Mason, James Murray (1798-1871), served as Confederate commissioner to Britain during the American Civil War (1861-1865). As commissioner, he became a key figure in a naval incident called the Trent Affair.
In 1861, Commissioner Mason sailed for Europe aboard a British ship, the Trent. His primary mission was to gain British aid for the South. While at sea, a Union warship stopped the Trent and seized Mason and John Slidell, the Confederate commissioner to France. This action resulted in a diplomatic crisis that nearly caused Britain to declare war on the Union. The crisis passed after Mason and Slidell were released in 1862. Mason went on to London but failed to win aid for the South.
Mason was born in what is now Washington, D.C. He represented Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1837 to 1839 and in the Senate from 1847 to 1861. Mason’s grandfather George Mason wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, which formed the basis for the U.S. Bill of Rights.
