Confederate Privateer

Confederate Privateer

The Confederate privateers were privately owned ships that were authorized by the government of the Confederate States of America to attack the shipping of the United States. Although the appeal was to profit by capturing merchant vessels and seizing their cargoes, the government was most interested in diverting the efforts of the Union Navy away from the blockade of Southern ports, and perhaps to encourage European intervention in the conflict.

At the beginning of the American Civil War, the Confederate government sought to counter the United States Navy in part by appealing to private enterprise to engage in privateering. This was the practice of fitting ordinary merchant vessels with modest armament, then sending them to sea to capture other, unarmed, merchant vessels. The captured vessels would be taken to the jurisdiction of a competent court. If the court found that the capture was legitimate, the ship and cargo would be forfeited and sold at auction. The proceeds would be distributed among owners and crew according to a contractual schedule.

In the early days of the war, enthusiasm for the Southern cause was high, and many ship owners responded to the appeal by applying for letters of marque. Not all of those who gained authorization actually went to sea, but the numbers of privateers were high enough to be a major concern for US Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. Many ships of the Union Navy were diverted from blockade duty in efforts to capture privateers. Most of the privateers managed to remain free, but enough were caught that the owners and crew had to consider the risk seriously. The capture of one privateer, schooner Savannah, resulted in an important court case that did much to define the nature of the Civil War itself.

Initial enthusiasm could not be sustained. Privateers found it difficult to deliver their captures to Confederate courts, and as a result the profits dried up. By the end of the first year of the war, the risks far exceeded the benefits in the minds of most owners and crews. The practice continued only sporadically through the rest of the war. The Confederate government turned its efforts against Northern commerce over to commissioned raiders.

The Civil War was the last time a belligerent power seriously resorted to privateering. The practice had already been outlawed among European countries by the Declaration of Paris (1856). Following the war, the United States agreed to abide by the Declaration. More important than any international agreements, however, is the fact that the increased cost and sophistication of naval weaponry effectively removed any reasonable prospects for profit.