Civil War
From 1855–1858 Constellation performed largely diplomatic duties as part of the US Mediterranean Squadron.
She was flagship of the African Squadron from 1859–1861. In this period she disrupted the African slave trade by interdicting three slave ships and releasing the imprisoned Africans.
- On 21 December 1859, she captured the brig Delicia which was "without colors or papers to show her nationality completely fitted in all respects for the immediate embarcation of slaves..."
- On 26 September 1860, Constellation captured the "fast little bark" Cora with 705 slaves, who were set free in Monrovia, Liberia.
- On 21 May 1861, Constellation overpowered the slaver brig Triton in African coastal waters. It held no slaves, although "every preparation for their reception had been made."
Constellation spent much of the war as a deterrent to Confederate cruisers and commerce raiders in the Mediterranean Sea.
Read more about this topic: USS Constellation (1854)
Famous quotes related to civil war:
“They have been waiting for us in a foetor
Of vegetable sweat since civil war days,
Since the gravel-crunching, interminable departure
Of the expropriated mycologist.”
—Derek Mahon (b. 1941)