Vessels flying the Union flag traveling from outside and into the boarders of the Confederacy, during time of war, could only be a military benefit to the invaders and occupiers of the South. The right to defend home and country allows for repelling enemy waterborne craft and is justified. Random retaliation upon the citizen populations to stop or hender justified military actions was not then and is not today seen as legal. Neither of the cases I pointed out were actions against valid military targets, but actions used to terrorize the citizen populace.
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David Upton