At 3:00 in the morning on October 7, 1864, a United States Navy warship weighed anchor in the harbor of Salvador, Brazil, and charged at a Confederate raider moored peacefully in neutral waters. The Confederates never stood a chance - half the crew was ashore, sleeping. The guns opened fire, the ships collided, and within minutes a boarding party had seized the CSS Florida and tied a tow line to her bow. The Brazilian forts on shore opened up, too late. By dawn, the Union ship was gone, dragging her prize out to sea. What the Americans gained that night was a famous Confederate raider. What they set off was a diplomatic incident that would embarrass Washington for years and leave Brazil's government demanding a restitution it would never receive.
The CSS Florida had been terrorizing Union merchant shipping for months. A nine-gun sloop-of-war with 146 officers and crew under Lieutenant Charles Manigault Morris, she had spent sixty-one days at sea before pulling into Bahia for repairs and coal on the night of October 4, 1864. Morris was headed for the Pacific. He needed fuel and a breather. What he did not know was that the USS Wachusett, a Union sloop-of-war under Commander Napoleon Collins, was also in the neighborhood. Wachusett slipped into the harbor too, anchored at the bay entrance, and began probing. One of her boats rowed over to the Florida in the dark and shouted out to ask what ship she was. The Confederates answered honestly. The Union boat claimed to be from HMS Curlew and rowed back to report - still unseen from the Florida's deck.
The next morning Morris met with Antônio Joaquim da Silva Gomes, the Provincial President of Bahia. Silva Gomes gave the Confederates two days to coal and repair but warned that Brazil would retaliate against whoever fired first if a battle erupted in the harbor. The Imperial Brazilian Navy put the citadels - Fort Santa Maria and Fort Barra - on high alert. An admiral suggested Morris move the Florida closer to shore, into the protection of a Brazilian sloop. Morris did as advised. Boats from the Wachusett delivered letters addressed to 'Captain Morris sloop Florida' - refusing to use the prefix CSS because it would imply recognition of the Confederacy. The Confederates refused the letters. Another envoy, an American consul named De'Videcky, arrived with a challenge. Morris declined to attack in neutral waters but warned: 'should I encounter her outside Brazilian waters, I would use my utmost endeavors to destroy her.' The ceasefire held through the day. Then the night came.
Collins had no intention of waiting for Morris to leave. At 3 a.m. on October 7, the Wachusett weighed anchor and bore down on the anchored Florida. The first shots from her 6-inch guns missed in rough weather, and she ceased firing. Morris and half the Florida's crew were ashore, sleeping in the city. Lieutenant T. K. Porter held the deck. In the darkness, the Confederates did not see the Wachusett approaching until she was within musket range, and Master Hunter ordered his men to raise the ensign and open fire with pistols and muskets - they had no time to bring the cannons to bear. A few musket balls struck the Wachusett, wounding three men. She returned fire with small arms while maneuvering for a full broadside. When the broadside came, the Florida's starboard took hits from 6-inch and pivot guns that raked her bulwarks and shot away her mizzenmast. The Wachusett demanded surrender. When no answer came, she rammed the Confederate ship. A Union boarding party jumped onto the deck and forced the surrender within minutes.
Nine Confederates jumped overboard trying to flee. Union sailors fired muskets at them in the water, wounding all nine, though the men eventually made it to shore. A tow line went onto the Florida, and the Wachusett began dragging her prize out of Bahia harbor. That was when Fort Barra opened up. Brazilian cannon shots whizzed past the Wachusett without striking home. A Brazilian sloop and an armed paddle steamer began pursuit, firing inaccurately. Collins did not engage. He made sail and ran. The Wachusett was faster. By daylight she had cleared Brazilian waters with her prize. The final count: five Confederates killed, nine wounded, and seventy captured - twelve officers and fifty-eight crewmen. Left behind in Bahia were Lieutenant Morris, four officers, and seventy-one crewmen who had been ashore. Union losses came to three wounded, only one of them seriously.
Brazil was furious. The United States had violated the neutrality of a friendly nation, attacked a vessel in its sovereign waters, and fled when challenged. Under diplomatic pressure, the U.S. Navy court-martialed Commander Collins and threatened to remove him from duty. But many Northerners saw the raid as a brilliant stroke - the Florida had been a major threat to Union merchant shipping. Collins's sentence was never carried out. In 1866 he was promoted to captain, partly in recognition of his victory over the Florida. Brazil demanded the prize be returned. That never happened. The Florida sank in a collision with USAT Alliance off Virginia on November 28, 1864 - an accident that some historians suspect was arranged by Admiral David Dixon Porter to prevent the ship from being handed back. The Bahia incident became a long diplomatic sore, eventually settled through reparations to Brazil. On the night of October 7, 1864, Commander Collins had weighed the prize against the cost and decided the prize was worth it. His country, over time, had to decide the same.
The incident occurred at approximately 12.85°S, 38.60°W in the Port of Salvador, Brazil. Recommended viewing altitude: 2,000-4,000 feet for a clear view of the entrance to All Saints Bay and the historic fort positions (Fort Santa Maria and Fort Santo Antônio da Barra). Salvador-Dep. Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport (SBSV) is the primary field. Visual landmarks include the Barra peninsula with its lighthouse, the bay's deep harbor, and the colonial forts still visible along the coast. Afternoon trade winds and sea breezes are typical.