<P> On August 18, 1864, the Confederate ship CSS Tallahassee under the command of John Taylor Wood sailed into Halifax harbor for supplies, coal and to make repairs to its mainmast . Wood could only stay 48 hours under neutrality laws and began loading coal at Woodside, on the Dartmouth shore . Two Union ships were closing in on the Tallahassee, the Nansemont and the Huron but had not yet arrived at the harbor approaches . Wood slipped out of the harbor under the cover of night . It is believed he departed by the seldom - used Eastern Passage between McNab's Island and the Dartmouth Shore to avoid Union warships in case they had arrived . The channel was narrow and crooked with a shallow tide so Wood hired the local pilot Jock Flemming . The Tallahassee left the Woodside wharf at 9: 00 p.m. on the 19th . All the lights were out, but the residents on the Eastern Passage mainland could see the dark hull moving through the water, successfully evading capture . </P> <P> The most controversial incident was the St. Albans Raid . Montreal was used as the secret base for a team of Confederates attempting to launch covert and intelligence operations from Canada against the United States . To finance their cause in October 1864, they robbed three banks in St. Albans, Vermont, killed a citizen, and escaped back across the border with $170,000 . They were pursued by Union forces over the Canada--United States border, creating an international incident . The Canadians then arrested the Confederate raiders, but the judge ruled the raid was an authorized Confederate government operation and not a felony which would permit extradition via the Webster - Ashburton Treaty . </P> <P> The best recent estimates are that between 33,000 and 55,000 men from British North America (BNA) served in the Union army, and a few hundred in the Confederate army . Many of them already lived in the United States and were joined by volunteers signed up in Canada by Union recruiters . </P> <P> Canada refused to return about 15,000 American deserters and draft dodgers . </P>

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