sep 11, 1863 - September 11, 1863, a Russian steam frigate "The Oslyabia" entered New York harbor

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It was announced that Mrs. Lincoln intended to visit the Oslyabia, and all newspapers described in great detail the friendly reception which the First Lady received on this foreign warship.
The Oslyabia was the first Russian warship to arrive. It was followed by many others until virtually the entire Russian Baltic Fleet was anchored in New York Harbor and in Flushing Bay. Admiral Lessovsky was in command of the fleet. His flagship was a brand new steam frigate, the "Alexander Nevsky". Among the officers of one of the Russian warships was Grand Duke Alexis, son of the Czar, at that time a young Lieutenant in the Russian Navy.
In order to keep secret the movement of the Russian fleet and to avoid possible interference on the part of the British warships that could easily lead to war, all Russian warships stationed in the Baltic received orders to proceed to different European, African and Asiatic ports, with sealed envelopes to be opened at sea. The sealed envelopes contained orders to sail straight to New York.
The Russian ships, emerging from the Baltic into the Atlantic, took a course well north of the Orkney Islands. The ships were heavily laden with ammunition and supplies, and could not carry much coal. Therefore, a crossing of the Atlantic was made under sail. The result was a complete secrecy of the movements of the Russian fleet. The British admiralty received the first report only when the Russians had already anchored their warships in New York Harbor.
About the same time, the Russian Asiatic Fleet, under the command of Admiral Popov, arrived in San Francisco.
The relationship between Russia and Great Britain and France was far from friendly. Lord Palmerston, a well- known British statesman, was dreaming and hoping for dismemberment of the Russian Empire — Finland was supposed to be returned to Sweden, the Baltic Provinces (Esthonia and Latvia) to be given to Prussia, Poland was supposed to become an independent Kingdom, the provinces in the estuary of the Danube were to be given to Austria, and Crimea and Georgia in the Russian Caucasus were to be given to the Ottoman Empire. Such were the intentions of the allies prior to the Crimean War, and now a Polish uprising gave them new hope for a realization of their dreams. The French armed forces already occupied Mexico, and Napoleon III proposed to Great Britain and Austria to declare war on Russia immediately.

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