18651776 Club
Johnson strips Confederate ships of belligerent rights; their captains now face the rope as pirates
The proclamation orders foreign nations to intern or expel rebel vessels still prowling international waters, five weeks after Lincoln's assassination.
Five weeks after Lincoln's assassination, President Andrew Johnson faced a critical question: What to do about Confederate warships still prowling international waters? On May 9, 1865, Johnson issued a proclamation ending the belligerent rights of rebel forces and demanding that foreign nations intern or expel Confederate vessels. The order transformed Confederate ships from legitimate combatants into stateless pirates, stripping them of legal protection and threatening captains with execution as outlaws…
