excellent list of events. A couple of items for future addition to that list. April 17th Davis solicits mariners to apply for for Letters of Marque against U.S. shipping.
April 29, Davis requests Confederate Congress grant him authority to issue letters of Marque and Reprisal.
May 6 Confederate Congress grants Davis authority to issue Letters of Marque and Reprisal.
Not exactly one of their better “strategic” moves, although I realize why they were inclined to do so, not having a navy to speak of.
Privateering had been outlawed by the Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law of 1856, which equated privateering with piracy. The United States hadn’t ratified that treaty, and so was not strictly bound by it, but the legitimacy of privateering as a means of warfare had clearly shifted to the wrong side of what was then termed the “law of nations.”
This only served to irritate France and Great Britain at a time when the con-feds were desperately trying to curry favor.