NOVEMBER 5TH, 1864: W.G. Fargo, Mayor of Buffalo, New York, telegraphed Secretary Welles that the ship Georgian had been purchased in Toronto by Southern sympathizer Dr. James Bates: "My information is that she will be armed on the Canada shore for the purpose of encountering the USS Michigan and for piratical and predatory purposes on the Lakes..."
Though Commander Carter of the USS Michigan discounted these rumors, the Georgian continued to rouse grave concern in the Great Lakes area.
To be commanded by Master John Y. Beall, CSN, she was in fact to be a part of the new plot on the part of Confederate agent Jacob Thompson to capture the Michigan and attack the cities on Lake Erie, but the suspicions of Union authorities and the strict surveillance under which the ship was placed by Union agents prevented the plot from being carried out.
Welles ordered the Carter to seize the Georgian if she ventured into American waters, but she was searched twice by Canadian and American authorities without any hint of her true character being detected. The Georgian was eventually laid up at Collingwood, on the Canadian side, and later sold to private interests.
--Old B-Runner
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