2nd Saturday Civil War Series: The War That Never Was: Great Britain, the U.S., and the Trent Affair with William Vodrey

In Person in the Lincoln Gallery at ACFL&MH

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9370579279
Meeting ID: 937 057 9279

The U.S. Navy’s seizure of two Confederate diplomats, James Murray Mason of Virginia and John Slidell of Louisiana, from a British Royal Mail steamship off the coast of Cuba in November 1861 set off an international firestorm of controversy.  The crisis even threatened, for several tense weeks, to bring the British Empire into the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy.  Our speaker will explore the tangle of political, diplomatic and naval issues involved, and how President Lincoln (who is said to have remarked, “One war at a time”) was able to resolve the dispute without the United States and the United Kingdom going to war for yet a third time.

Judge William F.B. Vodrey serves on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. Born and raised in East Liverpool, Ohio, he graduated with honors from Oberlin College and later received his law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He has been interested in presidential and military history for many years, and often speaks on such topics to historical societies, clubs and roundtables. He is a member of the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable, American Battlefield Trust, Ohio History Connection and Sons of the American Revolution.  He is also a former Civil War reenactor with the 51st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Co. B, in which he skyrocketed in just five short years to the rank of corporal.  Judge Vodrey lives in Cleveland with his wife Susan; they have three grown sons.