The Itata incident was a diplomatic affair and military incident involving the United States and Chilean insurgents during the 1891 Chilean Civil War. The incident concerned an arms shipment by the Chilean ship Itata from the United States to Chile, to assist insurgent Congressionalist forces in the war. The Itata Incident was one of the causes of the Baltimore Crisis and is one of the reasons that Benjamin Harrison was not reelected to a second term as President of the United States. Background In 1891, after a series of struggles with the multinational nitrate interests, the Chilean National Congress refused to sign the national budget proposed by Chilean President José Manuel Balmaceda. Balmaceda then dissolved Congress. The Navy sided with the Congress. The Chilean Army and others sided with President Balmaceda. An armed conflict ensued. Supporters of the Congress, including members of the dissolved parliament and their backers among multinational nitrate interests, purchased weaponry from Europe and from the United States. Supported by the navy, these forces rapidly captured Chile's northern provinces, many of which had recently been conquered from Bolivia and Peru during the War of the Pacific. Washington The Chilean foreign minister (of Balmaceda) Prudencio Lazcano approached United States Secretary of State James Blaine for assistance. Blaine initially rebuffed Lazcano but later, with the support of his soon-to-be successor John W. Foster and against the advice of Third Under Secretary of State John Basset Moore, agreed to aid the Balmaceda administration. Moore resigned in protest at Blaine's decision. The U.S. arms shipment Meanwhile, Ricardo Trumbull, an agent of the Chilean Congressional insurgents, was dispatched to New York. With the advice of William Russell Grace, whose nitrate company had relocated from Peru to New York in the 1860s and who had twice served as New York City mayor, Trumbull purchased for the Congressionalists some of the latest in American arms technology, including Remington rifles. He had the weaponry rail freighted to the Port of Los Angeles where it was loaded on the schooner Robert and Minnie, which intended to transfer it at sea to the Chilean steamer Itata. San Diego Before the rendezvous with the Robert and Minnie could take place, Itata was detained on May 6, 1891 at San Diego harbor on the orders of John W. Foster. Marshal George Gard took charge of the ship, but Gard allowed her to remain under steam and in mid-stream, ready