Ann is right about the court case. It actually went all the way to the supreme court and the civilian owner(s) lost. This is an interesting case as the Confederates seized the vessel but allegedly paid for (sort of eminent domain?). Part of the federal governments case was that if the civilians had already been paid by the Confederates, then it was captured Confederate property and the original owners lacked recourse - in essence they were asking to be paid twice for the same commodity. Its pretty ironic, actually, they were demanding payment from both sides, regardless of their previous political affiliations.