Jan. 1, 1862 New Year's Day

Jan. 1, 1862: After some weeks of diplomatic wrangling and bluffing, the United States quietly releases Confederate envoys James Mason and John Slidell from imprisonment in Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. Pres. Lincoln decides that fighting one war is enough, in the face of Britain’s blustering over the "illegality" of Capt. Wilkes and the USS San Jacinto having stopped a Royal mail packet on the high seas to seize the two Rebel commissioners.