CHAPTER XXVII
THE LIGHT THAT FAILED
The struggle which Jefferson Davis was making to parry the force of the
mortal blows delivered by the United States Navy at last gave promise of
startling success.
The fight to establish the right of the Confederacy to arm its allies
under letters of marque and reprisal had been won by the Southern
President. The first armed vessel sailing under the orders of Davis
which was captured by the navy had brought the question to sharp issue.
The Washington Government had proclaimed the vessels flying the
Confederate flag under letters of marque to be pirates and subject to
the treatment of felons.
The Captain and the crew of the _Savannah_ when captured had been put in
irons and condemned to death as pirates. If the Washington Government
could make good this daring assumption, the power of the Confederacy to
damage the commerce of the North would be practically destroyed at a
blow.
Davis met the crisis with firmness. He selected an equal number of
Federal prisoners of war in Richmond and threw them into a dungeon below
Libby Prison. He dispatched a letter to Washington whose language could
not be misunderstood.
"Dare to execute an officer or sailor of the _Savannah_, and I will
put to death as felons an equal number of Federal officers and men.
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