3. Gave control of the Mississippi River in their hands (a Union general referred to the Mississippi as "the backbone of the rebellion.
On March 30, 1870, a group of foreign tourists, among them the British Lord Mancaster and his wife, the secretaries of the British and Italian embassies and their companions were kidnapped by a gang of Arvanitaki robbers. The robbers demanded a £25,000 ransom and amnesty to free their prisoners.