U.S.S. Brooklyn, 2,532 tons, was a steam-assisted first-class sloop of war built for the United States Navy in 1858 and therefore still a relatively new vessel when the American Civil War broke out in 1861. During that war, one of the main Union objectives was to stifle the export of cotton by blockading the Southern ports and the Confederacy responded to this strategy by the use of fast ships, not only to run the blockade but also to raid enemy shipping. The incident depicted here is U.S.S. Brooklyn in hot pursuit of the C.S.S. Sumter as she attempted to reach open water from the Mississippi Delta where she had been awaiting a suitable opportunity. Contemporary accounts of the incident report that the chase was an extremely "close-run thing" until Brooklyn unexpectedly abandoned the pursuit and allowed Sumter to escape into the gathering dusk.

This painting is one of a series specially commissioned by Thomas J Coughlin to illustrate his recently published book "The Confederate Raiders", a copy of which is included in the lot.