales of cotton Commodore Samuel Breese in New York City on 15 May. He was assigned R EDWOOD LIBRARY AND ATHENACUM and that the crew purposely set the ship on fire. Amicipating trouble, to USS Montgomery, a steamer of the Bust of Captain Charles Hunter (1813-1873) Hunter sent Clement's deposition and West Gulf Blockading Squadron stationed off Apalachicola, Florida. In a letter to his wife, Mary, just his report on rhe Blanche to David Farragut aboard USS Hartford, five weeks later, he gave vent to his boredom and frustration; he at Pensacola, Florida, who was in charge of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron at that time. Hunter proudly defended his actio ns, wrote: "I wish the war was over. I regret now that I did nor resign a year ago. Of all the most tedious and uninteresting services I stating: "I rejoice greatly that his nororious rebel vessel is dehave been on, this is the most so ." 1 Ir did nor remai n so for long, stroyed."3 as he was pro mored and given command of the Montgomery with 1he Blanche affair soon erupted into an international incident. the rank of lieurenam commander. Now the serious work of The Spanish government protested the burning of the vessel in Spanish waters and demanded that Hunter be disciplined. Furcapturing blockade runners bega n. thermore, they pressed that the three-mile territorial limit be On 11 April 1862, rhe Montgomery received orders to blockrespected and violations by the US Navy end immediately. To ade a portion of the Texas coast, where illegal trade was taking place between Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas. mollify the Spanish, the United States issued new orders regardHumer's seizure of the British vessel Will-o'-the-Wisp in June ing Spanish terrirorial rights and recalled the American consul in Cuba. 4 The British government became involved when it asserted caused British protests, and the case went to court. The British that Robert Clement was made to sign a deposition under duress, testified that they were carrying goods to Matamoros, which was regarding the fire on the Blanche. British Minister to the United a neutral port. The court ruled that the United Stares was nor subject to penalties and damages because the cargo of gunpowder States Richard Lyons demanded that compensation be paid to that was on the ship was deemed suspicious. The case next went C lement and to the owners of the Blanche, and that the American to the Mixed Commission on British and American Claims. The government issue a full apology r:egarding the deposition. 5 commission rejected the British claims. In 1863, the Nova Scotia The United States promptly¡ rejected the original claim of House of Assembly appealed to rhe British Foreign Office to press $311,859 that included damages and injuries to the British and the United Stares for compensation for the loss of cargo and rhe Spanish. The British pursued the case, but Secretary of State Wilship, bur the case went no further. 2 In August, Hunter was ordered liam Seward insisted that the sh ip had been destroyed by her own
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