American Civil War: A US Navy ship captures a Confederate raider in a Brazilian seaport.

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union. The central conflict leading to war was a dispute over whether slavery should be permitted to expand into the western territories, leading to more slave states, or be prohibited from doing so, which many believed would place slavery on a course of ultimate extinction.

The Bahia incident was a naval skirmish fought in late 1864 during the American Civil War. A Confederate navy warship was captured by a Union warship in the Port of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The engagement resulted in a United States victory, but also sparked an incident between the United States and Brazil, over the American violation of Brazil's neutrality by illegally attacking a vessel in a Brazilian harbor.