"For
a few weeks in 1861 Britain was on the verge of war with the United
States. After two Confederate commissioners were seized from the British
mail packet ‘Trent’ by a US ship, Britain was incensed and began to
send British regulars to support troops in Canada already out there.
The
crisis became known as the Tent Affair or the Trent Crisis. Two
battalions of Guards actually landed in Canada, with the third to
follow, which shows the concern and outrage the British government felt
over the crisis.
It seems like these would have been part of the 75,000
British regulars and potentially 50,000 Canadian militia and volunteers,
ready to march. Of course in a matter of several weeks the crisis was
over, but 18,000 British regulars (6,823 re-enforcements sent during the
crisis) were on active service in Canada by early ’62."
Source: Perry Miniatures
