Heroes of The Civil War: Charles Francis Adams

Charles Francis Adams lived from 1807 to 1886. He served as the United States ambassador to Great Britain throughout the war, and his efforts there have been compared in importance to many military victories. Son and grandson of two former Presidents, Adams had shown some interest in a political career and had even run for vice president in 1848, but by background and temperament he was never that comfortable with the rough and ready ways of the young American democracy.

As a moderate Republican opposed to slavery, Adams was needed by Lincoln, who put him in exactly the right post (even though Adams did not report being too impressed after their first meeting in April of 1961.

Adams had spent much of his youth in Europe, including two years in an English school, and his more cosmopolitan manner allowed him to get in well with the British leaders. Adams primary goal was to make sure that England in particular, and Europe in general, did not give formal recognition to the Confederacy and certainly did not provide aide.

This was no easy task, as there was considerable support among many British, especially among the influential, for the South’s position—not for slavery as such for the rights of a group of states to conduct their affairs as they saw fit. By his cautious, reasonable and sophisticated diplomacy, Adams managed to get Great Britain to observe the naval blockade that the Union had set up around the Southern ports. Meanwhile, Confederate agents in Britain were buying , building and outfitting ships, and Adams was frustrated in his early efforts to stop this.

By late 1862 he felt confident enough to lay down an ultimatum. Either stop providing ships to the Confederacy or the North would engage in open warfare against British interests. The British government stopped the activities of the Confederate agents, and to the extent that Adams helped move Britain around to supporting the Union cause.. he also helped keep the rest of Europe in at least a neutral role. After the war ended, Adams stayed on in negotiations over Britain’s reimbursing the US for loses inflicted on Northern commerce by the Confederate ships that had come out of England. Returning to the US, Adams then played a crucial role in the treaty and arbitration that settled these so-called Alabama claims.