Eventually, with Sumner’s influence, and tide-turning Union victories in 1863 at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, the British relented. On September 8, 1863, Lord Russell notified the American minister that the British would release no more Confederate ships from English shipyards. And with those words, the crisis was over. For the second time in less than two years, Charles Sumner’s influence and diplomacy had averted war with England.
