Chesapeake-Leopard Affair
Leopardchesapeake.jpg
In the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair (also referred to as the Chesapeake Affair), which occurred on June 22, 1807, the British warship HMS Leopard attacked and boarded the American frigate USS Chesapeake off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, killing or wounding 21 men and capturing four alleged British deserters. One was hanged and three imprisoned in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The American public was outraged with the incident, as President Thomas Jefferson noted: "Never since the battle of Lexington have I seen this country in such a state of exasperation." The President closed U.S. territorial waters to British warships, demanded payment for damages, and requested an end to British efforts to search United States ships for "deserters," acts which were commonly considered an excuse to impress American sailors into British service (of the four sailors taken off the Chesapeake, three were U.S.-born who had "deserted" after having been impressed into the British Royal Navy).
This event served to escalate tensions between the two countries and can be seen as one of the events leading up to the War of 1812. Indeed, many demanded war following the incident, but President Thomas Jefferson instead used diplomacy and economic pressure in the form of the Embargo Act of 1807.