Baltimore Incident

Two drunken sailors from the USS Baltimore were killed by an angry crowd in Valparaíso.

The Baltimore Incident was an incident in the port of Valparaíso that sparked a diplomatic conflict between the United States and Chile in 1891 .

The US intended to support the Chilean government, which failed to quell the uprising of parliament and the navy in the Chilean civil war of 1891 . In this context , an international fleet, which also included the US warship USS Baltimore , confiscated the Itata , an insurgent ship that wanted to transport US weapons from the Chilean port of Valparaíso to the congress troops operating in the northern Chilean provinces.

In response to this, on October 16, 1891, in Valparaíso, which was the seat of the Chilean National Congress and the main base of the Chilean Navy, was firmly in the hands of the rebelling parliamentary supporters, a mob of excited citizens attacked a group of crew members of the US cruiser Baltimore in front of a port bar in which they had been drinking. Two American sailors died and 17 were injured in the incident. After the victory of the Congress supporters and the suicide of the Chilean president, the new government of Chile rejected the US protests over the incident. When US President Benjamin Harrison in the Congress of the United States , however, made a speech against the new Chilean government and this threatened with reprisals, Chile apologized and paid as reparations 75,000 dollars in gold.

Web links

• Information on the Baltimore Incident (Spanish)