YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES
Edited by
EUis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph. D.

^be american Crisis Bioarapbics
Edited by Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph.D. With the
counsel ^d advice of Professor John B. McMaster, of
the University of Pennsylvania.
Each i2mo, cloth, with frontispiece portrait. Price
$1.25 net; by mail, $1.37.
These biographies constitute a complete and comprehensive
history of the ^reat American sectional struggle in the form of readable
and authoritative biography. The editor has enlisted the co-operation
of many competent writers, as will be noted from the list given below.
An interesting feature of the undertaking is that the series is to be im
partial, Southern writers having been assigned to Southem subjects and
Northern writers to Northern suojects, but all will belong to the younger
generation of writers, thus assuring freedom from any suspicion of war
time prejudice. The Civil War will not be treated as a rebellion, but as
the great event in the history of our nation, which, after forty years, it
is now clearly ^recognized to have been.
Now ready :
•Abraham Lincoln. By Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer.
-Thomas H. Benton. By Joseph M. Rogers.
David G. Farragut. By John R. Spears.
.William T. Sherman. Hy Edward Robins.
- Frederick Douglass. By Booker T. Washington.
• Judah P. Benjamin. By Pierce Butler.
• Robert E. Lee. By Philip Alexander Bruce.
¦Jefferson Davis. By Prof. W. E. Dodd.
Alexander H. Stephens. By Louis Pendleton.
-John C. Calhoun. By Gaillard Hunt.
" StonewaU" Jackson. By Henry Alexander White.
.John Brown. By W. E. Burghardt Dubois.
' Charles Sumner. By Prof. George H. Haynes.
• Henry Clay. By Thomas H. Clay.
• William H. Seward. By Edward Everett Hale, Jr.
• Stephen A. Douglas. By Prof. Henry Parker Willis.
' William Lloyd Garrison. By Lindsay Swift.
• Raphael Semmes. By Colyer Meriwether.
In preparation :
Daniel Webster. By Prof. Frederic A. Ogg.
Ulysses S. Grant. By Prof. Franklin S. Edmonds.

AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES

RAPHAEL SEMMES

by
COLYER MERIWETHER
Author of
' Hiatory of Higher Education in South Carolina," etc.

PHILADELPHIA
GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY
PUBUSHERS

Copyright, 19 13, by
George W. Jacobs & Company
Published November, igij

CcG8,Z8

All rights reserved
Printed in U. S. A.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
In the preparation of this work much help came
from officials in the Navy Department in Washing
ton, and from the force in the Congressional Library.
Personally, the warmest thanks are due Professor
W. L. Fleming, State University, Baton Eouge,
Louisiana, and Dr. Stephen B. Weeks, Bureau of
Education, Washington, D. 0.

CONTENTS
Cheonologt  9
I. Eaely Life and Education . . 11
II. Eegulae Seevioe : Loss of the
"Somees"  32
III. In the Mexican Wae ... 45
IV. Impeessions and Influences of the
Mexican Wae .... 61
y. Feom the Mexican to the Civil
Wae  84
VI. Getting Off WITH THE " SuMTEE " 103
VII. A Dozen Peizes .... 123
VIII. Second Escape and End of the
"SUMTEE" . . . .148
IX. On the "Alabama" Among the
Whalees  166
X. The Sinking of the "Hatteeas" 190
XI. SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN . .211
XIL In Eastben Watees . . . .239
XIII. The End OF THE " Alabama " . 263
XIV. AFTEEMATH of THE BATTLE . . 288
XV. Latee Life and Death . . . 318
XVI. The Alabama Claims— a Sequel . 349
Bibliogeapht  358
Index  361

CHRONOLOGY
1809 — September 27th, born in Charles County, Md.
1826 — April Ist, appointed midshipman.
1832 — January 31st, ordered to examination.
1832 — June 1st, warranted passed midshipman.
1833 — Maroh 22d, appointed in charge of chronometers.
1835 — July 25th, sent to Constellation as acting master.
1837 — February Gth, promoted to Lieutenant.
1837 — May Sth, married Anne Elizabeth Spencer.
1838— July SOth, sent to Norfolk Navy Yard.
1841 — May 17th, transferred to Pensacola Navy Yard.
1843 — August 10th, commands Poinsett.
1845 — September Sth, assigned to home squadron.
1846 — December Sth, loss of Somers.
1848 — January 28th, commands Electra.
1849— October 12th, detached to await orders.
1855 — September 14th, promoted to commander.
1856 — November 26th, lighthouse inspector.
1858 — September 24th, secretary ot lighthouse board.
1861 — February llth, member of lighthouse board.
1861 — February 15th, resignation from navy accepted.
1861 — June 3d, commissions Su-mier.
1861 — June 30th, escapes to the high seas.
1861 — July 3d, makes first capture, Golden Backet.
1861 — November 23d, escapes from St. Pierre harbor.

10 CHEONOLOGT
1862 — January 18th, reaches Gibraltar on Sumter.
1862 — April llth, turns over Sumter to midshipman.
1862 — August 24th, commissions Alabama.
1862 — September 5th, Alabama's first capture.
188S — November 18th, Alabama enters her first port.
1863 — January llth, sinks the Hatteras.
1@63 — June 20th, commissions tender, Tuscaloosa.
1863 — August 5th, arrives at Cape Town.
^4863 — November 18th, arrives at Souriton.
' 1863 — December 21st, arrives at Singapore.
1864 — March 20th, again arrives at Cape Town.
1864 — June llth, arrives at Cherbourg.
1864 — June 19th, Alabama sunk by Kearsarge.
1864 — October 3d, embarks for America.
1865 — January 2d, leaves Mobile for Eichmond.
1865 — February 10th, notified of appointment as Eear Admiral.
1865 — February 18th, assumes command James Kiver Fleet.
1865 — April 2d, ordered to retreat with Lee.
1865 — May 1st, paroled in North Carolina.
1865 — December 15th, arrested in Mobile.
1866 — April 6th, released in Washington.
1866 — October 24th, appointed to Louisiana State Seminary,
1867 — June 18th, resigns trom Louisiana State Seminary.
1869 — Publishes book on Sunder and Alaba-ma.
1877— August SOth, died in Mobile.
1900 — June 27th, his monument unveiled in Mobile.
1909— September 27 th, celebration of the centennial of his birth.

RAPHAEL SEMMES

CHAPTEE I
EAELY LIFE AND EDUCATION
At an awful crisis in the history of a great land,
at a fateful turn in the path of humanity's progress,
iftaphael Semmes looms up as a portentous figure.
He was chief among those few daring spirits from^
the South that swept the United States merchant
flag from the ocean, aud he was the leader on his
side in that contest on the waters that was the cul
mination in the transition of the navies ofthe nations
from sail to steam. He was preeminent in proving
what havoc could be wrought among the ships of
peace through the supplementary aid of Watt's
invention. There had been gallant cruisers before
him, as bold and as resourceful, but none single-
handed had ever accomplished such wondrous results,
and his career has never been equaled since his time,
and perhaps can never be duplicated in this period

12 EAPHAEL SEMMES
of air craft and wireless telegraphy. He did hia
momentous work in three years, but the character
that guided the destiny of the event, and the mind
that moulded the means to an end, can be fairly
seen only through the study of his days. Through
the data provided by the capable hands of members
of his family, we learn of his ancestry and boyhood ;
through his own pen, through that of others, and
through official records, we know of his subsequent
career. Eaphael Semmes, of French- American descent,
and of Catholic family, was born in Charles County,
Maryland, on September 27, 1809, just seven months
and two weeks after the birth of Abraham Lincoln,
the most towering personality iu that same titanic
upheaval in which Semmes won his fame. The
father of Eaphael Semmes was Eichard Thompson
Semmes, according to the best authority "fifth in
descent from the first American ancestor, Benedict
Joseph Semmes, of Normandy, France, who came
over with Lord Baltimore in 1640," in the ArTc and
Dove. Eaphael 's "mother was Catherine Hooe
Middleton, a descendant of Arthur Middleton, one
of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. "
There was only one other child of this union,
Samuel Middleton Semmes, who afterward be-

EAELY LIFB AND EDUCATION 13
came a well-known lawyer in Cumberland, Mary
land, and it was in the office of this brother that
Eaphael read law and began that legal training
that was to be of such service to him in his numer
ous international verbal battles at the various ports
he visited with the Sumter and Alaba-ma. The
mother died early, and the father passed away
when Eaphael was only ten years old, leaving the
two boys almost penniless. Both were sent to an
uncle, Eaphael Semmes, in Georgetown, District of
Columbia. In his sketch of Admiral Semmes at the
celebration of the centennial of his birth, DeLeon,
the Alabama author, states that young Eaphael
worked in his uncle's wood-yard, a likely, certainly
a possible thing for him to have done. He must
have attended some of the private schools in the
city as there was no thorough public system of
schools then in operation in that locality. The usual
subjects for the youth of his day received his care,
all elementary ; chiefly reading, writing and arith
metic. But either before removal to the city or on
visits to his old home afterward, he got some of his
development in the best of all ways, in the free, open-
air life in the country. Here was room for untram
meled growth in spontaneous rivalry with his play
mates, hardening his constitution, toughening his

14 EAPHAEL SEMMES
fiber, sharpening his brain and bringing forth his
power of initiative. Long years afterward when
Eaphael was in prison in Washington after the close
of the strife, it was a tender remembrance that came
over him as he looked from his window on his native
state, Maryland, and on "the Potomac in whose
waters I used to swim and fish as a boy." But even
had the opportunities been most abounding, the
lad's schooling was too short for him to have ac
quired more than the primal rudiments as he was
"appointed a midshipman from Maryland" by
President Adams on April 1, 1826. His natural
taste for the sea was thus gratified when he was
only a few months over sixteen, and he started upon
that road which was to carry him to the pinnacle of
his greatness.
His father's brother, Benedict I. Semmes, may
have had a part in this auspicious happening for
the youth. He was a citizen of Maryland, a farmer,
and had served in the state legislature. He did not
become a member of Congress till 1829, but his
political standing may have been sufficient to be of
weight with the President in behalf of his nephew.
The grade of midshipman goes back to Colonial
days when the sons of leading men felt it an honor
to be provided with such a berth on English men-of-

EAELY LIFE AND EDUCATION 15
war. There is a tradition that George Washington
was once destined for that service with the warrant
in his pocket, but the rigid investigation of Park
Benjamin fails to reveal his name in any such ca
pacity in the official English archives. These
young ^men were the raw stuff from which officers
were to come, and the rank lasted till superseded by
the cadets in the Naval Academy in Annapolis
which was established in 1845.
It was not treated as of a very dignified grade,
the navy regulations sandwiching it in between
masters-at-arms and the ship's cooks. The duties
were prescribed as follows :
"•Midshipmen.
" 1. No particular duties are assigned to this
class of officers.
" 2. They are promptly and faithfully to execute
all the orders for the public service which they shall
receive from their commanding officer.
"3. The commanding officer will consider the
midshipmen as a class of officers meriting in a special
degree their fostering care ; they will see theirefore
that the schoolmaster performs his duties toward
them by diligently and faithfully instructing them
in those sciences appertaining to their profession,
and that he use his utmost care to render them pro
ficient therein.
"4. Midshipmen are to keep regular journals
and deliver them to the commanding officer at the
stated periods in due form.

16 EAPHAEL SEMMES
" 5. They are to consider it as the duty they owe
to their country to employ a due portion of their
time in the study of naval tactics and in acquir
ing a thorough and extensive knowledge of all the
various duties to be performed on board a ship of
war."

Among the common run of men aboard, their
whole range of activity was tersely, if ungrammat
ically, summed up as " doing what they were told
and that — quick ! "
The quarters for fashioning the future captains
and admirals were down in the steerage of the old
sailing vessels, narrow, cramped, ill smelling.
There was no way of heating the place, but in the
severest weather the shifty occupants were accus
tomed to heat an iron ball and bury it in a bucket
of sand, and then sit around this with their feet on
it. They packed their belongings in lockers and
drawers, oftentimes jamming them so fuU that the
door could only be closed by the owner stretching
himself, and bracing his feet and back against the
wall or ceiling and closing up his goods by such
sheer strength that when he opened the receptacle
some things would fly out in the manner of a Jack-
in-a-box. They slept in hammocks, and many were
the pranks they played on one another, hiding some

EAELY LIFB AND EDUCATION 17
parts or cutting the suspending cords, and letting
down the sleeping inmate with hard bumps on the
floor. Here in these dark and foul precincts, the
rats found happy homes and scampered in great
freedom. A warmer welcome was extended to the
swarms of cockroaches, as it was believed by many
that they fed upon the tribe of smaller insects that
were more pertinacious, and more shunned in polite
society. In clothing there was a community of interest,
and it was the usual thing to borrow, or rather to
take, whatever articles of dress each needed, espe
cially on occasions of dignity when it was necessary
to make a good appearance. Generally, there was
only about a third of a full outfit of all garments
for the whole group, but as a fair proportion was
always asleep or at rest, none were forced to go only
partly clad. The pea jackets, of course, were most
in demand, and usage set aside a handily placed
box, dubbed "pea jacket hole," into which each
cast this article as soon as he came below, and out
of it snatched the one on top as he went out again.
There was danger from all this easy familiarity
with other people's raiment, and the authorities of
the Navy Department tried to check the habit.
They solemnly fulminated against the practice and

18 EAPHAEL SEMMES
ordered the captains to. put a stop to it as it was
" improvident and unclean."
But perhaps the youngsters felt they had an ex
ample of indifference, even slovenliness, set by their
betters in the bad fare served them. Loathsome
food was the "hardtack infested with weevils,"
then rebaked, weevils and all inside, and placed be
fore hungry mouths. Grog was a standard part of
the rations, though it was no longer dealt out after
1842. During the previous period, there was
solicitude shown for the health of the newcomers by
the older hands, as these would generously drink
the allowance themselves to remove temptation from
their younger brethren. It scarcely sweetened their
nourishment to have their dining tables set in these
unpleasant surroundings, but here all their bodily
functions of eating, drinking, sleeping, resting had
to be indulged.
What with these limited confines, the darkness,
the cold, the bad air, the unsavory scents, the
vermin racing and crawling, the insects biting, the
exchanged clammy costumes, the mixed diet — there
is some admiration due the middy bolder than the
rest who ventured to complain that the steerage
was uncomfortable, even if he did get a crushing
answer. " Uncomfortable, sir 1 uncomfortable !

EAELY LIFB AND EDUCATION 19
Why, what blanked fool ever joined the navy for
comfort 1 " ^
, It was a rough experience, with superiors as well
as with equals. An angry captain would strike
with his fist or bowl over with anything handy.
One knocked a middy down with his speaking
trumpet, but the boy being spirited and short
sighted appealed to the commodore. He received
opprobrious language from the captain and made a
second complaint, and finally the captain was haled
before a court martial, and, of course, acquitted on
the defense that it was an accident. He further re
lieved his feelings by charging that the middy was
actuated by ' ' malignant motives. " It is not known
but it may be safely said that that middy made no
more appeals above his captain's head. His only
consolation was that in the future when he walked
the quarter-deck he could vent his spite on his sub
ordinates. So loud were the murmurs against such
tyranny that the matter of the treatment of midship
men reached the ears of Congress and an investiga
tion was had, but the officers won, as nothing was
done to soften the harshness.
Among themselves also blows were frequent, and
rough and tumble fights not rare. But as became
1 Benjamin, "U. S. Naval Academy," p. 89.

20 EAPHAEL SEMMES
gentlemen of their age and dignity, the settlement
of differences by the duel was common. In this
they were only patterning after their officers who had
the sanction of the past centuries and the indorsement
of President Jackson, who opposed this form of
combat between citizens or between officers and
citizens, but declared he "would not interfere be
tween officers whose profession was fighting and
who were trained to arms." '
With the officers there was a degree of caution
and ceremonial that the midshipmen with more of
the fire of youth and less of the advantages of
quarters could not emulate. Notwithstanding the
disparity, deaths on the field of honor were as fre
quent proportionately in one as in the other rank.
While no figures can be produced fatalities occurred
from time to time among the midshipmen. As to
the number of these contests, a competent inves
tigator has counted up eighty duels in the " Old
Navy" among officers and midshipmen, in fifty-two
of which midshipmen participated.^ Some of the
offenses were trivial, some of the duels ridiculous,
pathetic, and tragical.
One instance combines all these elements. On
' Benjamin, " U. S. Naval Academy," p. 96.
'Paullin, "Dueling in the Old Navy," p. 1157.

EAELY LIFE AND EDUCATION 21
one occasion a vessel with her quota of midshipmen,
while at anchor iu the harbor of Genoa, was visited
by royalty. Of course, the midshipmen in full uni
form were drawn up in their place in honor of the
guests. After these had passed two of the young
soldiers fell to disputing as to whether the queen in
the party was a fine-looking lady or not. One of
them ended the altercation by skilfully ducking his
head and driving the point of his cocked hat into his
opponent's eye. After they were dismissed, a small
party sat at one end of the dining-table in the steer
age drawing up a challenge. Another party sat at
the other end waiting to receive and answer it.
After these preliminaries had been duly observed,
the two sides, principals, seconds and assistants,
got into the same boat and were rowed ashore, and
jointly bought ramrods for their pistols as they had
forgot to bring them along. On taking stock of
their money, it was found that in all purses com
bined there was enough to hire only one carriage, so
all got in and set out for the open country, as they
thought. No one speaking Italian, the cabman,
not understanding English, naturally supposed they
wanted to see the sights, and he drove from church
to church, from statue to fountain, in spite of all the
frantic gesticulations and fierce words of his passen-

22 EAPHAEL SEMMES
gers. Finally despairing of ever reaching a clear
space for a punctilious encounter, they got out in
the middle of the street, stepped off the distance
and began to load. It was then seen that the bullets
were too large for the bore, and they had to be pared
down with knives that passed from one to another
indiscriminately. At last, after all these amusing
incidents, the two principals faced each other with
deadly intent and fired. One was removed with a
shattered knee, a cripple for life, tne other was un
hurt, but all amicably returned to the vessel to
gether. There was no investigation of the matter
either there or in the city.
Amid unfavorable surroundings, and the distrac
tion of quarrels, the midshipmen were expected to
get an education fitting for subsequent high official
station. For entrance, each had to meet these
qualifications: "No person will be appointed a
midshipman unless evidence be furnished that he
can read and write well ; understands the principles
of English grammar ; aud the elementary rules of
arithmetic and geography. " ^
After admission, there were three schools, so
called, that he could attend, New York, Norfo.'t,
and Boston. But he was expected to put in most
' " Navy Regulations of 1831."

EAELY LIFB AND EDUCATION 23
of his time at sea, flnishing up at one of these three
institutions toward the close of his term. On board
ship he was to stand watch, do all he was told to do,
and yet prosecute his studies so as to be ready for
the examination at the date set, with the extra
help he would get at the school for the last few
months. There was a teacher on board who did his task
when and where he could, though usually in the
forenoon. There was no regular place of meeting, —
sometimes behind "a screen on the gun deck, some
times in the semi-darkness of the berth deck, and
sometimes the captain would give the use of his
forward cabin." The attendance had to be very
irregular as those on watch could not be present.
Of the rest some had been roused at four to superin
tend the deck washing, while others had been on
watch from midnight to four, and both sets were
liable to be sleepy and sluggish. Again, most dis
tracting of all, any pupil must answer an urgent
call elsewhere, and the whole class might have to
vacate their premises for some movement or evolu
tion of the crew. Over and through all were the
constant bustle and noise inseparable from the life
on ocean-going craft. The teachers too were hardly
of high grade ; they could not be, on an annual

24 EAPHAEL SEMMES
salary of only 1900, increased after many years to
$1,200. With such unsystematized methods went confu
sion and differences of purpose. Some captains
advised their young charges to study French, Span
ish, and dancing only. Others counseled them to
eschew books entirely but to "keep their eyes
open," and get a thorough grasp of the practical
side of their calling. Some extremists, who them
selves possibly had only meager knowledge, churl
ishly objected to their understanding the chronome-
cer and other instruments of precision, feeling that
fchat was a secret reserved for the captain and higher
officers and declaring that it was " officious and un
becoming the character of gentlemen " for them to
handle such apparatus.
But there was an official list of subjects they were
to be examined in before being rated as passed mi(*
shipmen. By 1821 it was promulgated that they
were to pass proper tests in " rigging and stowing a
ship, the management of artillery at sea, arithmetic,
navigation, and the mode of making astronomical
calculations for nautical purposes." * This same
authority stressed the importance of moral habits
and upright character. Just twenty years after
' " Rules and Regulations of the Navy Department, 1821."

EAELY LIFE AND EDUCATION 25
ward, the requirements can be seen in more detail
as the examination then covered " Bowditch' s
Navigation," " Playfair' s Euclid" (Books 1, 2, 3, 4,
6), "McClure's Spherics," Spanish or French lan
guage, mental and moral philosophy, and "Bour
don's Algebra," besides the useful applications in
cluded under the broad term "seamanship." But
there was one subject that was insisted on by all
with unyielding flrmness, the keeping of a diary.
This had to pass the captain's inspection, and no
leave ashore was permitted the unlucky midshipman
who overlooked this requisite. Many were doubt
less only mere repositories of the driest routine
matters, but it was a happy device to teach spelling,
punctuation, composition and handwriting. Gen
erally, however, the theoretical branches of the
course were neglected till the last six months which
were usually spent at one of the three schools. Then
the candidates gave all their strength to "boning
up" on these, trusting to a stimulated memory to
retain enough to satisfy the examiners. Ordinarily
there was little attempt, even if there had been time
and inclination, at an understanding of the princi
ples of auy of the scientiflc topics that had to be
covered. The rules and formulas for methods of
calculations were memorized and recited. It is very

26 EAPHAEL SEMMES
likely that the average board did not want too deep
an insight on the part of the applicant, as the mem
bers might then have had to display their own
ignorance. The examinations were oral, conducted by a com
mittee consisting of a commodore as chairman and
two or three captains as members, with a teacher
often present as the specialist in mathematics and
sciences. Por a number of years they convened
once annually in Barnum's Hotel in Baltimore.
Here sitting in a room they had the candidates wait
their turn in the barroom below or in the lobby, while
they all, one at a time, came before this group that
opened or barred farther progress in the navy.
Usually a little over an hour was given to each in
dividual, more than half, or sometimes all, the
period being devoted to the practical part, seaman
ship. Woe be to the expert assistant if he went too
thoroughly into some scientific topic in his ques
tions. The others of course could not follow him,
and it would be too embarrassing for the superiors
to be at the mercy of a subordinate. He would be
cut short, and at times his farther aid dispensed
with on some plausible pretext. Some of these were
themselves superficial and opinionated. One amus-

EAELY LIFE AND EDUCATION 27
ing instance is remembered in connection with the
famous scientist, Maury. In his examination he
boldly disregarded the formula from Bowditch for
lunar distances and capably treated the case as a
problem in spherical trigonometry. The professor
blundered along after him, and flnally declared that
Maury was wrong in his exposition, but Maury
valiantly stood his ground, and at last appealed to
the fall board sitting solemnly by. These evidently
knew nothing about Maury's demonstration, but
felt it safer to rely on their authority and sided with
the professor. So Maury, "probably the most
learned navigator the navy ever had," suffered
because of their stupidity, and in spite of his great
talents passed as only number twenty-seven in a
class of forty and lost two years in promotion.'
The destiny of a youth often, no doubt, depended
on the temper or caprice of the chairman whose
fancy might be tickled by a bluff answer. There is
a comical illustration on record that might be
typical of many.
The following account of one of these original
tests is preserved :
Commodore : " Mr. Tatnall, what would be your
course supposing you were off a lea shore, the wind
' Benjamin, "U. S. Naval Academy," p. 116.

28 EAPHAEL SEMMES
blowing a gale, both anchors and your rudder gone,
all your canvas carried away, and your ship scud
ding rapidly toward the breakers? "
Tatnall: "I cannot conceive, sir, that such a
combination of disaster could possibly befall a ship
in one voyage."
Commodore : " Tut, tut, young gentleman ; we
must have your opinion, supposing such a case to
have actually occurred."
Tatnall : " Well, sir, — sails all carried away, do
you say, sir?"
Commodore : "Aye, all, every rag."
Tatnall : " Anchor gone too, sir ? "
Commodore : "Aye, not an uncommon case."
Tatnall : "No rudder, either ? ' '
Commodore: "Aye, rudder unshipped. (Ta^
naU drops Ms head despairingly in deep^ thought.)
Come, sir, come bear a hand about it. What would
you do ? "
Tatnall (at last and desperate) : " Well, I'd let the
infernal tub go to the devil, where she ought to go."
Commodore (joyously): "Eight,- sir, perfectly
right. That will do, sir. The clerk will note that
Mr. Tatnall has passed." '
While preparing the mid.shipmen by this course
'Benjamin, "U. S. Naval Academy," pp. 116, 117.

EAELY LIFE AND EDUCATION 29
of training and education, the government paid
them for their time and services. The scale of pay
varied from interval to interval, but ranged from
something like $200 annually to about $400, making
allowance for rations and variety and length of
service. It was popular, as there seems to have been
no lack of applicants. During the years of Semmes'
apprenticeship, there were 374 midshipmen in 1827 ;
392 in 1828 ; 435 in 1829 ; 435 in 1830 ; 377 in 1831 ;
and 345 in 1832.
The pregnant years of budding manhood Semmes
spent in this environment, with its narrow quarters
on board ship, amid fighting, dueling companions,
snatching whatever leisure he could from all the
calls of duty and the diversions of comradeship for
his books. All these experiences came at that age
with him corresponding to the college course of
to-day, a period decisive of the life path of so many
men. So frequently then are preferences developed,
ambitions aroused, and ways opened. It was under
this system that Semmes received his nautical prep
aration, got a mastery of naval details, laid the
foundation of that sea knowledge, in a word was
fitted, so far as instruction and discipline can shape
and mould native gifts and character, for that
meteoric work he did a third of a century later.

30 EAPHAEL SEMMES
Because of its shortcomings and defects, it was ad
mirably suited for bringing out the exceptional man
who had room for expansion. The two great Civil
War admirals, Farragut and Porter, were both mid
shipmen, while Winslow, the only man ever to bring
down Semmes' flag, was contemporary with Semmes
in this nautical academy.
Semmes' passage through this seminary of mari
time nurture can be briefly traced by the few land
marks surviving in the archives. He was flrst
assigned to the Lexington which was sent to the
Island of Trinidad in the fall of 1826 to bear home
the body of Commodore O. H. Perry, of Lake Brie
fame in 1813. Afterward the ship cruised in the
West Indies, and also crossed over to the Mediter
ranean, Semmes remaining with her for two years.
With a brief respite on land, he sailed on the Urie for
Cura§oa, in the Spanish Main, and later in the Bran
dywine he visited that region, until in September,
1831, he was ordered ashore, as he had then spent
the probationary period for midshipmen, flve years.
During that period he had had chance to learn the
channels, the reefs, the headlands and bars ofthe
West Indies, and had had a glimpse of two of the
continents of the Old World, Africa and Europe.
To strengthen him to face that inquisitorial body in

EAELY LIFE AND EDUCATION 31
Baltimore, he was ordered to the Norfolk Navy Yard
to carry on his mathematical studies. Here he had
the help of a well-known teacher. Professor Don
Eoderigo. So far as known, Semmes had not wasted
his moments during the preceding flve years, and he
likely profited eminently by his regular instruction,
now fortunately without the interruptions unavoid
able on ship. At any rate, all things possibly com
bining, his physical vigor from inheritance and from
early days in the country, his native keenness of
mind, his coaching at Norfolk, gave him the first
honors of his class, and he joined the corps of passed
midshipmen ' on April 28, 1832.
' Maffltt, South Atlantic Quarterly, Nov., 1877.

CHAPTEE II
EEGULAE SEEVICE ;
Dueing the three years after winning the grade
of passed midshipman, Semmes spent about twelve
months in charge of chronometers, perhaps thus
early developing for these instruments a taste that
he was to have so many chances to gratify some
three decades later on the Alaba-mM, when he always
seized this property of his prizes. The other two-
thirds of this period were apparently leisure moments
which he utilized in part at least for the faithful
study of law in the office of his brother, in Cumber
land, and acquired a knowledge that was to be of
inestimable value to him when he was cut off from
all libraries and expert counsel, and had to depend
on his own legal lore for the determination of intri
cate questions. It was his ambition to practice in
Washington, the capital of the country, but he re
mained in his calling and was ordered to the Con
stellation as acting master in July, 1835.
He was on her for two years cruising in the waters
between the two American continents, learning all

EEGULAE SEEVICE 33
the tortuous lanes among the thousands of islands in
that region. But he was not idle during his hours
off duty. He had taken aboard with him a collec
tion of books of law and during his absence on the
waters he was adding to his knowledge of this sub
ject. On his return he was granted leave of absence and
went to"' Cincinnati, then a small frontier town, to
visit friends. Here his acquaintance with the prin
ciples of Blackstone, Kent and other writers first
came to light in a practical way. Against Salmon
P. Chase, afterward Chief Justice of the United
States, he successfully defended some young men
who were prosecuted for the destruction ofthe print
ing press of an abolition paper.'
But this was not the only event of his stay in this
Western town. It was here that he solemnized his
marriage. It is related by his eldest son :
"On May 5, 1837, Eaphael Semmes, then a lieu
tenant in the United States Navy, married Anne
Elizabeth Spencer, the only daughter of Oliver
Marlborough Spencer and Electra Ogden. Mrs.
Semmes' grandfather, Oliver Spencer, a revolu
tionary colonel, had moved from New Jersey to
' New Orleans Times-Democrat ot Sept. 26, 1909, quoting Mrs.
Electra Semmes Colston, the eldest daughter of Admiral Semmes.

34 EAPHAEL SEMMES
Cincinnati, when the latter was nothing more than
a military post, and her father was the first mayor
of the town." ' On March 6th of that year Semmes
had been "promoted to be a lieutenant from Febru
ary 9th preceding."
From this time on to the Mexican War he fol
lowed the usual routine of naval officers. He served
on the Consort, Warren and Porpoise, did duty in
the navy yards at Norfolk and Pensacola, took part
in harbor surveys of various Southern ports, all
doubtless monotonous enough to an active brain.
But Semmes got some variety of experience at Pen
sacola by attending the courts, and practicing his
agreeable profession. It was here also that he pur
chased lands ou the Perdido Eiver, with several of
his comrades.
As the troubles with Mexico began to thicken, he
was ordered in 1844 to convey a diplomatic messen
ger to Vera Cruz on the small steamer which he
then commanded. He did so and accompanied the
envoy to the city of Mexico, thus getting a chance,
which of course his keen insight and close observa
tion fully utilized, of "becoming acquainted with
the temper and feelings of the country." Just be
fore the outbreak of hostilities between the two na-
'"So. Hist. Soc. Papers," Vol. 38, 1910, p. 29.

EEGULAE SEEVICE 35
tions, he was despatched on a cruise of flve or six
weeks to St. Domingo, and it was here he learned
from some American newspapers of the flrst clash
of arms, and of the American victories. Continuing
on to Pensacola, the naval base for the operations
against Mexico, he remained there only long enough
to get water and provisions, some eight or ten days,
and then rejoined the fleet at Vera Cruz, some time
in July, 1846. Shortly after he was assigned to the
command of the brig Somers, of ten guns, her cap
tain haviug been invalided home.
The boat had unpleasant historical associations.
It was on board of her, four years before, that three
of her crew, one a son of the then secretary of the
United States treasury, had been hanged for con
spiring to mutiny. But Semmes was not troubled
with any superstitions and soon won the high com
mendation ofthe officer in command ofthe blockade.
One of the most intrepid of Semmes' brother cruisers
during the Civil War, J. W. Maffitt, relates the fol
lowing incident in regard to the handling of the
Somers :
" She was placed on blockade service, with orders
to permit nothing to enter the port of Vera Cruz.
It was the old commodore's delight to visit the deck
at all hours of the night and in all weathers— ir'efht

36 EAPHAEL SEMMES
glass in hand — to scan the horizon to seaward of the
castle of San Juan d' Ulloa. ' What a perfect owl
by night, and hawJc by day, is the commander of
your little brig, ' he would constantly remark. ' He
is never out of place, always the faithful sentinel,
true to his beat, in storm or in calm. They call
him a sea lawyer. Humph ! If he does indulge in
Blackstone, I'll be damned if he has neglected his
Dorsey Lever, for that brig is always handled with
seamanlike ability.' " '
Semmes' audacity and determination were put to
a severe test of which the same narrator has given
us a lively account. A Mexican boat, Creole,
slipped at frightful hazard through the encompass
ing line and moored under the guns of the castle.
There had been no slackness on the part of Semmes,
but he felt chagrined, even angry, that he had beeu
outwitted. "Flaunt your flags and blow your
brains out on those infernal bugles. That cargo
belongs to the flames and not to your army. Well
do I comprehend what are the contents of your
steamer when such extraordinary risks are run in
getting her into port." He consulted with his
aides, an^ in the dark ran in as close to the shore
as safety allowed. A boat with less than ten men
^ South Atlantic, Nov., 1877, p. 5.

EEGULAE SEEVICE 37
on her was "pulled with muffled oars slowly toward
the castle ; the instructions were not to make any
attempt upon the steamer until half-past eleven
o'clock. A gentle land breeze barely swelled the
topsails of the Somers as she rose and fell with the
undulating billows of the Gulf. . . . Six bells
were struck (11 p. m.). Thirty minutes more of
anxious anticipation were to be endured. Every
minute seemed to elongate into twenty. The half
hour expired. At the castle there was darkness
and nothing more. . . . Suddenly loud cheers
broke unrestrainedly from the officers and crew as
flashes succeeded by bright flames illumined the
frowning castle of San Juan d' Ulloa, the cathedral
domes and spires, and the embattled wall of Vera
Cruz. . . . Fiercely burned the fated steamer
amid the discharge of heavy ordnance, discordant
bugle blasts and confusion worse confounded among
the Mexican soldiery. Brighter and more fierce
grew the confiagration as the shells and Congreve
rockets burst in the air, increasing the grandeur of
this warlike, pyrotechnic display. Suddenly a
dense volume of lurid smoke, mingled with burning
timbers, masts and spars, was borne upward, ac
companied by an explosion that thundered hoarsely
over land and sea, echoing back from the distant

38 EAPHAEL SEMMES
mountains ; when, in Egyptian darkness, the cur
tain fell upon this terrible nautical drama. The
Creole was destroyed." '
To this same incident Semmes himself devotes
only a few very modest lines. Some eight of his
crew, he says, "performed the clever exploit of
burning the Mexican merchant brig Creole under
the walls of San Juan d' Ulloa. They pulled iu
under cover of night and boarding the vessel with
out opposition flred her in several places and de
parted unmolested, although within pistol range of
the castle. Some little noise haviug beeu made ou
board the brig when they were in the act of boarding,
they were hailed by one of the sentinels ; but Lieu
tenant Parker, speaking the language like a native,
gave some satisfactory reply and they were not
further noticed." '^
It comes as an anti-climax to learn that this
gallant deed was all a mistake, as she had been
allowed to run into the blockade. The commander
of the fleet was using her as a spy ship, and if he
had known such au attack was contemplated he
would have forbidden it."

' Maffitt in South Aflantic, Nov., 1877, pp. 6, 7.
' "Service Afloat and Ashore," p. 91.
"Spears, " History of Our Navy," Vol. HI, p. 417.

EEGULAE SEEVICE 39
But the Somers was soon to end her course. In
less than three weeks she was caught in a norther,
and sank in a few minutes, the flrst of the two boats
that were to go down under Semmes in his entire
life. Of this disaster his pen gives this graphic
account to his superior :
"It becomes my painful duty to inform you of
the loss of the U. S. Brig Somers, late uuder my
command, and of the drowning of more than half
her crew. The details of the sad catastrophe are,
briefly, as follows : After having been forty-five
days maintaining the blockade of Vera Cruz, I
anchored, on the evening of the second inst., under
Verde ^sland, where it had been my practice to take
shelter from the northwest gales, that blow with
such frequency and violence along this coast, at this
season of the year. Soon after sunrise, a sail having
been descried from the masthead, I immediately
got under way, and commenced beating up, between
the Verde Islands and Paxaros reefs. In a short
time I was enabled with my glass to make out the
strange sail to be a man-of-war; whereupon I
hoisted my number and had the satisfaction in
fifteen or twenty minutes more to see the stranger
show that of the John Adams.
"The wind, which had been blowing from the
W. N. W. when we got under way, gradually
hauled to the northward and settled for a while at
N. N. E. The barometer having fallen the night
previous to 29.80 in., and being still down and the
weather looking still unsettled, I was apprehensive
of a gale. As soon therefore as the John Adams
showed her number, I wore and ran down toward

40 EAPHAEL SEMMES
Verde Islands, with the view of coming to and
getting my vessel snug before the gale should come
on. When I had nearly approached the anchorage,
the lookout at the masthead cried ' Sail ho ' a second
time. On applying my glass in the direction in
dicated from aloft, I perceived this second sail to
be a brig, in the N. E., standing apparently for
Vera Cruz (she did afterward run between the inner
Anegada and the Blanquilla).
"I immediately abandoned my intention of an
choring, as the gale had not yet set in, and hauling
on a wind nnder topsail and courses, commenced
beating up the passage a second time, with the view
of placing her between the strange ship and the port,
to prevent the possibility of her running the block
ade if she should be so inclined. I made one tack
toward the Paxaros reef and at the time of the
catastrophe was standing on the larboard tack, with
the northern point of Verde Island reef a couple of
points on my lee-bow. We were still under topsails,
courses, jib, and spanker ; and the brig did not
appear to be too much pressed. I was myself
standing on the lee- arm chest, having just passed
over from the weather quarter, and with my spy
glass in hand was observing the reef on our lee-bow,
to see whether it were possible to weather it or in
the event of our not being able to do this, to give
timely notice to the officer of the deck to tack
ship. I had not been long in this position before
the officer of the deck. Lieutenant James L. Parker,
the second lieutenant of the brig, remarked to me
that he thought it looked a little squally to the wind
ward. I immediately passed over to the weather
side and as it looked a little darker than it had
done, I ordered him to haul up the mainsail and
brail up the spanker, and directed the helm to be

EEGULAE SEEVICE 41
put up. These orders were promptly obeyed. Lieu
tenant Parker took the mainsail off and had got
the spanker about half brailed up when the squall
struck us. It did not appear to be very violent nor
was its approach accompanied by any foaming of
the water or other indications which usually mark
the approach of heavy squalls.
" But the brig being flying light, having scarcely
any water or provisions, and bnt six tons of ballast
on board, she was thrown over almost instantly so
far as to refuse to obey her helm — the pressure of
the water on the lee-bow rather inclining her to luff,
seeing which I directed the helm to be put down,
hoping that I might luff aud shake the wind out of
her sails until the force of the squall should be spent.
The quartermaster at the helm had hardly time to
obey this order before the brig was on her beam
ends and the water pouring into every hatch and
scuttle. Being now convinced that she must speed
ily go down unless relieved, I ordered the masts to
be cut away. The officers and men, who with a few
exceptions had by this time gained the weather
bulwarks of the vessel, immediately began to cut
away the rigging. Bnt as this was a forloru hope,
the brig fllling very fast and her masts and yards
lying flat upon the surface of the sea, I placed no
reliance whatever upon their efforts. A few mo
ments more and I was convinced in spite of all our
exertions the brig must inevitably go down. I
accordingly turned my attention to the saving of as
many lives as possible.
" The boats secured in the gripes, amidships, and
the starboard quarter boat were already several feet
under water so that it was impossible to reach them ;
but we succeeded in disengaging the larboard quarter
boat from her davits (a small boat pulling flve oars)

42 EAPHAEL SEMMES
and dropped her fortunately to leeward of the brig
to prevent her being thrown upon the vessel's side
and crushed by the sea. I ordered Midshipman P.
G. Clark to take charge of this boat, and with the
purser, surgeon and seventeen men, make for Verde
Island if possible ; and, after having landed all but
the boat's crew, to return and save others. It was
now blowing a strong gale, with a heavy sea run
ning, and I deemed it imprudent to trust more men
in so small a boat. Beside, I was anxious to shove
her off before the vessel should sink lest there might
be a rush for her and no life at all be saved. I can
not refrain from expressing in this place my admira
tion of the noble conduct of several of the men
embarked in the boat, who implored the officers by
name to take their places ; saying that they would
willingly die by the wreck if the officers would but
save themselves. Of course none of these generous
fellows were permitted to come out and they were
all subsequently safely landed as they deserved to
be. Midshipman Clark fortunately succeeded in
shoving off and pulling some twenty paces from the
brig before she went down.
" When she was on the point of sinking
beneath us and engulflng us in the waves, I gave
the order ' Every man save himself who can,' where
upon there was a simultaneous plunge into the sea
of about sixty officers aud men, each striving to se
cure some frail object that had drifted from the wreck
for the purpose of sustaining himself in the awful
struggle with tbe sea, which awaited him. Some
reached a grating, some an oar, some a boat's mast,
some a hen-coop ; but many poor fellows sprang into
the sea to perish in a few minutes, not being able to
find any object of support. Lieutenant Parker and
myself, being both swimmers, were fortunate enough

EEGULAE SEEVICE 43
to reach one of the arm chests' gratings which
afforded us partial support, but on which we should
inevitably have been drowned, if we had not when
we had swum some twenty or thirty paces secured
an upper half port which came drifting by us. We
lashed this with the lanyards attached to it to our
grating, and thenceforth got along much better.
"Midshipman Clark after he had landed the
officers and men under his charge at Verde Island
shoved off a second time, in obedience to the order
I had given him, at the imminent peril of his life —
for the gale was now blowing with much violence,
and the sea running so heavily that it seemed im
possible that so small a boat could live — and skirted
Verde Island reef to see if it were possible to rescue
any of us from the waves. His efforts were rewarded
with partial success, as he picked up Lieutenant
Parker and myself and one of the seamen. As soon
as I had landed I sent Midshipman Clark ont again,
who ventured as far from the island as he thought
the boat would live ; but this time he returned un
successful, having been unable to descry any floating
object whatever. Lieutenant Claiborne saved him
self on a small hatch abont two feet square, used for
covering the pump well, and which he found float
ing near the wreck. He was thrown with great
violence against a reef near Sacriflcios, but fortu
nately escaped without serious injury. As strange
as it may appear to you, there cannot have elapsed
more than ten minutes between our being struck by
the squall and the total disappearance of the
Somers. " I feel that I should not be doing justice to the
officers and men who were under my command, if I
were to close this report without bearing testimony
to their uniform coolness and self-possession under

44 EAPHAEL SEMMES
the trying circumstances in which we were placed ;
the alacrity with which they obeyed my orders, and
when all was over, the generosity with which they
behaved toward each other in the water where the
struggle was one of life and death.
" I have thus concluded what I have to say in
relation to the cause of the disaster and our own ex
ertions ; but with heartfelt acknowledgments it re
mains for me to inform you of the gallant and feeling
manner in which all the foreign men-of-war lying at
Sacriflcios came to our rescue. They hoisted out and
manned boats immediately and at the hazard of their
lives put out toward the wreck. They were at flrst
driven back by the violence of the wind and sea, but
renewed their efforts upon the first lull, and had the
unhoped for satisfaction of saving fourteen more of
our unfortunate companions."
Semmes gave the names of foreign boats and
captains that rendered aid, asked for a Court of
Inquiry, and appended lists of the saved and lost of
his own crew. The formal investigation was made,
but he was fully exonerated from all blame.

CHAPTEE III
IN THE MEXICAN WAE
Shoetly after his vindication in reference to the
loss of the Somers, Semmes again became flag-lieu
tenant to the commodore, Conner, at the head of
the fleet. Scott, having planned to enter the coun
try through Vera Cruz, made a descent upon that
city with some twelve thousand troops, who were
landed in Maroh, 1847, near the city with the aid
of the vessels of war. The enemy refusing to sur
render, it was necessary to bombard his fortiflca
tions and make a breach in them for a storming
party. Scott's guns proving too light for this heavy
duty, he appealed to the navy, then under the com
mand of Commodore M. C. Perry, who flve or six
years afterward led the famous embassy to Japan.
When the request for his artillery was made, " the
commodore's courteous and gallant reply, couched
iu Lacedsemonian brevity, was ' Certainly, general,
but I must fight them.' "
Semmes of course had an important part in trans
ferring those heavy pieces to land, mounting them
and flring them. After getting his battery in readi-

46 EAPHAEL SEMMES
ness, the night before his deadly work was to start,
Semmes' spirit was so moved by the historical as
sociations and by reflections ou the circumstances,
that he could not sleep and he has given us a touch
ing, impressive picture of the occasion: "About
midnight I wandered to a small eminence in the
neighborhood of our battery to look forth upon the
scene. It was perfectly calm. The fleet at Sac
riflcios was just visible through the gloom and was
sleeping quietly at its anchors without other sign of
life than a solitary light burning at the gaff- end of
the commodore. The castle of Sau Juan d' Ulloa,
magnified out of all proportion by the uncertain
starlight and looking ten times more somber and
deflant than ever, appeared to enjoy equal repose.
Even the sea seemed to have gone to sleep after the
turmoil of the recent norther, as the only sound that
reached the ear from that direction was a faint, very
faint, murmur, hoarse and , plaintive as the lazy
swell, with scarcely energy enough to break,
stranded itself on the beach. The cricket and the
katydid and myriads of other insects — the South is
the land of insects — chirruped in a sort of inhar
monious melody reminding one of his far-off home
and of flreside scenes. But if nature was thus in
clined to repose, man was not, for death still held

IN THE MEXICAN WAE 47
his carnival within the walls of the beleaguered
city. Those horrid mortars of ours were in awful
activity. The demons incarnate, all begrimed with
powder and smoke, who served them at this mid
night hour . . . gave the doomed city no
respite, not even for a single moment, as the air
was never without its tenant winging its way on its
errand of death. I sat and watched these missiles
for an hour or more, and I shall never forget the
awful scream apparently proceeding from female
voices which came ringing on the night air, as one
of those terrible engines of destruction exploded —
carrying death and dismay no doubt to some family
circle. No sight could have been more solemn and
impressive — the imagination dwelling all the while
on the awful tragedy which was being enacted —
than the flight of those missiles through the air." '
All were astir early the next morning, and work
ing their guns with coolness and precision, but soon
" the city was beaten ;- and on the same afternoon
we had the satisfaction of seeing a white flag pass
into General Scott's camp." The navy guns had
thrown nearly two thousand projectiles into the
enemy's quarters, and the army about seven or
eight hundred more.
' " Service Afloat and Ashore," p. 137.

48 EAPHAEL SEMMES
Shortly after Semmes was engaged in an expedi
tion against Tuspapan, on a river of that name
about a hundred miles northwest of Vera Cruz.
After the bombardment of the place a small detach
ment went up the river to seize any boats that might
be found. The little incident furnishes an insight
into Semmes' strict ideas of discipline. He writes :
" We bivouacked in a corn-fleld as the night set in
and so far availed ourselves of the privileges of con
quest as to pluck as many of the delicious ears of
corn just then in the milk as would feed our tired
and famished seamen, who had been pulling their
oars unremittingly for the last six or eight hours.
The owner whom we had hoped to conciliate and
make some trifling present to absconded like the
rest upon our approach. . . . We made good
use of the old woman's gourd full of eggs, and very
nice turkey eggs they were, but molested nothing
else. One of my sailors who had been seized with
a fancy for a trade took down from a peg over the
bed rather a nice looking sombrero — ^broad-rimmed
straw hat— and trying it on and flnding it to fit him
had hung up his own in its stead ; but as my eye
happened to fall on him just at the moment I made
him 'swap back,' as the boys say. He defended
himself by saying that he meant no harm, and

IN THE MEXICAN WAE 49
that a fair exchange was no robbery the world
over." Semmes now ceased further connection with the
navy during the war, as he was selected by Com
modore Perry to bear a protest from the President
of the United States to the Mexican government
against the treatment of Passed Midshipman Eogers
as a spy. Eogers while uuder Semmes on the
Somers had been captured during "a daring night
reconnaissance of the enemy's powder magazine on
the mainland near the little island of Sacriflcios."
He had wanted to go in disguise, but Semmes had
required him to wear the appropriate uniform, with
a pea-jacket thrown over it to protect himself from
the night air. In spite of this precaution he was
regarded by the Mexicans as having violated the
laws of war and was kept in close confinement.
When the news reached the United States much
sympathy was aroused, and flnally Polk took the
step of sending a special messenger to Mexico.
Semmes' imagination was so flred with the pros
pect of going with the invading force to visit the
"Halls of the Montezumas" that he could scarcely
sleep. On the invitation of the commodore he
picked out an attendant from the sailors whom he
afterward humorously referred to as "my personal

50 EAPHAEL SEMMES
staff." Perry instructed him to overtake the army
as rapidly as he could with safety, and then be
guided by Scott as to the best means of discharging
his mission. Perry also addressed a letter to Scott
informing him of the nature of Semmes' errand,
and asking his assistance toward carrying out the
wishes of the President.
Semmes was provided at Vera Cruz with horses
and traveling necessaries, and an escort of twenty
men. The first night out was the occasion for an
adventure that tested his courage and determina
tion. He was in the house of the alcalde of the
village, in a loft, "jotting down by the dismal
light of a farthing candle stuck in its own grease
on the top of an ancient chest of drawers these
veritable memoirs . . . when a villain stole
one of my revolvers which I had carelessly laid
down on a bench. With the assistance of the
alcalde, whom I had summoned from the kitchen
fire to act in his magisterial capacity, I soon got on
the track of the rogue, however, and coming upon
him just as he had fired one of the barrels in the
road to see how he liked it, I seized him to his great
astonishment— it was dark — and made him deliver
up. I am sorry to add that the scamp was one
of our Anglo-Saxon teamsters, picked up perhaps

IN THE MEXICAN WAE 51
somewhere in the purlieus of the bowery. In con
sideration of his blood and of his being one of the
heroes of Mexico, I released him from other penalty
than sharp reprimand, enjoining him to remember
for the future, however, his long and honorable
descent all the way from the Danish pirates who
were robbers of land only."
As he passed on his way his eyes were open and
his mind alert and he notes matters meteorological,
sociological, natural phenomena and military move
ments and events, but nothing occurred affecting
him personally or his own immediate actions with
regard either to the object of his journey or his
part in the conflict, until he reached Jalapa, the
headquarters of Scott. Of course Semmes lost no
time in making known his arrival and his purpose,
and at once he wrote Scott :
"I understood you to say in the conversation I
had the honor to hold with you, that although you
had no escort then at your command, with which
to forward me to the city of Mexico, in the execu
tion of my mission, I might continue with the army
in its progress ; and that when you should reach
some convenient point, near the city, you would
either put me in jDersonal communication with the
government, or send forward my despatches. I
have this morning been waited on by Lieutenant
Williams, your aide-de-camp, who informs me on
your behalf that you have changed your resolution

52 BAPHAEL SEMMES
on this point, and that you will not permit me to
hold any intercourse with the Mexican government.
"Commodore Perry has been charged by the
President of the United States to make a communi
cation with the government of Mexico, with the
nature of which you have been made acquainted.
He has selected me as his agent to carry out the
views of the President, and has directed me to ap
ply to you for the means of executing his orders.
With regard to the question as to who is the proper
channel through which this communication is to be
made, I can of course have nothing to say — that
must be settled by higher authority ; but the Presi
dent has thought proper to judge of this for himself,
and I am here by authority of one of the Depart
ments (mediately) as his humble agent. I have
specific orders from my commander-in-chief to place
personally (with your assistance) my despatch in
the hands of the minister of foreign relations ; or if
the Mexican govei-nment will not permit me to pro
ceed to the capital in person, to forward it by some
safe conveyance and await an answer.
" My object in addressing you this note is to en
quire whether I understand you as deciding that
you will not (at your convenience) afford me the
facilities requested of you by Commodore Perry ;
and that you will not permit me to hold any inter
course, personal or otherwise, with the Mexican
government. " If this be your decision, as a military man, you
must see the propriety of giving it to me in writing
in order that I may exhibit it to my commander-in-
chief as a sufficient reason for failing to execute his
orders. As soon as I receive this I shall hold my
self in readiness to return to the squadron by the
first conveyance.

IN THE MEXICAN WAE 53
"I enclose for your inspection my order in the
premises from Commodore Perry, together with a
copy of the despatch of that officer to the Mexican
government ; from which you will be able to see
that my mission cannot have in the remotest degree
any bearing upon your military operations. I will
be obliged to you, if you will return me these papers
after perusal."

To this epistle Scott answered in a longer one that
he had information that Eogers was held " as an
honorable prisoner of war at large on parole within
the city of Mexico," that he had had no communi
cation with the Mexican political government, " if
in fact there be any government in the country,"
that he was ready to do all he could at any time not
only for Eogers but for the other prisoners held by
the Mexicans, that perhaps it would be better for
Semmes to refer the business to the other "func
tionary " that the President had sent from Wash
ington to treat with the Mexican government, that
when nearer the capital he might "communicate
officially under cover of a flag and a heavy escort
with anybody there that may be in authority on the
subject of prisoners of war generally," and that
Semmes' communication might go forward then.
He adds : "In the meantime you can remain here,
return to Commodore Perry's squadron, or advance

54 EAPHAEL SEMMES
with the army as may seem to you best. I have no
advice to offer on the subject."
To Semmes it was inexplicable why Scott had
made no effort to get an exchange of prisoners,
some of whom had been in Mexican hands under
harsh treatment for several months. Scott had held
unofficial conversations on the subject with Mexican
representatives, but had done nothing of a formal
or positive nature, though he had had a chance
in Vera Cruz when he had captured flve thousand
men, whom, he had released on parole without ask
ing for any Americans in return. He was, besides,
putting himself in an awkward position in refusing
to allow an agent of the President to take up the
case unless through him (Scott). Altogether Scott
"manifested a most unaccountable apathy with re
gard to their exchange."
But Semmes cheerfully decided to abide with
the army and see what he could of Mexico. He
freely rode about as he pleased, since the natives
had learned such a severe lesson that they did not
molest parties even so small as only two or three.
About two months later, July llth, Scott took
some steps to aid the unfortunates in the keeping of
the Mexicans. He proposed an exchange of a small
number of officers including Eogers, and Semmes

m THE MEXICAN WAE 55
went on with the detachment uuder a flag of truce.
After a toilsome ride they came in sight of Mexican
pickets who scampered away at a lively gait, even
though under command of two generals, one of whom
had been president of Mexico and afterward "Pres
ident of a cockpit, " when his civic term had ex
pired. Finally a fleet American messenger overtook
them and was informed that one of the Generals, the
one that had not been President, would meet the
American representatives the next morning "to
arrange preliminaries" for an interview, — and all
this ceremony when the Americans had counted on
flnishing the whole business in flve minutes.
The next morning at the appointed time and place
the envoys met this Mexican general himself, "a
good-looking man, rather stout, . . . quite dig
nified and gentlemanlike in his manners . . .
mounted on a small pony . . . not well dressed
. . . a somewhat villainous expression of coun
tenance. . . . After a mutual salute we ex
plained to him briefly our business, and our orders,
if permitted, to enter the city of Mexico and present
our despatches in person to the president. But he
politely told us ... no officer from our camp
could be permitted to enter the city." But he
would forward their despatches thither safely.

56 EAPHAEL SEMMES
Much as they wanted to get a view of the famed
spot — seven or eight miles farther would have given
that boon — Semmes and his brethren were obliged
to forego that pleasure for the present. Handing
over to the Mexican their despatches, they took
leave of him in the following formal manner as
Semmes relates: "It is hard to outdo a Mexican
in politeness, but Captain Kearney and I were de
termined to have the last bow, and so we bowed his
generalship half-way back to his lancers, and then,
turning our horses' heads, with another bow, we
commenced our descent to where we had halted our
troops." A dozen years later, in Washington, we
shall see Semmes again grimly outdoing a rival in
ceremoniousness, in the parlor of a noted social
leader. The next morning he was back in Puebla, after
an absence of a little over two days, but while it
was au agreeable excursion for Semmes it was boot
less for poor Eogers, as Santa Anna never deigned
"to give any reply to General Scott's communica
tion until we had given him another licking." But
even then when he did so condescend, there was no
Eogers in his keeping to make mention of, as that
active officer had escaped and made his way to
Scott's headquarters, reaching there early in

IN THE MEXICAN WAE 57
August, a little over a fortnight after Semmes had
made his ride out to the Mexican pickets.
Semmes was now at liberty to retire from the
hardships and dangers of the advance, but the pro
fession of arms was too dear to his heart for him to
turn his back on such a chance. " I had no thought,
however," he says, "ofturningto the squadron, now
that we were on the eve of commencing our glorious
campaign. ... I had an excellent excuse too
for remaining with the army, as our communications
with Vera Cruz had been for some time cut off, ex
cept as they were occasionally reopened by the up
ward passage to us of reinforcements."
Shortly after, he was appointed an aid to General
W. J. Worth, and was on his staff to the end of the
war. In this capacity naturally he had but little
or no independence of movement or individuality
of decision on matters affecting events of any
moment. But he lost no chance to keep up with
the stratagems of the armies, and to record the
details. He was an able advocate of Worth in the
petty squabble that broke out between him and
Scott, but that was all mainly aside from Semmes'
own path, and it is unnecessary to deal with it any
further here.
He also studied the land, — the mountains, hills,

58 EAPHAEL SEMMES
passes, roads, — all with the purpose of the soldier
as influencing marches, countermarches, feints, and
diversions. He is especially explicit in describing
the military points of the valley of Mexico, and
comparing the American expedition and its difficul
ties with that other foreign inroad over three cen
turies earlier led by Cortez. He quotes at length
from the personal letters of that wonderful and
brutal Spanish explorer and notes errors due to
enthusiasm. He also identifles features in that
narrative and calculates what changes in marked
instances had been wrought by wind and water, and
the other forces of nature. Armed with this engi
neering knowledge, he freely criticizes the tactics of
the commanding officers, not in the captious tone of
ignorance but with fairness and flrmness. Both
Mexican and American mistakes are handled with
this impartiality.
He could also characterize the men themselves, as
he was a close student of his fellow beings. He
catalogues Scott's qualities, his " clear head,"
"remarkable memory," "excellent heart," "his
large and comprehensive views of things," "supe
rior military talents," " with some petulance and
irascibility of temperament ' ' and ' ' a little egotism. "
Worth had "quickness of apprehension," "power

IN THB MEXICAN WAE 59
of combination," "ready resource," "vivacity of
conversation," and was a man of "acquirements
and of general reading. " Twiggs " has a frank and
open countenance that at once bespeaks his character
as a blunt and fearless soldier. ' ' Quitman, a lawyer,
"had the rare tact to conciliate the regular officers
over whose head he was appointed," and was "a
zealous amateur soldier," in love with his new pro
fession. But the future is the crucible for opinions. In
one instance at least Semmes' judgment was over
whelmingly endorsed by the infallible verdict of
experience. He gave his estimate of one of the
engineers. Captain Lee, whose services he declared
"were invaluable to his chief. Endowed with a
mind which has no superior in his corps and possess
ing great energy of character, he examined, coun
seled, and advised, with a judgment, tact, and discre
tion worthy of all praise. His talent for topography
was peculiar, and he seemed to receive impressions
intuitively which it cost other men much labor to
acquire." He was passing judgment upon Eobert
E. Lee eleven years before Lee took command of the
army before Eichmond.
Semmes' own worth was weighed by his superior.
General Worth, and of course, with a person of his

60 EAPHAEL SEMMES
keenness of observation, his ability to read his
comrades, his bearing and his skill of expression,
the balance had to be favorable. General Worth in
at least three despatches in the latter half of 1847
renders strong testimony as to Semmes' "intelli
gence and bravery," "habitual gallantry, intelli
gence and devotion," and once in a more formal
manner as follows :
"To Lieutenant Semmes of the Navy, volunteer
aide-de-camp, the most cordial thanks of the general
of the division are tendered for his uniform gaUantry
and assistance ; and the general-in-chief is respect
fully requested to present the conduct of this accom
plished and gallant officer to the special notice of
the chief of this distinguished branch of the public
service — our glorious Navy."

CHAPTEE IV
IMPEESSIONS AND INFLUENCES OF THE MEXICAN
WAE
Aside from Semmes' direct share in this struggle
between the Saxon and Latin, it was an experience
whose formative influences had their part in his
great work some fifteen years later and also in the
thrilling story that he wrote in later life. In the
incursion southward against a sister republic his
mind was trained and his pen sharpened for the
coming climax of his career.
The work and the moods of nature constantly
claimed his thoughts. The uprearing masses, the
shapes of summits, the slopes, the valleys, all ap
pealed to his inner being. From his deck afar out
he never tired of contemplating the giant Orizaba,
"rising with the regularity of a faultless cone,"
though seamed and scarred by avalanche and erosion.
Subsequently, on the expedition to the capital, one
ofthe many scenes of bewildering grandeur presented
to him reminds him "very much ofthe mountainous
parts of Pennsylvania except that it was much more
broken."

62 EAPHAEL SEMMES
Naturally a seaman would be more alert to the
whims of the weather than to the forms of the solid
crust of the earth. His penetrating mind sought to
pierce the mystery of the northers that rage so dev-
astatingly on the east coast of Mexico during the
winter, or dry, season, from October to April. He
believed them caused by the rush of cool air, made
to rise by the rays of the sun heating the vast plain
lying east of the Eocky Mountain range. Scientists
nowadays connect these gales with an area of low
pressure in the Mississippi basin, though Semmes'
theory may be related to that.
Again, to account for the heavy rainfall in Jalapa,
he reasoned that the "sea breeze, or southeasterly
winds of the Gulf, sweeping over the arid plains of
the tierra Caliente, become highly rarefied, or charged
with moisture ; aud coming here first in contact with
the mountains, they find their dew-point at about
this elevation. Their condensation and dispersion
in rain is of course the consequence."
The result of natural environment on men did not
escape his investigating spirit. A good instance is
his discussion of yellow fever in Vera Cruz. He
gives an acute analysis of several pages and comes
so near to the solution of the problem that it is
almost incredible that he missed it. He rejected

IMPEESSIONS OF THE MEXICAN WAE 63
the hypothesis that the disease is due to heat
alone, or to any special winds, or to rain alone,
but to a combination of aU these in conjunc
tion with certain conditions in the locality. He
discovered around the city many " stagnant pools
and fens with a vegetation of aquatic shrubs and
plants. These decaying from year to year have de
posited along the margins of the pools a rich mould
of vegetable matter whence have sprung up thickets
and jungles. It is easy to perceive what a powerful
effect the rays of a vertical sun acting in these
secluded and stagnant valleys upon the decaying
leaves and plants and other detritus of the jungles,
the larv£e of insects, etc., must produce in evolving
malaria." The land breezes over these spots waft
the poison to the city which, being surrounded by a
high wall, is hot and unsanitary. When he named
insects, he included the mosquito which in this
century has been proved to be the bearer of this
scourge to mau. He saw the remedy without
realizing the source of the trouble, as he says after
the Americans cleaned and drained the city there
was much less fever.
He had the artist's eye for the pleasing or pic
turesque in the landscape, and many pen cameos
are scattered through his pages, but only a few can

64 EAPHAEL SEMMES
appear here. Ou leaving Puebla he writes this im
pression of the scene :
" The morning was bright ; and as we passed out
into the open plain all nature seemed arrayed in
the sweetest smiles of summer — the rains had now
fertilized the earth — presenting to our enchanted
view green waving flelds and richly carpeted
meadows, over which were wafted on the morning
air the dewy fragrance of the young grass and the
perfume of shrub and flower."
Later on, as the invading band climbs to the top
of the ridge, he catches his first glimpse of " the
great valley of Mexico. . . . We seemed to be
looking upon an immense inland sea surrounded by
ranges of stupendous mountains, crested by snow
and the clouds. We halted the column for rest and
refreshment, and to give all an opportunity of look
ing upon the promised land. The fog lifted some
what as we commenced our descent, but still the
coup d} ceil of the valley disappointed us ; not in its
grandeur and extent, but from the description of
travelers we had been led to suppose that we should
be able to take in all the details of the panorama at
our first view, which is not the case."
It was not only nature that he contemplated ; the
status of the human family also engaged his atten-

IMPEESSIONS OF THE MEXICAN WAE 65
tion, physical as weU as sociological. Especially
was he susceptible to female loveliness and he
always indicated whether the women were
handsome or homely. Of the Jalapa women he

" Jalapa is celebrated for its pretty women ; but
it cannot compare in this respect with any town of
the same size in our own country. . . . They
waut the fairness aud freshness of our women. To
be sure their soft black eyes . . . and their
hair . . . are beautiful featui-es, but nothing
cau compensate in female beauty for the absence of
the lily and the rose." He granted though that
they were "sprightly in conversation, and easy,
and eminently graceful in manner," and these
charms can largely make up for deficiency in looks
since "a witty and graceful woman may be plain
at first sight, but she cannot long remain plain. "
He remarked also that "while the women were in
general sufficiently robust in figure and well devel
oped, the men were puny and delicate looking.
Eobust mothers should produce robust children,
but the rule does not seem to hold good in Jalapa."
He evidently wrote " children " for "sons."
"No women," he continued, "are more kind-
hearted or more full of the amiable sensibilities of

66 EAPHAEL SEMMES
the sex than the Mexicans. Perfectly feminine in
character, they are indeed the vine to cling round
the oak which nature designed the sex to be. They
would be shocked at the idea of holding public
meetings or discussing in open forum the equal
rights of women, as unsexed females sometimes do
in other countries." '
He noticed that it was customary for them to ride
astride, which was odd to him, though he accepted
it as more sensible than to "jeopard the lives of our
women whenever we put them on horseback merely
for the sake of making them ride differently from
the men." While he could assent to this prac
tice, and could even tolerate cigarette smoking,
he drew the line at the young lady in a dance
asking her partner for the spit-box ; that for him
destroyed all "the poetry that hangs around the
sex." For the women of the lower class he had only
pity, as they like the men were a little better off
than the beasts they drove. " In the bearing of
burdens and other offices of drudgery there was no
difference apparent between the women and the
men ... a certain evidence that they had not
been in the least degree refined by civilization.
• "Service Afloat and Ashore," p. 269.

IMPEESSIONS OF THE MEXICAN WAE 67
. . . Among civilized people, there is a marked
distinction between the kinds of labor undertaken
by the sexes respectively."
Industrially matters were backward. Mining
was mainly carried on by foreigners, aud very in
effectively by them. In farming, he saw " the man
of two thousand years ago turning up the soil with
a yoke of oxen, and with the identical plow de
scribed by Virgil." Transportation was scarcely
more advanced. Effort had been made to foster
manufacturing of cloth through a high tariff, but
the agriculturist clamored for a bulwark to shield
him from the outsider also ; hence prices for both
raw and flnished products were exorbitant. A
proper tariff might be a beneflt to the people be
cause, " from the nature and configuration of the
country," the shipment of bulky materials was too
laborious and costly, and factories could be estab
lished in the interior, in proximity to the raw ma
terials of the farm.
One topic steadily recurred to him — the helots,
Indians, peons, or lowest class as contrasted with
the Southern slaves. On this same stretch of the
journey, in a small village, he was struck with won
der at the "miserable huts fllled with an indigent
population;" "at the squalor and wretchedness

68 EAPHAEL SEMMES
displayed by these poor people. Princely haciendas
arose, like so many Italian villas, . . . giving
evidence of luxury and wealth, . . . while the
poor helot of an Indian, the hewer of wood and
drawer of water . . . scarcely possessed where
with to cover his nakedness."' "The great ma
jority of Indian laborers on the large haciendas are
in a much worse condition than the slaves of our
Southern states." Beyond doubt, he declares, the
women with babies " are in an inflnitely worse con
dition than the female slaves on our own Southern
plantations, who have masters to feed and take care
of their infants." Finally he noted that "two in
telligent slaves, one belonging to General Worth,
the other to a member of his staff," used frequently
to compare exultingly their own condition with that
of the toiling peons, the free slaves, by whom they
were surrounded. They preferred, they said, to be
the servants of gentlemen, rather than consort with
" poor white trash," and especially with poor " In
dian trash." How much Semmes may have been
influenced by these observations cannot be deter
mined, but in his larger book on the Sumter and
Alabama he treats slavery as a contributory cause
of secession. There is absolutely no reason to sup-
' "Service Afloat and Ashore," p. 233.

IMPEESSIONS OP THE MEXICAN WAE 69
pose that he would have fought only to preserve
that institution.
In more direct ways than general observation or
style of expression did this war affect Semmes'
views. The case of E. W. Moore led him to a blunt
denunciation of promotion by seniority alone.
Moore, of Virginia birth, first a midshipman, then
lieutenant in the United States Navy, resigned in
1836, and entered the service of the republic of
Texas, and with two small vessels routed the Mexi
can fleet of ten ships, perhaps doing as much as
Houston in achieving Texan independence. Later
he wanted to return to his former allegiance with
his Texas rank, but the navy would not allow this
as his years had been spent abroad, and it was in
sisted that those who remained should have the
higher posts by right of seniority. Semmes con
demned the view " that a man's years, and not his
brains should be the test of promotion and employ
ment." Such a system "dampens hope, stifles
talent, cripples energy . . . draws no distinc
tion between excellence and mediocrity but reduces
all to the dull and stagnant level of idleness and
consequent ignorance and worthlessness." '
Of still more practical use to him in after years
' " Service Afloat and Ashore," p. 51.

70 EAPHAEL SEMMES
was the example of his senior, Commodore Conner,
in passing upon the prizes made in war. As flag-
lieutenant Semmes had every facility to learn the
judicial aspect of the questions, and beyond doubt
he absorbed much that aided him in the cabin of
the Alabama to solve difficult problems of inter
national usage. Semmes cordially testifles to Con
ner's "thorough acquaintance with the law of
prizes and his discrimination and tact in disposing
of cases presented for his decision."
With respect to another feature of naval warfare,
this war helped Semmes in the clarification of his
ideas, namely, the principles governing privateer
ing. His attitude was clean-cut and positive. The
Mexicans wanted to adopt this mode of attack upon
American commerce. Semmes frankly admits their
right in accordance with the practice and the utter
ance of civilized nations for centuries. As a policy,
also, he contended, it was sensible, for "this sys
tem of predatory warfare more than any other
equalizes the strength of nations on the water."
But Mexico " had no materials whereon to operate,"
as she had neither military nor commercial marine.
" Under the law of nations it was necessary that at
least a majority of the officers and crew of each
cruiser should be citizens." Otherwise every such

IMPEESSIONS OF THE MEXICAN WAE 71
vessel would be a pirate. But, he asserts, even
though allowed by the powers, it is "a disreputable
mode of warfare under any circumstances." Those
engaged in it are fighting more for plunder than
patriotism, the crews are composed of the "ad
venturous and desperate of all nations," and itis
almost " impossible that any discipline can be estab
lished or maintained among them " ; in fact they
are little better than "licensed pirates "and the
system should be suppressed altogether.*
Even the strongest character is liable to shift his
point of view when his own ox is gored by his
neighbor's bull. In a decade, Semmes was warmly
advising privateering as a wise expedient for the
South in the imminent Civil War. He wrote to a
congressman from that section : " You ask me what
I mean by an irregular naval force. I mean a well-
organized system of private armed ships called
privateers. If you are warred upou at all, it wiU
be by a commercial people, whose ability to do you
harm will consist chiefly in ships and shipping. It
is at ships and shipping therefore that you must
strike ; and the most effectual way to do this is by
means of the irregular force of which I speak. Pri
vate cupidity will always furnish the means for this
' " Service Afloat and Ashore," pp. 80-82.

72 EAPHAEL SEMMES
description of warfare, and all that wiU be required
of you will be to put it under sufficient legal re
straints to prevent it from degenerating into piracy
and becoming an abuse. . . . You could have
a large irregular sea-force . . . which could be
disbanded without further care or expense at the
end of the war." ' In both these instances, it is to
be remarked that Semmes was unqualifledly right
as to international law providing for privateering,
but he was inconsistent when he changed his belief
as to the international morality of the practice.
Semmes had the promptings of the philosophical
historian and realized that for the proper valuation
of the present we must know the past. He adopted
this attitude in Mexico and unconsciously widened
his own vision.
He skilfully pointed out that the key to the right
understanding of Mexican affairs was the transfer
of the feudal system from the Old World to Mexico
by the Spanish conquerors. The leaders parceled
out the territory among themselves and their sub
ordinates, "and alongwith those lands the simple
Indians who inhabited them," while the Church at
the same time came into possession of vast tracts.
Under the system of entail these private holdings
' " Sumter and Alabama," p. 92.

IMPEESSIONS OP THE MEXICAN WAE 73
passed from father to son and built up an aristocracy
that, leaving their estates in the hands of agents,
congregated in the cities, spent " their incomes in
follies and frivolities," hung aroimd the court of
the viceroy, and aided in upholding " the despotism
under which they lived."
Their predial partners, the clergy, were not at all
alike in sentiment. There were at least three classes.
The higher one, the bishops, were as a rule "men of
exemplary character. Being large property holders,
occupying, socially, a superior position, and stand
ing at the head of a provincial hierarchy, it is quite
natural that they should be eminently conservative
in their politics ; their conservation running some
times into democracy.'" The secoud class are
mostly natives, with only limited incomes, doing all
the drudgery of the church, jealous of " the enjoy
ments and privileges " of their brethren above them,
sharing the views of the mass around them, exercis
ing much influence, and being usually "good re
publicans." The remaining division, "called the
regular clergy, consists of monks of the various re
ligious orders." They were the missionaries of
Mexico to propagate Christianity among the Indians.
Having been superseded in this fanction by the
' "Service Afloat and Ashore," p. 14.

74 EAPHAEL SEMMES
curates, they have become "a separate and distinct
organization, . . . having little or no sympathy
with the mass of the native population. . . .
Being possessed of considerable revenues they lead
a life of indolence and ease. . . . They are, in
consequence, held in but little esteem, and exert no
influence except such as flows naturally from their
property. ... As a social and political ele
ment they are of but little weight."
With all this difference of attitude toward govern
ment and society, with envy over the gradations of
rank, with disparity of wealth and income, with
diversity of ideals, all painted so vividly, Semmes'
conclusion that " much of the influence the clergy
might otherwise exert is destroyed by neutralizing
elements existing within its own body " seems un
assailable. The other inhabitants, five-sixths of the total, a
class without property, are largely a " mongrel
stock," a mixture of Indian and African blood.
They form almost another race, having but slight
affinity with the ruling class. ' ' They do not possess
the intelligence of the Southern negro, " and the great
majority of them are "servile and abject in the ex
treme, devoid of intelligence and debased in morals."
They are substantially serfs in the rural regions.

IMPEESSIONS OF THE MEXICAN WAE 75
and artisans in the cities. Thelatter, though better
paid, remain in the same state of degradation,
"imitating the depravity of the upper classes,"
having the vices of civilization without the virtues.
There are also smaller fractions, — miners, burden-
bearers, and vagabonds, none elevated mentally, all
low morally, and some vicious and dangerous.
In this unhappy land there was also a passion for
military display and fame. For years all the civil
pursuits were neglected and then despised by the
ambitious, during the turbulent years of the revolu
tionary era. After that time it was impossible to
settle down to a peaceful existence for more than a
short while. Commotion followed commotion, due to
the intrigues and disappointments of desperate and
defeated leaders. Every upheaval had been a heavy
cost to be saddled eventually on the entire structure.
Debts were piled up and taxation became a deadly
weight. Eascality and graft were rampant, since
every official had to have a share of what passed
under his control.
Semmes tersely concludes that " two distinct races
. . . possess the soil ; and that these races are
divided into many classes ; of very different degrees
of intelligence ; of various political creeds ; and of
many aud conflicting interests." The observer of

76 EAPHAEL SEMMES
the scene will note " a union of Church and State
... an unequal division of property, and an over
weening military establishment. As a consequence
. . . of these discordant elements, he has wit
nessed revolutions and civil wars ... the
wreck of the public prosperity and the utter de
moralization of the people ... a decaying
commerce and a rude state of agriculture and the
arts . . . the corruption of public men and the
general absence of sincerity and good faith among
the masses." He will have a clue to "unravel the
mystery of the astonishing defeats of the Mexican
army."* Eeflecting upon these unlucky circumstances with
reference to Mexico, and the nearness of the virile,
aggressive race of his native land, Semmes was at
this stage of his career an expansionist of the most
advanced sort, but a peaceful one if possible. He
thought that, had it not been for the internal dis
sensions in Mexico bringing on a series of untoward
political events, with little doubt, "harmony, toa
greater or less extent, would have been preserved ; and
probably, in a generation or two, the radical differ
ences of the two races would entirely have disap
peared . . . the flaxen hair and blue eyes of
' " Service Afloat and Ashore," p. 40.

IMPEESSIONS OP THE MEXICAN WAE 77
the Anglo-Saxon taking a darker shade, and more
briUiant light, from the Hispano- American. We
should thus have conquered Texas . . . and ul
timately Mexico . . . as Greece conquered Eome,
by civilization and the arts, instead ofthe sword."
Semmes relates an incident of the war that doubt
less for him strengthened the foundation of his
glittering ediflce of expansion. The peninsula of
Yucatan was held to Mexico by very loose ties, and
setting up a separate government she sent an am
bassador to Washington. No decision was reached
as to the international status of the new state, but a
squadron of vessels took possession of the main port
and held it uutil peace was declared. So humanely
were the inhabitants treated that they petitioned the
navy to direct affairs until complete tranquiUity
could be restored. Semmes himself was convinced
that if the United States had entertained the desire
to annex the whole peninsula of Yucatan, there
would scarcely have been a dissenting voice among
the inhabitants. Our institutions found worthy
representatives in our naval officers; and "they
became as popular in Yucatan after an administra
tion of eighteen months as our people are destined
in time to become over the whole American con
tinent."

78 EAPHAEL SEMMES
In keeping with this generosity of view, Semmes
did not find the cause of the war with Mexico to lie
in the " pretty theater of events on which the fleet
ing generations of politicians play hide-and-seek.
The passage of our race into Texas, New Mexico
and CaUfornia was but the flrst step in that great
movement southward which forms a part of our
destiny. An all-wise Providence has placed us in
juxtaposition with an inferior people, in order,
without doubt, that we may sweep over them, and
remove them (as a people) and their worn-out
institutions from the face of the earth. We are the
northern hordes of the Alani, spreading ourselves
over fairer and sunnier flelds, and carrying along
with us, besides the newness of life, and the energy
and courage of our prototypes, letters, arts, and
civilization." This idea of "manifest destiny " is down deep in
Semmes' soul, and later, he comes to the same
point with clear, strong language. " Time with his
scythe and hour glass had brought another and a
newer race, to sweep away the mouldered and moul
dering institutions of a worn-out people, aud replace
them with a fresher and more vigorous civilization.
The descendant of the Dane and the Saxon, with
progress inscribed on his helmet, had come to sup-

IMPEESSIONS OP THE MEXICAN WAE 79
plant the never-changing Visigoth in his halls, and
to claim that superiority for his lineage which an
all-wise Providence has so indelibly stamped upon
it." In these prophetic revelations Semmes may have
had in mind the dream of the slavocrats, of getting
room for future growth so as to maintain a balance
between the slave and the free states, but he hardly
more than mentions this institution throughout
these pages. At any rate his sure insight is matched
by that of one of America's greatest writers, the
dean of the transcendental school of Uterature,
who certainly desired no blessing for the South in
his fiash of inspiration. Emerson, in New England
in 1844, seven years before the date of Semmes'
book, penned in his diary : " The question of the
annexation of Texas is one of those which look
very differently to the centuries and to the years.
It is very certain that the strong British race, which
have now overrun so much of this continent, must
also overrun that tract, and Mexico and Oregon
also ; and it will, in the course of ages, be of small
import by what particular occasions and methods it
was done. " *
It was neither the bluster of imperialism nor the
* Cabot, "Memoirs of Emerson," Vol. II, p. 576.

80 EAPHAEL SEMMES
enthusiasm of ignorance that actuated Semmes in
these deliverances or beliefs. As became a profound
student of law, municipal, constitutional, and inter
national, Semmes had considered the possible evil
consequences of enlarging our domain, and he was
confident that the poUtical vehicle that had borne
the country in safety thus far would serenely carry
us to any limits. To him there was no danger of
such weakening and dissolution as befell the Eoman
Empire and the empires of Alexander and other
eastern leaders. These went to pieces of their own
weight through loss of cohesion with enlargement of
boundaries. But the more we spread, the firmer
our bond of union. They were based on centrality
of power, while we thrive on the federative prin
ciple. With them " extension of system beyond
certain limits is unquestionably death," but with us
" extension is life. For while the Federal executive
power, unlike the central power of which we have
been speaking, is rather strengthened than weakened
by the extension, the individual importance of the
states is diminished. Without losing any portion
of their qualified sovereignty, they become less
capable, either single or in combination with others,
to disturb the harmony of the system. In the old
confederacy of thirteen, New York, in combination

IMPEESSIONS OP THE MEXICAN WAE 81
with one or two ofthe large states, could effectually
have destroyed the smaller ones; but where the
federative system shaU extend over fifty or a
hundred states, there can be no empire states to
exercise a predominating influence over the rest." '
Semmes not only could see no peril in widening
our borders, but he said that " the salvation ofour
institutions depends, in a great degree, upon a rea
sonable extension of our limits. This is the only
thing that will rob faction of its bitterness, if it does
not entirely destroy it. Fanaticism, whether re
ligious, political or social, is always local ; it never
spreads, unless, indeed, it be spread as the great
Arabian enthusiast spread his faith, by the sword.
And the reason it does not spread is that it is error ;
and error, although it may be contagious in small
districts, like the plague, can never inundate a vast
country. " He held that because of our size, stretch
ing from ocean to ocean, a puny outburst of discon
tent in one spot was dissipated into thin vapor be
fore it could affect any considerable area. Mas
sachusetts was imposing when there were only thir
teen commonwealths, but let that number increase
to "thirty, forty, flfty, or a hundred," and her
anger or resentment is powerless. "Individual
' " Service Afloat and Ashore," p. 474.

82 EAPHAEL SEMMES
states wUl become less and less important, and local
jealousies and heart-burnings will scarcely produce
more effect upon the nation at large than does the
gossiping of a remote village upon a metropolitan
city." Shay's rebellion iu Pennsylvania and the
whiskey trouble in Massachusetts would be now no
more than "tempests iu a teapot." With greater
diversity of "climates, productions and pursuits,"
there wiU be more motives for adhesion, making
all more dependent on each other and binding the
whole " in one great free-trades' union." With the
contemplation of the beneficent fruits of augmenta
tion on the federative plan, Semmes is not only a
pronounced nationalist, but he becomes a world
commercialist and forecasts for us supremacy in the
trade of the earth. " Our Pacific front opens to us,
and will enable us to monopolize, almost all the
commerce of the East Indies, north and south.
This will make us the carriers aud factors ofthe
world. Twenty years hence, and it will no longer
be Britannia but America rules the waves." *
The same idea had filled Semmes' mind when
he crossed the divide between the two oceans on his
mission to propose the exchange of Passed Midship
man Eogers. He first saw the water flowing toward
' " Service Afloat and Ashore," p. 55.

IMPEESSIONS OF THE MEXICAN WAE 83
the Pacific and "many were the reflections to which
it gave rise. Our small navy on that side ofthe
continent under the lead of the gallant Commodore
Stockton, aided by Colonel Fremont, had already
added the Oaltfornias to our vast domain, and our
flag would no doubt soon encircle the globe as that
of the greatest commercial nation on earth, that
same flag which had been derided scarce forty years
before — in the War of 1812^— by our proud ancestor
over the water as a '"bit of striped bunting.'"
His optimism and patriotism made the future
seem bright to him. Such single-minded devotion
to the Union blinded the eyes of the prophet and
caused his predictions to be so wide of the mark
that they would be amusing to us, if they did not
call up lamentable emotions. Writing only ten
years before the clash of arms, he detected no signs
of the coming storm. Eeasoning soundly that no
one state could seriously jeopardize the other states,
it did not occur to him that a group of them, with
the same incentive, could imperil the entire fabric.
Fondly anticipating that the American flag would
wave over the "salt blue seas," it is a tragedy of
the imagination that in fifteen years his daring
genius was to be in the van, driving that emblem
from the face of the waters.

CHAPTEE V
FEOM THB MEXICAN TO THE CIVIL WAE
Without a glimmer of his coming destiny,
Semmes serenely bore aloft that insignia that he
was so soon fated to strike down. During the in
terval he served as inspector, commanded the Electra
for some flve months, and also the Flirt for a less
time, both in Southern waters.
It was on the latter that we see something of that
determination to maintain discipline which made
him complete master of the Alabama in the presence
of a heterogeneous mass of reckless, desperate men,
hailing from all quarters of the globe. His log has
many entries like these: "Punished George Mc
Gowan with one dozen of the cats for disorderly
conduct on shore and James Sergeant with the same
for drunkenness." "Punished John Travers with
nine lashes with the cats for refusing to obey the
surgeon's steward when ordered to assist a sick
messmate." In forty-two days he administered six
teen whippings with the cats ranging from two
lashes to twelve, besides sentencing to irons and
double irons.

FEOM MEXICAN TO CIVIL WAE 85
He was of course only making use of the regular
means then universally employed for preserving
order. When he was a subordinate several years
previous on the Porpoise, he had made this record :
"At 9 : 10 called all hands to witness punishment,
and punished the following men, by order of Lieut-
Commdg. W. B. Hunt ; John Stone (Bo. Mate) for
drunkenness and insubordination, six lashes ; Aus
tin Daniels (quartermaster) for drunkenness and
insolence, twelve lashes ; John Smith (Captain
Cook) drunkenness, twelve lashes; Edward B.
Carmer (yeoman) for drunkenness and fighting,
twelve lashes; aud John Walker for drunkenness
and fighting, twelve lashes — all with the cats." '
This method of restraining offenders was abolished
in 1850. Semmes made his world-startling cruises
in the Sumter and Alabama without resorting to this
cruel physical device to hold his sway over the
crew. After leaving the Flirt he was on waiting orders
for about five years, which he spent in southern
Alabama, chiefly in Mobile, enlarging his acquaint
ance with the law. He was promoted to be a com
mander in 1855, and the next year was assigned to
lighthouse work in which service he continued as
'From log books of these vessels in Navy Department.

86 BAPHAEL SEMMES
inspector, as secretary, and as member of the Board
till his resignation from the navy to cast his for
tunes with the South on February 15, 1861.
To a sincere soul, it was a terrible wrench to take
this step. Considerations of selfishness and con
siderations of sentiment were all against it. If he
withdrew, he dropped his profession which was his
fortune and his future. His family was dependent
on him. If he remained where he was, he was sure
of a competency for life, and he could count on pro
motion and honors. If he went with his state, he
could not better his condition, and if the venture
failed, he lost all. If the severance of these eco
nomic bonds cost many an anguish, it was still
more painful to break the ties of association and
comradeship. Naval officers who ' ' had been rocked
together in the same storm, and had escaped perhaps
from the same shipwreck, found it very difficult to
draw their swords against each other." There was,
too, a cluster of the tenderest memories around the
flag which represented a voluntary union of sover
eign states, built on the principle that all govern
ment should rest upon the consent of the governed,
but now it was to be the emblem for coercing un
willing states "to remain under a government
which they deemed unjustand oppressive."

FEOM MEXICAN TO CIVIL WAE 87
But all those various emotions Semmes felt could
not be better expressed than in the two simple,
dignified letters that General Lee penned when he
followed Virginia out of the Union. Semmes in
cludes them in his fascinating story of the Sumter
and Alabama. But the inherent regard for law of
the bulk of Americans was in Semmes' case strength
ened by his legal training, and in after years it
prompted him to a keen analysis, historically and
constitutionally, of the grounds of justification of
secession. To him " the judgment which posterity will form
upon our actions will depend mainly upon the
answers which we may be able to give to two ques
tions : First, had the South the right to dissolve the
compact of government under which it had lived
with the North ? and secondly, was there sufficient
reason for such dissolution?" The act of revolu
tion had no part in the discussion because it is in
born in the people to desert a rule that has become
too aggressive for endurance. But with the South
it was a higher right they exercised, because the
states had formed the agreement and therefore as
sovereignties they could unmake it. The old loose
confederation of the thirteen colonies was by the
confession of all formed by the spontaneous action

88 BAPHAEL SEMMES
of the thirteen, each moving independently. When
they saw that organization was no longer useful,
they broke it up, and then each, on its own incen
tive, adopted the present Constitution of the United
States. Or as Semmes summed it up : "A con
vention of the states assembled with powers only
to amend the Constitution ; instead of doing which,
it abolished the old form of government altogether,
and recommended a new one, and no one com
plained. As each state formally and deUberately
adopted the new government, it as formally and
deliberately seceded from the old one ; and yet no
one heard any talk of a breach of faith, and stiU
less of treason."
But it is asserted by the North that the Constitu
tion of the United States "is a very different thing
from the Articles of Confederation. It was formed,
not only by the states, but by the people of the
United States in the aggregate, and made all the
states one people, one government. It is not a com
pact, or a league, between the states, but au instru
ment under which they have surrendered irrevocably
their sovereignty. Under it the Federal govern
ment has become the paramount authority and the
state subordinate to it."
Even the strongest advocates of this contention,

FEOM MEXICAN TO CIVIL WAE 89
Webster and Story, frankly admit that if the union
of the states was a compact then the states are
wholly justified in seceding whenever they desire,
even though, as Webster admits, "it might be one
of its stipulations that it should be perpetual."
Of course, Semmes says, there is such an act as a
state merger, in which a state gives up its own life
and is absorbed in that of another, and in such
case the one "parting with its sovereignty could
never reclaim it by peaceable means." But a his
torical retrospect shows overwhelmingly that the
states had no intention of laying aside more than a
portion of their sovereignty, which they delegated
to a common agent. The Journal of the debates in
the constitutional convention convinces any fair
mind how jealous aU were to guard their absolute
power of action except the fraction they intrusted
to the central authority. So scrupulous were they
on this point that several of them declared their
meaning in the most express "manner. Both sec
tions so rigidly insisted on this that the tenth
amendment was adopted to make certain that all
powers except those enumerated in the Constitution
should remain with the states. New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North
Carolina occupied substantially the same ground.

90 EAPHAEL SEMMES
Throughout the entire movement to create this gen
eral authority, it was the states that took each step,
and not the people. The delegates were appointed
and empowered by the states, they voted always by
states, and their labors were passed upon by the
states, not in any of these instances by the people as
a whole. It was the states that created this instru
ment supreme so far as its terms permit, and they
can destroy it — "any one of them may destroy it
as to herself ; it may withdraw from the compact at
pleasure, with or without reason."
But the opponents argue that the preamble
reads, " We, the people ofthe United States," etc.,
thus establishing that it was not the thirteen sep
arate entities, but the persons inhabiting this land
that entered into the compact. To Semmes this is
the merest "literary quackery and legerdemain of
words," made respectable and imposing by Webster
and Story, who practiced m good faith a "literary
and historical fraud " upon credulity and simplicity.
Webster is more responsible, perhaps, than any
other man. He boldly stated "in his celebrated
speech in the Senate, in 1833, in reply to Mr.
Calhoun" that " the Constitution itself, in its very
front, declares that it was ordained and established
by the people ofthe United States in the aggregate. "

PEOM MEXICAN TO CIVIL WAB 91
This has been the foundation of all the Northern
constitutional lawyers, but " unfortunately for him
and his followers he has misstated a fact ; " this is
not true, and the preamble did not '¦^mean to assert
that it was true. The great names of Webster and
Story have been lent to a palpable falsification of
history, and as a result of that falsification, a great
war has ensued, which has sacrificed its hecatomb
of victims, and desolated and nearly destroyed an
entire people."
But we must strip off the disguises from these
"word-mongers" and we shall get at the truth.
" In the original draft ofthe Constitution, the states,
by name, were mentioned, as had been done in the
Articles of Confederation. The states had formed
the old confederation, the states were equally form
ing the new confederation ; hence the convention
naturally followed in this preamble the form which
had been set them in the old Constitution, or
Articles. This preamble, purporting that the work
of forming the new government was being done by
the states, remained at the head of the instrument
during all the deliberations of fhe convention, and no
one member ever objected to it. It expressed a fact
which no one thought of denying. It is thus a fact
beyond question, not only that the Constitution was

92 BAPHAEL SEMMES
framed by the states, but that the convention so
proclaimed in '¦front ofthe instrumeyit.^ "
It is thus clear enough that it was framed by the
states, but was it adopted by them or by the people ?
At least twice in the convention it was attempted to
have the matter referred to a convention of the
entire country ; but there was not even a second for
one motion, and the other one was voted down, even
though it was fathered by Madison. All having
agreed that the instrument should be referred to the
states, "there were differences of opinion as to how
the states should act upon it," whether by the leg
islature of each state or whether by a convention
specially called in each state ; and the latter view
prevailed. When the document was finally completed, itwas
handed over to the " committee on style" to prune
into a consistent shape. These gentlemen were
instantly confronted with the problem in the pre
amble of the thirteen names. It was impossible to
designate those, as no one knew how many would
vote for the ratification. Nine was the minimum
number, but no one could teU which they would be.
Furthermore it had been already determined that
the states should speak through conventions of the
people and not through legislatures ; it was expedient

PEOM MEXICAN TO CIVIL WAE 93
to get that idea in the revision also. To meet
these two new demands upon the phraseology ofthe
instrument, the Committee on Style adopted the
expression : "We, the people of the United States,"
— meaning, as every one must see, "We, the peo
ple of the several states united by this instru
ment." After the members had dispersed to their homes,
aud argument against their labor had to be met,
there is additional testimony that the preamble did
not bear the construction put on it by Webster and
his followers. There was hesitation in Virginia,
and violent assaults by that wonderful orator, Pat
rick Henry, on this particular phrase at the begin
ning of the Constitution. Madison, who has been
styled the Father of the Constitution, met his attack
and allayed the fears by declaring that the parties
to the Constitution " were the people, not the people
as composing one great society, but the people as
composing thirteen sovereignties. If it were a con
solidated government the assent of a majority ofthe
people would be sufficient to establish it. But it
was to be binding on the people of a state only by
thefr own separate consent." After this calm
assiu-ance there was nothing to be done by Virginia
except to adopt the instrument.

94 EAPHAEL SEMMES
But another stumbling-block for Webster's inter
pretation is Alexander Hamilton, who did not
" believe much iu republics ; aud least of all did he
believe in federal republics." He knew what the
states wanted and he knew that the federal form
had been established. His evidence, therefore, is
all the more significant because he is "an unwilling
but an honest witness." In the Federalist he uses
the terms " the compacts," " concurrence of thirteen
states," " independent states," and "parties to the
compact ; " in fact " he speaks only of states, and of
compacts to be made by states."
To Semmes the whole trouble between the North
and South seemed to rest upon that phrase iu the
preamble, and it is deserving of all the space he has
given it ; but this recourse to contemporary history
was scarcely necessary, because, he continues, "the
Constitution Itself settles the whole controversy."
The seventh article of that instrument reads as fol
lows : "The ratification of the conventions of nine
states shall be sufficient for the establishment of the
Constitution between the states so ratifying the
same." The Webster ian view of the preamble cer
tainly cannot be reconciled with this "short, ex
plicit and unambiguous provision," so there is but
one conclusion possible : that the preamble meant

FEOM MEXICAN TO CIVIL WAB 95
the people as represented in the state conventions,
rather than in the legislatures.
It is thus undeniable that at the beginning of the
new government, all understood the Constitution as
only a compact, and it is just as clear that this view
monopolized the political fleld for forty years.
Thomas Jefferson, who penned the Kentucky Eeso
lutions, was an unmistakable secessionist, and in
the first of that famous series of statements styled
the Union as a "compact" of limited and defined
powers. Further ou he said, "as in all cases of
compact among persons having no common judge,
each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as
well of infractions, as of the mode and measure of
redress." After John Adams, down to Jackson's
day all parties advocated states' rights.
New England was outspoken in defense of this
tenet of faith. Some of the representatives from
that section were bitterly opposed to the Louisiana
Purchase, regarding it as really a dissolution of the
Union. Later, in the War of 1812, the discontent
culminated in the Hartford Convention, whose jour
nal is replete with " sound constitutional doctrines,"
referring to the government of the country as a
"compact" between the states, and formally de
claring that, in emergencies, "states, which have

96 EAPHAEL SEMMES
no coramon umpire, must be their own judges aud
execute their owu decisions." Then why did this
change of feeling take "place in that section," so
that those two giants, Webster and Story, under
took " the herculean task " of falsifying all the his
tory of the preceding forty years ? It was solely on
account of the protective tariff which was to touch
that group of states with the "enchanter's wand"
and make it "glad with the music of the spindle
and the shuttle."
From this chain of reasoning Semmes could see no
escape. Hence secession, so far from being treason,
was a sacred duty devolving upon a state when her
rights were infringed upon. The government was
the creature of the states and had absolutely no
powers but those the states granted it. The power
of secession was never delegated because that would
have been a merger of their sovereignty, and for no
instant did they ever contemplate such suicide.
Semmes gathers np all these threads: "I have
given a brief outline of the history and formation
of the Federal Constitution, proving by abundant
references to the Fathers and to the instrument it
self that it was the intention of the former to draft
and that they did draft a federal compact of gov
ernment, which compact was ordained and estab'

FEOM MEXICAN TO CIVIL WAE 97
lished by the states in their sovereign capacity, and
not by the people of the United States in the aggre
gate as one nation. It resulted from this statement
of the question that the states had the legal and
constitutional right to withdraw from the compact
at pleasure without reference to any cause of quar
rel." But having this inherent right, the question re
mains as to whether the South had sufficient ground
for dissolving the connection. There were four
causes, any one of which Semmes holds made this
separation inevitable.
First, came the innate dissimilarity between the
people of the Northern aud Southern states. "Vir
ginia and Massachusetts were the two original germs
from which the great majority of the American
populations had sprung ; and no two peoples, speak
ing the same language and coming from the same
country, could have been more dissimilar in educa
tion, taste, and habits, and even in natural instincts,
than were the adventurers that settled these two
colonies." To Virginia came the "gay and dash
ing cavaliers," the element that afterward espoused
the side of the two Charleses, while the Massachu
setts immigrants were of the stock from which were
moulded the Praise-God Barebones Parliament of

98 BAPHAEL SEMMES
Cromwell. The two groups seem to have had an
instinctive repugnance to one another. Each at
tracted its own kind from the mother island, and
two civilizations slowly unfolded.
A second cause is closely connected with the first,
namely, natural environment. "The two countries
were different in climate and physical features — the
climate of the one being cold and inhospitable and
its soil rugged and sterile, whilst the climate of the
other was soft and genial and its soil generous and
fruitful. As a result of these differences of cUmate
and soil, the pursuits of the two peoples became
different, the one being driven to the ocean and the
mechanic arts for subsistence, and the other betak
ing itself to agriculture."
A third impulse came from the tariff, which, be
ginning in 1816 with incidental protection, soon
rose to the demand of "protection for the sake of
protection." It was simply a game of spoUation so
far as the South was concerned. This "wholesale
robbery" worked "by the simple process of eter
nally taking away from the South and returning
nothing to it." Under this system mortgages were
increasing in the South, and the planter was sink
ing to the status of a mere overseer for Northern
merchants. The South supplied nearly all the ex-

FEOM MEXICAN TO CIVIL WAE 99
portations, and then furnished the means for dot
ting "the picturesque hills of New England with
costly mansions. "
A fourth cause was the attitude of the North on
the subject of slavery, not on moral or religious
grounds, but because the institution seemed to stand
" iu the way of their struggle for empire." Under
this incitement they had pushed the Missouri Com
promise through Congress in 1820, forbidding sla
very north of a certain parallel, a palpable wrong to
the South and a violation of the Constitution. Each
section had as much right in the territories as the
other and it was a discrimination to permit the
Northerner to take his property there, while deny
ing that privilege to the Southerner. Later, toward
the middle of the century, this injustice had been
remedied by the repeal of the Compromise, but this
step was very distasteful to the North, as it was not
iu keeping with their ideas of dominion for any
more slave states to be formed. Matters advanced
further when the Eepublican party convention in
serted a plank in their platform absolutely forbid
ding slavery in the territories.
Allied with this, and possibly of a still more dis
turbing nature, was the persistent refusal of the
Northern states to comply with the terms of the

100 EAPHAEL SEMMES
Fugitive Slave Law, and return runaways to their
masters. Even Webster had roundly condemned
this lapse from the faith, and declared that "a bar
gain broken on one side is broken on all sides."
On top of the fierce agitation ou both these lines
came the election of Lincoln, "a purely geograph
ical" choice, and "tantamount to a denial of the
co-equality of the Southern states with the Northern
states in the Union, since it drove the former out
of the common territories." StiU some of the
Southern states were patient aud hopeful, and
sought to ward off the catastrophe with some sort
of compromise, but Congress treated the convention
with contempt. The " Northeru faction," trium
phant in both houses, " was arrayed in a solid
phalanx of hostility to the South and could not be
moved an inch." The Puritans, " rebels when in a
minority, had become tyrants now when in a ma
jority." The South could only take up the gaunt
let which had been thrown at her feet.
Such is a brief summary of the long, acute,
analytical, and historical argument that Semmes
put up in justification of secession. In places, un
consciously to himself, his feelings override his
intention, his tone takes on the bitterness of many
men of his class, and he becomes illogical or incon-

FEOM MEXICAN TO CIVIL WAB 101
sistent. In one place he says, " the civilization of
the North was coarse and practical, that of the
South was more intellectual and refined," because
the North had neither "the requisite leisure, nor
the requisite wealth, to bring about a very refined
system of civilization ;" yet two pages farther on he
laments that the protective tariff was impoverish
ing the South and piling up Northern opulence.
As to difference of race or people in the two
sections, one Cavalier and the other Puritan, here
agaiu, instead of following his own independent
judgment, he accepted the current utterances.
Puritanism is a matter of temperament, not of
geography or of blood. If for a moment he had
considered Stonewall Jackson, whom he much ad
mired, he would have seen that this type waa
developed South as well as North. Still he is not
too much to blame in this connection, as only of
late years has there been a thorough demolition
of this colonial myth.
Aside from such errors, though, Semmes' stand
that historically secession was entirely right is im
pregnable. At the time of the adoption of the
Constitution and for about a score of years after
ward, it was in all men's minds that it was the
work of the sovereign states and that each state was

102 BAPHAEL SEMMES
at perfect liberty under the scheme to withdraw at
any time she chose. This is unqualifiedly admitted
at present by investigators of the first rank. It is
necessary to quote only one. Senator Henry Cabot
Lodge, from Massachusetts, in his biography of
Webster, iu discussing the famous reply to Hayne,
says : " When the Constitution was adopted by the
votes of states at Philadelphia, and accepted by the
votes of states in popular conventions, it is safe to
say that there was not a man in the country, from
Washington and Hamilton on the one side to George
Clinton and George Mason on the other, who re
garded the new system as anything but an experi
ment entered upon by the states and from which each
and every state had the right peaceably to withdraw,
a right which was very likely to be exercised." '
Of course the sad, awful mistake of Semmes and
other keen thinkers along this line was the failure
to see that all the conditions had beeu transformed
during those three-score years. A secession at the
start would have been hardly more than for a man to
cast off a glove from his right hand, but a secession
in 1860 was the amputation of the whole arm. It
was only natural that the patient should object, aud
that the logical fallacy should be atoned for in blood.
' Page 176.

CHAPTEE VI
GETTING OFF WITH THE " SUMTEE "
Faithful to the states' rights dogma, wedded to
the secession theory, fortifled with the historical
argument, the South sprang to the conflict with the
most abounding confldence. They had no doubt
as to the justice of their cause, they had no fear as
to the outcome. Materially and humanly the odds
seemed all against them, but they did not stop to
balance chances. Their spirits were afire, and they
scorned the deductions from the facts or the teach
ings from the figures. It mattered not to them
that all the apparatus of government remained in
the hands of their opponents, that all the munitions
of war were in the same possession, that virtually
all the mills were in the same quarter.
In the South were two shipyards, at Norfolk and
Pensacola, both soon to be lost. There were three
rolling mills, one in Alabama, and two in Tennes
see. The one foundry for heavy work was in Eich
mond. A little machinery, insignificant smelting
works, scattered factories, comprised the remainder

104 EAPHAEL SEMMES
of the mechanical equipment that the South had at
hand to achieve her Titanic task. Nor had she the
trained meu to handle any larger equipment. Be
sides, the small number she had were liable to be
drafted for the fleld.
On the human side, she was filled with a popula
tion enthusiastic for land warfare, but for fighting
upon the water there was no sailor constituency
except the few thousands in the river and coastwise
service. Of trained leaders for these, the dearth
was painful, beyond the occasional officers bred in
the Uuited States Navy that foUowed their states in
spite of the pangs it caused them to do so.
With the lumber standing in the forests, with the
minerals underground, the prospect would have
appalled auy but the stoutest heart, yet a navy was
built that did valiant deeds. In the coastal cities
and along the rivers, the clang of the hammers and
the whirring of wheels were soon heard ; consider
ing the odds against them, the Navy Department
rapidly launched all sorts of craft, rams, cruisers,
side-wheelers, propellers, aud iu time iron-clads.
In the last class, the Merrimac helped to point the
path toward metal vessels for all the world. In
submarines, the Confederacy gave an instance of
effective action — the sinking of the U. S. Housatonic

GETTING OFF WITH THE "SUMTEE" 105
in the harbor of Charleston, S. C, by one of these
submerged agents.
The disparity between the foes was preponderating
at the outbreak of the war and became still greater
with the years. The authorities at Washington
began the conflict with nearly a hundred boats, 1,500
officers, 7,500 seamen, aud closed with about 600
vessels, 9,000 officers and over 50,000 seamen. The
Confederacy began with almost nothiug in all these
respects. None more clearly than Semmes knew all these
drawbacks, none more accurately noted these defi
ciencies, but none more unfalteringly chose the line of
duty as he saw it. Early iu 1861, he had made
up his mind, and there was a test of his staying
power one evening when he called on one of the
Alabama senators to announce his decision. A
brother officer was there, also Southern, but Semmes,
not knowing what his sentiments were, could not
speak of his purpose until the other had left. He
seemed to want to outsit Semmes, and both remained
till midnight, when the other got weary of the
waiting and left.'
Ou February 14, 1861, as he was seated in his
family circle in Washington, a telegram came re-
' " Belle ot the Fifties," p. 144.

106 EAPHAEL SEMMES
questing his presence in Montgomeiy for consultation
with the Committee on Naval Affairs. In a few
minutes his reply was flashed back that he would
come at once. The next day with all formality and
courtesy he sent in his resignation fr'om the Navy
aud from the Lighthouse Board. The same day
came to him the acceptance of the first, but no
notice ever reached him as to the secoud because, as
he concluded, two of the other members were from
the South but were "too loyal to their places to
follow the lead of their states." It was a matter of
pride with him that all these steps were taken so
openly and frankly, with no concealment whatever,
and hence subsequent talk of treason and desertion
was wholly baseless.
But a man with his depth of conviction, with his
power of reflection, could hardly turn aside from
the course that he had pursued for a thfrd of a
century, without beiug stirred to his heart's
core. His feelings reached a climax the night
before he got to his destination, as the train rolled
through a burning forest. The blaze and the
occasion aud the place all conspired to influence
his reveries : — "The pine woods were on fire as we
passed through them, the flames now and then run
ning up a lightwood tree, and throwing a weird aud

GETTING OFF WITH THE "SUMTEE" 107
fitful glare upon the passing train. The scene was
peculiarly Southern and reminded me that I was
drawing near my home and my people, and I mechan-
icaUy repeated to myself the words of the poet :
" ' Breathes there a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said
This is my own, my native land.'
And my heart, which up to that moment had felt
as though a heavy weight were pressing upon it,
began to give more vigorous beats and send a more
inspiring current through my veins. Under this
happy influence, I sank, as the night advanced and
the train thundered on, into the first sound sleep
which had visited my weary eyelids siuce I had
resigned my commission. . . . This night ride
through the burning pine woods of Alabama after
ward stood as a great gulf in my memory, forming
an impassable barrier, as it were, between my past
and my future life. . . . When I washed and
dressed for breakfast in Montgomery the next morn
ing I had put off the old man and put on the new.
The labors aud associations of a lifetime had been
inscribed in a volume which had been closed, and a
new book, whose pages were as yet aU blank, had
beeu opened."
But Semmes' dreams never interfered with his

108 EAPHAEL SEMMES
activities ; they apparently gave him extra onset.
The committee got his views, and later Davis, the
provisional president, chose him for an important
errand northward. There was outlined for him
onerous and grave work, — to purchase machinery
aud munitions, arms aud powder, learn processes,
gather information, aud secure skilled labor. As
Semmes doubtless explained to Davis, the South
did not have even enough percussion caps to fight
one battle.
He was soon back in Washington, visiting the
arsenal, and conferring with mechanics. He saw
the crowds on Pennsylvania Avenue witnessing the
inaugural procession, but he delayed not, continued
to New York and made a tour of the chief work
shops in that state, Connecticut, and Massachu
setts. There were no obstacles before his feet ; all
were ready to receive him and to sell to him all he
cared to pay cash for. Further responsibUity was
placed upon him by instructions from the Con
federate Secretary of the Navy to search for steam
ers strong enough to carry at least one gun, but of
draft light enough to navigate shallow coastal
waters, and to do this without exciting suspicion.
He was not able to find any, though he diligently
looked through the New York harbor.

GETTING OFF WITH THE "SUMTEE" 109
The skies were uow getting portentous, and he
took passage for a Southern port and arrived iu
Montgomery early in April, to be put in charge
of the Lighthouse Bureau. Scarcely had he ap
pointed some clerks and opened a set of books,
when Sumter was fired upou, and the whole land,
both sides, burst into war flame. He was not the
man to sit at a desk wheu he could wield a sword in
defense of his principles and of his state. At his
age of flfty-two, he knew he had iiassed the prime
of physical life, but his constitution was still unim
paired. He instantly expressed a desire to go to
sea and harass the enemy's commerce, and thus
weaken him at a vital point, since " wealth is neces
sary to the conduct of all modern wars." There
was a phalanx of merchant sail second only to Great
Britain's in magnitude and importance. Semmes
had his eye on this mighty fleet.
In the interview with the Secretary of the Navy,
S. E. Mallory, Semmes enlarged upon his favorite
theory of attacking the foe, and received the en
dorsement of his superior. But the trouble was to
get the right sort of boat for that venture. A board
of naval experts was already examining various
ships, but could make only discouraging reports,
and the Secretary handed him one that had come

110 EAPHAEL SEMMES
in that morning. Semmes read the description of a
"smaU propeller steamer, of flve hundred tons'
burthen, seagoing, with a low-pressure engine,
sound and capable of being so strengthened as to
be able to carry au ordinary battery of four or flve
guns," with a speed of nine or ten knots, but space
for only five days' fuel, without "accommodations
for the crew of a ship of war. " Although Semmes
saw she had been condemned, he said to the Secre
tary : " Give me that ship ; I think I can make her
answer the purpose."
It was done, and in this quick, decisive manner
did Eaphael Semmes make the decision that was
finally to write his name high among the world's
naval heroes of all time. Thus was chosen the
Sumter, the first "ship of war " to fly the new Con
federate fiag on the high seas.
The next day Semmes' orders were handed him ;
that afternoon, after bidding his official associates
farewell, he embarked for Mobile, and on the fourth
day he was iu New Orleans, — truly, for dashing
movement, a Stonewall Jackson of the seas.
In another way he was similar to Jackson. Both
showed qualities and resources that their associates
for years had never discovered a trace of. Semmes'
daring, his skiU, his energy, were all a marvel

GETTING OFF WITH THB "SUMTEE" 111
to his former colleagues. According to Admiral
Porter, who ou the other side had such notable
achievements to his credit, Semmes, in the old
navy, " had little reputation as au officer. He had
no particular taste for his profession, but had a
fondness for literature, and was a good talker and
writer. . . . He was indolent and fond of his
comfort, so that altogether his associates in the navy
gave him credit for very little energy. What was
then the astonishment of his old companions to find
that Semmes was pursuing a course that required
the greatest skill and vigor ; for there never was a
naval commander who iu so short a time committed
such depredations on an enemy's commerce, or who
so successfuUy eluded the vessels sent in pursuit of
him up to the time of the sinking of the Alabama.^ ^ '
Again Porter says: "Although he had served
many years in the United States Navy, none of his
associates ever supposed that in time of war he
would exhibit so much efficiency ; for although his
courage was undoubted, his tastes were rather those
of the scholar thau of the dashing naval officer and
destroyer of commerce." "From being the mild
est-mannered man in the navy," he assumed a
"character bordering on that of an ancient vi-
' " Nav. Hist. Civ. War," p. 602.

112 EAPHAEL SEMMES
king." "Burning ships became a passion, and if
ever a man had the bump of destructiveness on his
cranium, that man was Eaphael Semmes." Porter
considers that he was the most vindictive of all the
officers of the Confederate navy, but in this mis
judges Semmes' motive entirely. His purpose was
the same as that of all soldiers on land when
they burn captured supplies that they cannot take
away for their own consumption. Sherman's object
was not mere revenge when he destroyed railroads''
and bridges in Georgia and elsewhere. Wealth, as
Semmes urged and rightly too, is a necessity in
modern* wars, both on land and water. It is a part
of the game to weaken the adversary by demolish
ing his means.
For this function of annihilation Semmes turned
out to be the very mau the Confederacy needed, as
he had " no doubts of success . . . aud no fear
of the consequences." The inertness he had dis
played while in the United States Navy had disap
peared ; he had become a new mau. As Semmes
himself had realized the morning he arrived in
Montgomery, his previous life was a closed book,
and a new volume, all blank at the start, had been
opened. He had need, too, of all the buoyancy that a

GETTING OFF WITH THE "SUMTEE" 113
youthful vitality could bring. Only fresh vigor
and determination could remove the impediments
in front of him. In former years on such an occa
sion he had only to "go into a navy yard, with
well-provided workshops and skilled workmen
ready with all the requisite materials at haud to
execute " his orders. But now " everything had to
be improvised, from the manufacture of a water
tank to the 'kids and cans' of the berth deck
messes, and from a gun carriage to a friction
primer." He had to formulate the plans, make
the drawings and supervise alterations. The deck
had to be strengthened, a supplementary one put
in, engines protected, rigging transformed, cabins
arranged for officers, outfit procured for crew, gun
carriages constructed at his own direction for guns
at Norfolk, shot and shell cast, a corps of officers
selected, and a crew gathered. In the least possible
time, with the scantiest aids, a peaceful steamer had
to be re-created as a missile of ruin against the
second commercial power of the world. Within
" two long and tedious months " the conversion was
accomplished, even to the mounting of the ordnance,
which Semmes had to send a lieutenant in search of
as the five pieces had been scattered along the rail
way lines, side-tracked for other freight. Porter,

114 EAPHAEL SEMMES
on the other side, with a bewildering richness of
advantages at command, could well pay generous
tribute to Semmes' "patience and energy" in
spite of his "trials aud disappointments" in fitting
out the Sumter.
Meanwhile the Navy Department was doing
its share in forwarding this momentous work.
Semmes' undaunted faith in his power, once on
salt water, cau be measured by his modest requisi
tion for only ten thousand doUars iu specie for use
during his contemplated cruise. He desired only a
sufficiency till he had "the opportunity of replen
ishing my military chest from the enemy." He
"expected to make the Sumter pay her own ex
penses as soou as she should get to sea." The Sec
retary sent him sailing orders "to do the enemy's
commerce the greatest injury in the shortest time."
Mr. Mallory, in the next three years, must have
often smiled with satisfaction at the thorough obe
dience to these instructions. The original despatch
seems lost, and nothiug of it remains except the
above quotation that Semmes has in his book ; at
least in the Naval Eecords of the United States
government, printed in Washington during the last
twenty years, it is stated that the orders were not
found. There was one other matter for Semmes him-

GETTING OFF WITH THB "SUMTEE" 115
self to look after, to adopt some method of cipher com
munication so that his despatches if captured would
be unintelligible to the enemy. He hunted through
New Orleans till he obtained two copies of Eeid's
English Dictionary, one of which he forwarded to
the Secretary, while he retained the other. What
ever word he wanted to use would be indicated by
the number of the page, and a letter A or B for the
column and another number for the position of the
word from the top of the page. Thus "prisoner"
would be "323, B, 15," meaning that it was on
page 323, second column, fifteenth word from the
top. The two had then a code without a key ex
cept what each possessed.
Semmes was internally raging to get at his prey.
"We are losing a great deal of precious time," he
confided in his diary. " The enemy's flag is being
flaunted in our faces at all our ports by his ships
of war, and his vessels of commerce are passing and
repassing on the ocean iu deflance or in contempt of
our power, and as yet we have not struck a blow."
He formally commissioned the Sumter on Juue 3d,
aud then was delayed for "two long and tedious
weeks," which he partly utilized iu trying the
speed of his boat. He was disappointed that he
could get only nine knots out of her. He could

116 EAPHAEL SEMMES
make space enough for only eight days' fuel, and
though he had sails, these could be ouly partiaUy
utilized. Still he was undismayed. He was to
take the sea "alone, against a viudictive and re
lentless enemy," swarming along the coasts, with
inexhaustible means, but he recollected, saUor-like,
that "luck is a lord," aud he trusted in fortune.
So far there had beeu only material obstacles on
his own side to circumvent, but treading his own
deck, with a trained band under him, there was
now danger to be faced in getting out of the Mis
sissippi, past the fast and heavy steamships guard
ing the mouths of that river. Semmes dropped
dowu to the head of the passes so as to be able to
use any channel that might perchance be left un-
watched. A month earlier he could have gone out
without hazard. He had entered iu his diary on
May 24th : "The river is not yet blockaded, but
expected to be to-morrow." He added, with a ring
of defiance, "it must be a close blockade and by
heavy vessels that will keep us iu." '
Like a caged eagle beating his wings for an open
ing, Semmes lay in his position for nine days, now
in sultry weather, now almost blistered by the glare
of the sun reflected fromthe river's surface, and all
' "Naval War Eecords," Series I, Vol. I, p. 691.

GETTING OFF WITH THB "SUMTEE" 117
the while so viciously assaulted by mosquitoes that
the crew were ready to dare all perils to escape.
He wondered why his adversaries did not come up
the ten or twelve miles aud capture his little Sumter
or drive him farther up-stream, and anchor there
where one ship wonld command all three principal
outlets and block his escape. Nothing of the sort
was attempted, though Semmes, anticipating a pos
sible night attack, had mounted a special gun. The
United States boats contented themselves with ly
ing outside, keeping one or more near each bar to
thwart Semmes' aims.
They did not realize how eternally wary the
pent-up prisoner was. Semmes had all things
ready so far as foresight could serve that end. Al
though it was near midnight when he came down to
his post, he had "despatched a boat to the light
house for a pilot." The keeper " knew nothing of
the pilots and was unwilling to come on board
himself, though requested" to do so. The next day
he sent to the pilots' station on the Southwest Pass
aud was abruptly told that ' ' there are no pilots on
duty uow." Semmes was not to be baffled by either
sullen or curt responses. He decided to test the
loyalty of the pilots to the newly formed Con
federacy. He ordered the captain of the association

118 EAPHAEL SEMMES
and several members to come on board the Sumter
and threatened with arrest any who disobeyed.
They were in his cabin iu a short time, with
stammering excuses that Semmes cut off by requir
ing one of them to remain on board his ship con
stantly, to be relieved week by week untU he no
longer had need for the service.
Semmes did not relax his vigilance, although he
felt " the anaconda drawing his folds around us," as
he heard of new boats coming to the blockade. He
kept well coaled, his eyes all the time open and his
mind full of schemes. He had a deserted outlet
sounded, but it was only ten and a half feet deep,
while the Sumter drew twelve. Another time the
pilot reported that the BrooMyn was nowhere to be
seen. Immediately he was plowing his way down
stream. After a spurt of four miles, there rode the
BrooMyn at her usual berth. The Sumter had
dragged her anchor during the night aud thus
brought a clump of trees between herself and her
enemy. Chagrined, he returned to his place.
The next morning, Sunday, was bright, and bade
fair to be idle also, wheu, during muster, a boat from
the lighthouse tender reported the Brooklyn away
on a chase. Instantly all was bustle, and the Su7ii-
ter, as if fretting to cheat the marshes of the Mis-

GETTING OFF WITH THE "SUMTEE" 119
sissippi, " bounded away like a thing of life." All
were exuberant except the pilot. He was pale,
nervous, agitated, and when he saw that the gam
bler's chance was to be staked, he broke dowu and
mumbled out : "I am a southwest bar pilot and
kuow nothing of the other passes. " Semmes flared
out at him : " What ! did you not know that I was
lying at the head of the passes for the very purpose
of taking any one of the outlets through which au
opportunity of escape might present itself, and yet
you dare tell me you knew but oue of them, and
have been deceiving me ? " He listened to none of
the man's whinings, but ordered up the signal for
another pilot. He did not hope to get any, but
would risk all on his own acquaintance of the
channel gained as lighthouse inspector.
The BrooMyn was racing back to her station.
Each had about the same distance to make, but
Semmes was pushed along by a four knot current.
He asked a lieutenant what was the prospect.
"Prospect, sir ! not the least iu the world ; there is
no possible chance of our escaping that ship. Even
if we get over the bar, she must overhaul us in a
very short time. The Brooklyn is good for fourteen
knots an hour, sir." Beiug told that that was her
trial speed when all such matters are exaggerated,

120 BAPHAEL SEMMES
he replied : "You'll see, sir, we made a passage in
her only a few months ago from Tampico to Pen
sacola, aud averaged about thirteen knots the whole
distance." Here a pilot boat was seen rapidly coming toward
them, a very thrilliug sight to Semmes. StUl more
moving, the pilot's beautiful yonug wife was "wav
ing him on to his duty with her handkerchief." In
a few moments "the gallant young fellow stood on
the horse-block beside me," says Semmes, who also
noticed " other petticoats fluttering in the breeze,"
as the little Sumter swept on past the lighthouse
wharf. Half a mile further aud there was the bar,
with a Bremen steamer aground, and a warp, at
tached to a kedge, right across the passageway.
The German crew considerately slackened it, and
with another bound, the Sumter was over the
barrier, and out on the "glad -waters of the dark
blue sea." She slowed down a lij;tle to drop the
pilot who gave his farewell 'to Fiemmes : " Now,
captain, you are all clear ; give her hell, and let
her go."
The BrooMyn was ouly four miles away^ almost
within gun range, with steam up and thick volumes
of smoke pouring from her chimneys. Semmes
heaved his log, aud was disappointed that he was

GETTING OFF WITH THE "SUMTEE" 121
making only nine aud a half knots. He could not
understand this, for the current was still aiding
him, but the engineer reported his boilers foaming.
Knowing he could saU closer to the wind than his
pursuer, he determined to do this though it brought
him a little nearer to her for a time. A friendly
squaU now hid each from the other for half au hour,
but it blew away, aud there was the relentless hunter
fearfully near. The money chest and papers were
prepared to be tossed overboard, when the foaming
ceased, the breeze freshened, and the Sumter begau
to "eat the wind " out of the BrooMyn. After half
au hour more, Semmes saw one of his most beauti
ful pictures at sea, " when the Brooklyn let fiy all
her sheets and halliards at once, and clewed up and
furled in man-of-war style all her sails from courses
to royals."
She went sadly back to her lair, and the hounded
Sumter was clear of the chase. The lookouts saw a
couple of sail, but these specters soon faded. The
prisoner had dared all. Now that they had gained
an offing, they felt the " welcome heave of the sea,"
they breathed the pure air of the Gulf, untainted
of malaria and untouched of mosquito's wing-
irksome fetter aud bond fell from them, they were
free ou the world's highway. The crew cheered

122 BAPHAEL SEMMES
their flag, the officers had a libation of wine,
Semmes breathed a prayer to his diary : " May the
Almighty smile upou us and our cause, and may
we show ourselves worthy servants of Him and it."
His thoughts were with the things of the spirit.
How peaceful all about him, the sleeping sea, "the
screen of purple aud gold ' ' in the west, the myriad
of stars, the blazing comet that " mirrored itself
within a hundred feet of our Uttle bark," but how
hurried and confused the last few months. "A
little while back aud I had served under the very
flag which I had that day defled. " A discordant
dream to him, painful, distressing !
As for the Brooklyn, her captain, outwitted, had
sententiously ended his brief log entry: "Aban
doned the chase and stood back for the pass." He
had come withiu au ace of blotting out nearly the
whole seagoing navy of the Confederacy, of saving
millions of dollars of wealth from the flames, and
of forestalling a serious international complication
that almost brought to blows the two great English
peoples facing each other across the Atlantic. He
was unfafrly censured by his own government.

CHAPTEE VII
A DOZEN PEIZES
Theough his "bold and dashing adventure"
the untamed deep was Semmes' to roam over as he
listed. Knowing something of the speed of his ship
and of the temper of his force, he was ready to
front any fate. His crew, though gathered in a
Southern port, were cosmopolite, " not half a dozen
Southern-born men " being among them.
His officers he knew — all were from the South ;
all had beeu bred iu the old navy, and consequently
were trained for their work. His flrst lieutenant,
the executive who was with him to the going dowu
of the AlabamM, was John Mcintosh Kell, of
Georgia. The two had first got acquainted when,
as a passed midshipman, he had refused to obey
an order to perform some menial work, and had
been haled, along with several associates, before
a court martial. Semmes appeared as counsel for
them. Kell was nothing of the mutineer. He had
a high sense of duty, and was a courteous gentleman

124 EAPHAEL SEMMES
who, however, was a strict disciplinarian. Of the
three other lieutenants, two were from South Car
olina and one from Alabama. The surgeon from
Virginia, the paymaster from South Carolina, with
the chief engineer aud the marine officer, completed
the ward room, ou which every captain has to rely
for success in action. But although Semmes ap
pointed his junior lieutenant navigating officer, and
had every confidence in his ability, he always made
observations himself, as he could sleep better amid
dangers if he had himself calculated his position.
As the head of this band Semmes had to bear the
responsibility of legal aud international penalties
and the heavy burden was on him at the start.
President Lincoln, in April, had issued his block
ade proclamation which closed with the solemn
warning that all persons interfering with United
States vessels "will be held amenable to the laws
of the United States for the prevention and punish
ment of piracy." His Secretary of the Navy soon
worked himself into a frenzy on the subject, and in
his later reports had a large assortment of epithets
to cast at Semmes and his vessels as "pfrates,"
"piratical cruisers," " piratical privateers," "cor
sairs," "Algerine corsairs," " Mediterranean cor
sairs," "rovers," "lawless rovers," "rebel rovers,"

A DOZEN PEIZES 125
' * unlicensed rovers, " " predatory rovers, " " rob
bers of the sea," "lawless vessels," "semi-pirat
ical vessels." '
The heat and passion of the hour bore mauy high
officials far from their true moorings, but the din
of the politician and the clamor of the newspaper
were confusing on both sides. The sight even of
the mighty mystic was at times blurred wheu he
had to trust to blundering subordinates. Now,
that all the hubbub has subsided, it is clear enough
that there was no semblance of the pfrate in either
the Sumter or the Alabama.
On this point one of the most capable of author
ities, J. E. Soley, a native of Massachusetts, grad
uate of Harvard, professor, aud assistant Secretary
of the Navy, says: "A great deal of uncalled-for
abuse has been heaped upon the South for the work
of the Confederate cruisers, and their mode of war
fare has beeu repeatedly denounced as barbarous
and piratical iu official and unofficial publications.
But neither the privateers, like the Petrel and Sa
vannah, nor the commissioned cruisers, like the Ala
ba-mM and the Florida, were guilty of any practices
which, as against their enemies, were contrary to
the laws of war. . . . The right to capture au
' Reports ot Secretary of the Navy tor 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864.

126 EAPHAEL SEMMES
enemy's private property at sea is fully recognized
by the law and practice of nations to-day. . . .
Whether the prize is destroyed at sea or is brought
into a prize court aud condemned can make no
possible difference to the owner, if the owner is
clearly an enemy." Of course the captor would
prefer to take his captive into port and reap some
benefit from his risk and toil, but as foreign ports
refused this privilege and all those at his home were
blockaded, " nothing remained but to destroy the
captured vessel at sea. To have done otherwise
would have been to abandon the right of maritime
capture." In the War of 1812, the cruiser Arg-us had been a
forerunner of the Alabama iu a remarkable manner.
The instructions issued theu were the same in pur
port as Mallory's to Semmes, namely, "destroy all
you capture unless in some extraordinary cases that
clearly warrant an exception." In the Crimean
War an English authority had said it was entirely
"justifiable, even praiseworthy, in the captors to
destroy an enemy's vessel." Subsequent to the
Civil War, in the struggle between France and
Germany, the French had followed the same road,
aud had burnt at least two captured vessels. In
fact, thinks Soley, "other governments in case of

A DOZEN PEIZES 127
war with a commercial power will deem themselves
fortunate if they cau rival the achievements of the
Confederate commerce destroyers." '
Semmes himself refuted the charges of piracy
iu a letter in the London Times iu January, 1862.
He referred to the vessels commissioned by the
Americans iu the revolutionary uprising against
England. He retaliated by pointing out that prizes
had been made by the United States blockading
squadrons, some of which were also burnt.
Without a doubt as to the justice of his cause, and
feeling just as sure of his legal and international
position — since substantiated also by the best stu
dents ofthe question — Semmes, after eluding the net
stretched for him, was well prepared for his career
of destruction wherever he could find his prey.
Porter thought that the Spanish main would be
Semmes' objective because he had cruised all over
that region, through the tortuous channels among
its wilderness of isles. Around Occoa Bay, the Isle
of Pines, and other spots that Semmes had visited,
were "hiding holes" enough to conceal a thousand
boats, so that the "devil himself could not find the
vessels unless he knew the locality" as well as
Semmes. ' Solejr'8 " Blockade and Cruisers," pp. 229-230.

128 BAPHAEL SEMMES
His intention was " to make a dash of a few days
at the enemy's ships ou the south side of Cuba, coal
at some convenient point, stretch over to Barbadoes,
coal again, and then strike for the Brazilian coast. "
On the third day after winning his freedom, while
running along the Cuban coast and the Isle of Pines,
he heard the welcome sound of " Sail ho ! " from the
masthead. Two boats were in sight. One was
Spanish and was at once released.
The other was to be Semmes' first prize, the
Golden Bocket, of seven hundred tons, bound to a
Cuban port for a cargo of sugar. Semmes had no
difficulty in determining the nationality of the craft.
"There were the American register and clearance
and the American character impressed upou every
plauk and spar of the ship." The master was
almost too astonished to make any complaint as he
never dreamed of seeing a Confederate flag on the
high seas. Semmes here began his custom, invari
ably followed afterward, of seizing the chronometers
and flags. He took besides some provisions and
sails. Perhaps because he did not waut to spare
hands for a prize crew, he concluded to burn his
capture. Mournful associations came to his memory,
sad reflections ruled his thoughts : the flag he had
heretofore cherished had just waved over that vessel ;

A DOZEN PEIZES 129
it was pitiful that evil passions had set brothers at
war with each other even far out on the rolling
waves. It was the flrst physical blow he had struck
against the foe, and he has left us a graphic descrip
tion of the work of the torch. The ship was built
of Maine pine "calked with old-fashioned oakum
and paid with pitch : the woodwork of the cabin
was like so much tinder, haviug been seasoned by
many voyages to the tropics, and the forecastle was
stored with paints and oils. ' ' The torch was applied
at once in three places, cabin, main-hold and fore
castle, and the flames burst from all three. " The
burning ship, with the Sumter's boat in the act of
shoving off from her side ; the Sumter herself, with
her grim, black sides, lying in repose like some
great sea-monster, gloating upon the spectacle, and
the sleeping sea, for there was scarce a ripple upon
the water, were all brilliantly lighted. The in
draught into the burning ship's holds aud cabins
added every moment new fuel to the flames, and
now they could be heard like the flres of a hundred
furnaces in full blast. The prize ship had beeu laid
to, with her main topsail to the mast, and all her
light sails, though clewed up, were flying loose
about the yards. The forked tongue of the devour-

130 BAPHAEL SEMMES
ing element, leaping into the rigging, newly tarred,
ran rapidly up the shrouds, flrst into the tops, then
to the topmast heads, thence to the topgallant, and
royal mastheads, and in a moment more to the
trucks; and while this rapid ascent of the main
current of fire was going on, other currents had run
out upon the yards, and ighited all the sails. A
topgallantsail, all ou fire, would now fly off from
the yard, and sailing leisurely in the direction of
the light breeze that was fanning, rather than blow
ing, break into bright and silent patches of flame,
and settle, or rather silt, into the sea. The yard
would then follow, and not being wholly submerged
by its descent into the sea, would retain a portion of
its flame, aud continue to burn, as a floating brand,
for some minutes. At one time the intricate net
work of the cordage of the burning ship was traced,
as with a pencil of fire, upon the black sky beyond,
the many threads of flame twisting and writhing,
like so many serpents that had received their death
wounds. The mizzenmast now went by the board,
then the foremast, and iu a few minutes afterward
the great mainmast tottered, reeled, and feU over
the ship's side into the sea, making a noise like that
of the sturdy oak of the forests when it falls by the
stroke of the axeman."

A DOZEN PEIZES 131
As for the crew, it was a matter of pride with
Semmes to treat "prisoners of war according to the
laws of war." "The captain was invited to mess
iu the ward room, and when he was afterward
lauded, the officers generously made him up a purse
to supply his immediate necessities. The crew was
put into a mess by themselves, with their own cook,
aud was put ou a footing with regard to rations
with the Sumter's owu men. We were making war
upou the enemy's commerce but not upon his un
armed seamen."
Semmes wasted no time, but the next day over
hauled two more vessels, the Cuba and the Machias,
both loaded with sugar and molasses, aud both from
a Cuban port bound for England. He could not
burn these as they had neutral property aboard, but
putting prize crews on them he made for Cienfue
gos, with both in tow, with the hope that Spain
would allow both belligerents to bring in prizes for
adjudication. As he was too much impeded by the
two boats, he cast off the Cuba, ordering the prize
crew of one midshipman and four seamen to follow
him in. They never did so, as some were treach
erous aud deserted to the original master and crew,
who secured some of the flrearms, wounded the mid
shipman, recaptured the craft and escaped.

132 EAPHAEL SEMMES
On her way to the harbor, the Sumter, on July
5th, made two more captures, the Ben Dunning and
the Albert Adams, both also bearing neutral goods
as freight. As it was too late to get in to anchor
that night, Semmes lay off until daylight. The
next morning dawned bright and clear, and as he
was preparing to move in, he saw smoke coming
down the river. It was a steamer towing two
American barks aud one brig. Semmes craftily
showed Spanish colors, aud patiently waited till all
three, having been cast off from the towing steamer,
were beyond the marine league from land. Then
the Sumter set off in pursuit. She soon captured
them ; the West Wind, the Louisa Kilham, and the
Waiad. Semmes proudly stood in with his six catches,
but he was warned by musket-balls from the fort to
proceed no further, as his pennant was so strange a
device that he was suspected of being a buccaneer.
The others with the United States flag flying were
permitted to pass. Explanations were simple with
the aid of wine, and Semmes was soou in the haven,
confronted with the serious problem of inducing the
authorities to grant the South entrance into Spanish
ports with prizes. To bend the laws of nations to
his purpose was a greater feat than evading the

A DOZEN PEIZES 133
squadron at the mouth of the Mississippi. He
made just as bold aud as gallant an effort, and his
skill, if possible, was even more admirable.
He sent a strong despatch to the government
arguing for the right. He urged that the South
was assailed in "an aggressive and unjust war," in
which the manufacturing and commercial North
have "dishonestly seized and turned against the
Confederate states" all the naval force that had
been created by both sections, and in consequence
the United States "are enabled in the flrst months
of the war to blockade all the ports ' ' of the South,
which nevertheless is "maintaining a government
de facto and not only holding thQ enemy in check
but gaining advantages over him." At this junc
ture of affairs, belligerent rights are granted both
sides by the leading nations, excluding the prizes
of each from their ports. While such restriction,
imposed impartially on the two contending foes,
seems perfectly fair, yet the rule " cannot be ap
plied in the preseut war without operating with
great injustice to the Confederate states, " since they
will be shut out of all ports, their owu being "her-
meticaUy sealed " by the blockade, and all others
being closed by this policy of the powers. This
will not be equal justice to both parties because the

134 EAPHAEL SEMMES
United States can take their prizes home, while the
Confederacy can only destroy theirs. Besides as to
the six vessels just brought in, the special question
arises as to neutral property, some being certiflcated
as of Spanish ownership. A judicial inquiry is
necessary to determine the matter.
It was a bold venture on the part of Semmes, and
he made the strongest sort of plea for a weak cause.
He could ouly lose, but he never expected to lose
his six prizes also. The Spanish authorities turned
them all back to their owners instead of notifying
Semmes to take them away. Of course there had
to be some shadow of justiflcation for such au extra
ordinary proceeding, and hence it was charged that
he had violated Spanish neutrality in making three
of the captures within the marine league, the evi
dence being the testimony of au English sailor on
the tug, and of Semmes' Spanish pilot who had
estimated for Semmes that it was flve miles from
shore, and then afterward reduced it to less than
three. Semmes attributed this change in flgures to
the magic of gold skilfully handled by the United
States consul, but he consoled himself with a dream
of how Spain could be made to pay for aU her
shameless conduct after the Confederacy was fully
established. He had done his best to avoid de-

A DOZEN PEIZES 135
struction in capture, but the usage of the nations
was against him, and he could only apply the torch
from now on.
Having taken on a good supply of coal, he set
out, as he had aimed, to make the Barbadoes, there
recoal aud go thence to Cape St. Eoque, Brazil,
and "reap a rich harvest from the enemy's com
merce. ' ' But the trade winds beat on him so heavily
that he was forced to consume the most of his fuel ;
hence he altered his course and went to the Dutch
island of Curagqa. Here he was to meet again the
watchful and pertinacious American consul, who
claimed that the Sumter was a pirate and should
not be allowed to enter the harbor. When Semmes
heard this he despatched a firm protest against such
treatment. He declared that the Sumter was a ' ' ship
of war duly commissioned by the government of the
Confederate states, which states have beeu rec
ognized as belligerents in the present war by all the
leading powers of Europe," and as such she had as
much right as any ship of the United States. These
other powers had drawn no distinction between the
belligerents. Holland admitted the cruisers of the
United States, theu why should .she exclude those of
the Confederacy? If she thus intended to aid one
of the belligerents aud not the other, he would like

136 BAPHAEL SEMMES
a frank statement from the government to that
effect. All the dignitaries of the island gathered, smoked,
aud pondered, while Semmes' officer sat in an outer
room,_ mixing and drinking juleps. But Semmes
could not endure such delay when he could be of
assistance in reaching a decision. He had his
drums beat to quarters and his guns cast loose to
try out his crew at a little practice. " Whiz ! went
a shell across the windows of the councU chamber
which overlooked the sea ; the shell bursting like a
clap of rather sharp, ragged thunder, a little beyond
in close proximity to the target. Sundry heads
were seen immediately to pop out of the windows
of the chamber, and then to be withdrawn very
suddenly. . . . By the time we had fired three
or four shells Chapman's boat was seen returning.
. . . My lieutenant came on board smiling
. . . and said the governor had given us per
mission to enter."
Here Semmes stayed a week, repairing and coal
ing, visiting ashore and giving fine, vivid pen pic
tures of the scenery and the people. If he had been
a corsair at heart, an adventurer, as he was so often
charged with being by irresponsible journalists, a
fine chance was presented to him one day when an

A DOZEN PEIZES 137
emissary from the deposed president of Venezuela
suggested that he reinstate that official in his
post. Semmes heard him courteously but flrmly
declined, though he humorously dallied with the
scheme in his imagination as an opportunity for
au unscrupulous ambitious man to gather up all
the piraguas and canoes of the Venezuelan navy.
He might theu put to flight all opposition and de
clare himself head of the government, eventually,
perhaps having himself crowned king.
A few days later he probably smiled at this
roseate dream when the conditions were reversed,
and he was a suppliant at a port of Venezuela for
au international favor. The day after leaving
Curagoa he captured the Abby Bradford, bound for
Puerto Cabello. Being near that port he resolved
to try his hand with the de facto president of Ven
ezuela on the question of admitting his prizes. He
saw uo reason why "some of these beggarly South
American republics" should be "putting on the
airs of nations, and talking about acknowledging
other people when they had lived a whole generation
themselves without the acknowledgment of Spain."
But again he found the ever vigilant and ubiquitous
" Yankee consul " ready to frustrate his designs.
In spite of heavy odds he valiantly made the

138 BAPHAEL SEMMES
effort. No sooner was he anchored than he de
spatched a strong, dignified statement to the gov
ernor urging that the Venezuelan government
"admit both belligerents to bring their prizes into
her waters." But if she shall adopt the principle
of exclusion, she will be favoring the Uuited States
as they can take their captures to their own ports,
while nothing will be left for the Confederates ex
cept to destroy theirs at sea. " A rule which would
produce such unequal results as this is not a just
rule, . . . and as equality aud justice are of
the essence of neutrality, I take it for granted that
Venezuela wUl not adopt it."
Wheu his missive "was handed to the governor,
there was a racing and chasing of barefooted order
lies. . . . A grand council was held at which the
Confederate states had not the honor to be repre
sented," but the American consul was there, aud he
was the symbol of profitable trade between the two
lands. His influeuce dominated the deliberations.
Semmes was very quickly notified by the governor
to take his prize out of the harbor. It was a polite
document but a strongly worded one. Semmes
finished getting provisions aboard, and departed
leisurely, having put a prize crew aboard the Brad
ford with orders to run into New Orleans. They

A DOZEN PEIZES 139
tried but were recaptured. Semmes forwarded on
her a letter to Secretary Mallory, briefly recounting
his exploits to date, and modestly remarking:
"We are all well and doing a pretty fair business
in mercantile parlance, having made nine captures
in twenty-six days."
He was scarcely out on the high seas again before
he took the Joseph Maxwell, with half her cargo
neutral. Semmes made another effort to get bellig
erent rights for prizes from Venezuela. As the
property was consigned to a merchant in Puerto
Cabello, he put back there, being careful to leave
his capture over a marine league from shore. He
sent in his paymaster to see whether " this prize in
which a Venezuelan citizen was interested would
not be permitted to enter and remain uutil she
could be adjudicated." The messenger soon re
turned aud " handed me a written command from
the governor to bring the Maxwell in and deliver
her to him until the Venezuelan courts could de
termine whether she had beeu captured within the
marine league or not." Semmes was amused by
such insolence, but he saw some half-naked soldiers
around the guns of the fort, whereupon he got his
own ready, and sailed out. He would have burned
the MaxweU but for the neutral freight aboard. In-

140 EAPHAEL SEMMES
stead he sent her to Cienfuegos to be adjudicated
by a prize court of the Confederate states. He did
not yet know that Spain had issued a neutrality
proclamation like those of Great Britain and France.
His prize, the Maxwell, was received by the Cuban
authorities and handed back to the owners.
From this point Semmes sailed to the island of
Trinidad where he had another contest over inter
national law points on the question of whether coal
was contraband of war, but the law officers of the
English crown decided that it was not. There was
delay in making up their minds, but Semmes had
"too much respect for the calibre of certain guns
ou shore to throw any shells across the windows of
the council chamber," remembering that this was
an English and not a Dutch possession.
Having put his fuel aboard, he went on south
ward, touching at the Guianas on the way, to Ma-
ranham, Brazil, about two aud a half degrees south
latitude, ou September 6th. Here he remained un
til September 15th, repairing his ship and taking
on supplies. He had aimed, as at the start, to
make Cape St. Eoque, at the northeast angle of
Brazil, so as to fall upou the traders as they rounded
that point on their course from the South Atlantic
to New York, but he had lost so much time that it

A DOZEN PEIZES 141
seemed unwise to continue to that place. At that
season the trade winds were blowing such a gale off
the Cape that any boat could escape the Sumter if
she used sail only. Coal was too costly, as Semmes
had paid $17.50 per tou at Marauham. But from
December to March the winds would be only mod
erate and that was the time for the Sumter to oper
ate there. He decided theu to watch the crossing
path of the calm belt taken by sailing vessels bound
for New York and other northerly ports after round
ing Cape St. Eoque. He made northward and lay
in wait along the diagonal from the southeast to the
northwest angles of a quadrilateral covering seven
degrees of latitude and six degrees of longitude,
formed by the parallels of 2J° and 9i° north, and
the meridians of 41i° and 474° west. But it was
useless as the " wary sea birds had evidently all
taken the alarm and winged their way home by
other routes."
He then set out for the West Indies to hunt there
for a while and then go to Martinique for coal. On
the path, in the last days of October, he caught the
Daniel Trowbridge, a lucky warehouse for him, as
he transferred enough food from her to serve for
the next five months— "beef, pork, cauvased hams,
ship bread, fancy crackers, cheese, flour, everything

142 EAPHAEL SEMMES
being of the very best quality." Then he gave her
to the flames, and went ou with the chase, gradually
wearing toward the island of Martinique. On the
9th of November he "ran aloug down it, near
enough to enjoy its beautiful scenery, with its wav
ing palms, flelds of sugar cane, and picturesque
country houses, until we reached the quiet little
town of Fort de France, " the capital, and there he
anchored. Semmes had been afloat on the waters of the
world, moving as he willed, had made twelve cap
tures, and had come in contact with no armed foe.
This had not been due to simple good luck on his
part or to remissness on the side of the United
States. It had been eternal vigilance with him
and unwearied pursuit with them. The wildest
rumors filled the air that the Sumter was here, was
there, was even in the English channel. To the in
terested aud thinking ones her course baffled all
conjecture, and in their perplexity they naturaUy
turned to government authorities. Especially the
merchants trading southward were anxious and
alarmed, and immediately began to ask for protec
tion. Withiu a fortnight after Semmes had eluded
the Brooklyn at the mouth of the Mississippi, a
senator requested a convoy for a boat carrying over

A DOZEN PEIZES 143
two million doUars in gold on its passage to New
York. Other appeals came in for the care of the
trade with Central aud South American ports.
Secretary Welles, Lincoln's Secretary of the
Navy, received many suggestions and much advice.
In one instance, a scheme was proposed by Alfred
T. Mahau, then a midshipman. After apologizing
for "youthful presumption," he recommended to
the Secretary that a decoy ship be prepared out of
some of the "confiscated rebel vessels," with a
heavy pivot gun in hiding so that Semmes would
think her a merchant boat. Then when she ap
proached confidently near enough, the Sumter could
either be sunk with one discharge, or boarded and
overcome. Mahan confessed that his scheme might
appear " hare-brained," but even if it failed, it was
only the loss of "a useless ship, a midshipman, and
a hundred men."
By the middle of August, one of the captains
urged that "a smart steamer like the Iroquois, with
a smart captain, . . . would stand a good
chance for catching the Sumter or for badgering her
into port in a very short time," if he made a circuit
of about five hundred miles around Cuba.' Palmer,
of the Iroquois, got this assignment and we shaU
' " Naval War Records," Series I, Vol. I, p. 62.

144 BAPHAEL SEMMES
see later that at St. Pierre he caught the Sumter in
port, but with no profit, since he suffered when she
slipped away from him one night.
Welles was neither idle nor vague, and stUl less
was he distracted from the tasks of his office by the
cries from the counting-house. He knew that a
rigid blockade of the Southern coast was far more
deadly to the South than the capture of this one
rover. But he detached as many boats for the
chase as he could, and he was peremptory in his
orders that the hunt should go on relentlessly until
the " pirate Sumter " was checked in her career, or
some definite news was obtained of her end.
He was heartily seconded by the few naval officers
who could be spared from the home service. One
of them. Captain Eytiuge, of the Sheph,erd Knapp,
"made the entire circuit ofthe West India Islands
three several times, going as far to eastward as the
Leeward Islands, as far to westward as Abaco, and
nearly as far north as the Bermudas." He hailed
every boat of every nationality he met. He was
aflame to "pursue the traitor," even into the
Mediterranean Sea, with which he said that he was
thoroughly acquainted. He begged for this privi
lege. "I am ready," he declared, " to sacrifice my
life to sustain my country's honor."

Ji. UUZiUjSS PK1Z1^:S 146
But the keenest pursuer of Semmes was Porter,
afterward the great admiral. He recaptured
Semmes' ninth prize, the Abby Bradford, on
August 13, 1861, as she was trying to steal into
New Orleans. Prom iuformation he received, he
was very confident that Semmes "is in a position
now where he can't escape if properly looked after.
He is out of coal and out of credit." Porter left
for Pensacola at once to carry in his news and to
ask the privilege of going after the Sumter. This
was granted him and he instantly made for the
Caribbean Sea, through which he cruised, touching
at Cienfuegos, at Puerto Cabello, at Barbadoes, at
Trinidad, at Cayenne, at Curagoa, and at Surinam,
all places where Semmes had called.
Neither trick nor subterfuge could throw him off
the scent. At Surinam he was assured that the
Sumter had gone to Jamaica to return after three
weeks, but he shrewdly divined that Semmes was
feeling his way down to Cape St. Eoque, as he was,
and Porter set off thither himself. He was hopeful,
as he could go fifty miles a day further than Semmes.
He traced the Sumter into Marauham, missing her
off that port by only three days, and getting into
the harbor of San Luiz only five days after she had
departed. He raked Marauham for every scrap of

146 EAPHAEL SEMMES
information aud again guessed Semmes' movements
correctly. He learned that the Sumter had knocked
off her false keel, coming up the inlet, and inferred
therefore that she could not make St. Eoque, but
had gone north of the equator. He steered for the
track of northward bound vessels on their passage
to New York, about 44° west longitude, iu the heart
of the quadrilateral that Semmes had marked out
for himself to cruise over for those very boats that
Porter had iu mind. So clear was Porter in his
reasoning, and so energetic in his movements, that
he calculated that at one time he was within seventy-
five miles of the Sumter, while Semmes estimated that
they were only fifty miles apart.
Porter had not only exerted himself to the utmost,
but he had also advocated that others be put at the
work. . He indicated routes around the islands of
the Spanish main for the constant policing of eight
ships. Later, when he learned of Semmes' inten
tion to burn all captures, he warmly advised that
one hundred boats be sent out to thwart such a de
structive aim.
Like his wily adversary, he was embarrassed by
the aloofness of the neutral powers, and thought
them, especially France and England, very solicit
ous for the welfare of the Sumter and her cause.

A DOZEN PEIZES 147
Again like Semmes, he valiantly carried on verbal
duels over points of international law, though per
haps not with the skill and incisiveness of Semmes,
as he had not made such a study of the law and of
public relations.
But in spite of the comprehensiveness of his
plans, in spite of his unerring instinct on the trail.
Porter finally had only regrets to offer his superiors
for the futility of his chase.

CHAPTEE VIII
SECOND ESCAPE AND END OF THE " SUMTEE "
If Semmes had known of all these schemes and
manceuvers he might not have rested so comfortably
in the French port of Fort de France. He and his
officers were treated with all consideration and
special entertainments were prepared for them.
They walked, they rode, they feasted, and they
danced. The crew also went on land, and each
spent his sovereign for grog.
But Semmes' peu had its usual international task
to perform. He had to buy coal. His paymaster
found it in the near-by town of St. Pierre, but the
customs official refused him the privilege of pur
chasing it. Semmes sent a polite note to the gov
ernor, and at once got an order overruling the
zealous but ignorant collector there. As soon as
he had watered his ship from the public reservoir,
he got up steam aud was very quickly in the harbor
of the chief city of the Island of Martinique, St.
Pierre, whose total destruction with her population

SECOND ESCAPE 149
of forty thousand some two score of years later
startled all humanity.
He instantly began to take on fuel ; but, swift
as he was, iu less than two days an energetic euemy,
the United States war vessel, Iroquois, glided into
the same haven. She was twice as large as the
Sumter and much swifter, and her captain, James
S. Palmer, was active and determined. He was
under special orders to catch the Sumter and had
been anxiously cruising from point to point in those
waters for weeks. Actuated by duty and spurred
by ambition he was prepared to violate inter
national law, and offend a friendly nation in order
to crush this ' ' pest of commerce. " He lectured the
French governor on his obligations, and was re
buked by a diplomatic answer in which the gov
ernor said that he knew what he was about. Pal
mer confessed to his superior officer that he had
trangressed some of the rules of war himself, but
said that the French would have to " pocket this."
He was bold and resourceful, but he was pitted
agaiust a skilled antagonist. Palmer came in and
all night " cruised around the harbor within half
a gunshot of " the Sumter, so close at times in fact
that Semmes had his force under arms to repel
attack. Later he actually anchored, but immedi-

150 EAPHAEL SEMMES
ately pulled up on learning officially from a French
naval officer who had come ou board that ''one
belligerent could not depart till twenty-four hours
after the other." Palmer, fearing the Sumter
might leave before he did, hastened away so
quickly that he bore his guest out to sea with him
before he could take boat to leave. Here he kept
guard some seven or eight miles out by day, and
less than three by night, or so it seemed to Semmes.
During the while he communicated with sympa
thetic aids on shore by boat or sign. He also ar
ranged with a Maine schooner to signal him the
course of the Sumter when she should start away.
In the meanwhile Semmes was, if possible, more
alert. Both made representations to the French
governor. Each believed that he favored the other,
while the islanders broke into two parties in their
sympathies. Semmes' steady fusiUade of notes and
protests did not interfere with his material oper
ations. He heeled his ship and scraped her. He
had his machinery overhauled, his pumps repaired,
his batteries drawn and reloaded, his small arms
cleaned, his barrels filled with fresh water, some
heavy wet provisions shifted so as to make better
sailing. He keenly scanned the skies for a cloudj
night, constantly apprehending that a second vessel

SECOND ESCAPE 151
would come to the assistance of the Iroquois, thus
bottling him np effectuaUy. On the ninth day
after his entrance, it begau about noon to rain and
he counted on au overcast sky for that evening, but
the sun set fair. He could delay no longer. Like
his prototype on land, StonewaU Jackson, he kept
his plans in his own bosom, divulging no more of
them than necessary. He had ordered every man
to be on board by sunset. At the sound of the
eight o'clock gun ou shore, following previous
orders, the chain was slipped, the rope cut and the
engines started, and the Sumter began her second
race for liberty.
Semmes penned in his diary this lively account
of how he eluded the Iroquois :
"The enemy being ou the starboard bow, and
apparently standing toward the north point of the
roadstead, I headed her for the south point, giv
ing her full steam. So much ou the qui vive
were the townspeople that we had scarcely moved
twenty yards when a shout rent the air and there
was a confused murmur of voices as if Babel had
been let loose. As we neared the French steamer
of war, Acheron, signals were made to the enemy
by means of blue lights from one of the Yankee
schooners in port, perceiving which and knowing
that the signals were so arranged as to designate
our direction, after running a few hundred yards
further, I doubled and came back, under cover of

152 EAPHAEL SEMMES
the land, where I stopped once or twice to assure
myself that the enemy was continuing his course
in the opposite direction in obedience to his signals,
when, as soon as the engineer could do so (for he
had to cool his bearings, and this was an anxious
moment for me), I gave her all steam and stood for
the north eud of the island. As we approached it
the fates, which before had seemed unpropitious for
us, began to smile, and a rain squall which had
come up quite unexpectedly began to envelop us in
its friendly fold, shutting in our dense clouds of
black smoke, which were really the worst teUtales
we had to dread. The first half hour's run was a
very anxious one for us ; but as we began to lose
sight of the lights of the town, and to draw away
from the land, we knew that the enemy had been
caught in his own trap, and that we had successfully
eluded him. . . . Our ship made good speed,
though she was very deep, and by 11:30 we were
up with the south end of Dominica. Here the
wind fell and we ran along the coast of the island
iu a smooth sea, not more than four or five miles
from the laud. The moon by this time being up,
the bold and picturesque outlines of this island,
softened by her rays and wreathed in fleecy clouds,
presented a beautiful night scene. . . . Our
run took every one by surprise ; several of the offi
cers had breakfast aud riding appointments for
several days ahead."
By the next morning, Sunday, Semmes thought
he was at least oue hundred and flfty miles from
the Iroquois, and so relieved was his soul that he
relaxed discipline, omitted the muster and allowed
a day of rest. By evening he was far out on the

SECOND ESCAPE 153
rolling waves, free as the winds, troubled no longer
with points of law, peacefully smoking his cigar
among his officers, and recalling a couplet :
" Far as the breeze can bear, the billow foam,
Survey our empire, and behold our home."
Serene and poetic, Semmes could afford to render
highest tribute to " the vigilance aud skill " of his
gallant opponent, who suffered "great dejection"
at his failure. Newspaper clamor, however, was
not satisfled till Palmer was relieved from command,
but on investigation he was exonerated, restored to
his post, aud two years after the close of the conflict
died a rear-admiral in the United States naval
service. Semmes had pretty well scattered the game in
this fleld, so he had to widen his range and cross
the Atlantic to see what he could find in European
regions. On the way he captured and bonded the
Montmorenci. Shortly afterward he caught the
Arcade, from Maine bound for Guadeloupe, and
she and her cargo of staves were soon afire and
lighting the Sumter on her way.
Early iu December, the Vigilant, also from Maine,
loaded with "mineral guano," met the same fate.
The anniversary of Semmes' escape from the Somers

154 EAPHAEL SEMMES
in the Mexican War, off Vera Cruz, was signalized
by the capture and firing of the Eben Dodge, from
Massachusetts. The easterly winds beat in his face, a raging storm
almost sank him, but he held steadily on until early
in Jauuary, 1862, he dropped anchor in the harbor
of Cadiz, and instantly began his battles with the
pen. He courteously notified the consul of the
United States that he had forty-three prisoners,
fellow-citizens of the consul, whom he wished to
deliver to him, but getting a reply without the offi
cial title Semmes broke off communication. He
was forced to take up the issue of beUigerent rights
with the Spanish authorities, as he was peremptorUy
ordered to depart within twenty-four hours. He
formally protested and asked for the opportunity
to make all repairs that were necessary to enable
him to take to the high seas again. He. won his
case, as, under the circumstances, his position was
impregnable, but not till much red tape had been
unwound by the " circumlocutioh office."
The Sumter was put in one of the best of docks.
She was found to be sound as to hull, the accident
at Marauham having rubbed off only a-small part of
her copper, and having indented, not broken, one
of her planks. The leak that had been trouble-

SECOND ESCAPE 155
some was located in the propeller sleeve. Nothing
was done to the boilers, as the inspectors decided
they could be used for an ocean trip.
Several of his crew deserted and Semmes, being
iuformed that they were being lodged at the United
States consulate, again opened up argument as to
the legality of such a refuge. He flrmly grounded
his plea on the custom of all nations to arrest aud
return deserters from ships of war without making
any inquiry into the nationaUty of the runaways,
and as Spain had granted the Confederate states
belligerent footing, it was plainly the duty of
the authorities to aid him in recapturing his run
away sailors. To permit them to remain under
the protection of the consul of the United States
" would in effect convert the consulate into a camp,
and enable the consul to exercise the rights of a bel
ligerent in neutral territory. He might cripple me
as effectually by this indirect means as if he were
to assault me by means of an armed expedition."
Perhaps Semmes himself hardly expected anything
to come from this remonstrance ; at any rate he got
nothing. Under the teachings of international law,
the consulate was United States territory and Spain
could not afford to violate one of the widely accepted
principles of the relations of nations.

156 EAPHAEL SEMMES
Spain seemed almost hysterical over the presence
of the Sumter, and as she came to anchor, began
urging Semmes to depart. The repairs had been
made very grudgingly, and shortly afterward he
was ordered to sail away. He needed coal and his
funds were exhausted. He despatched word to the
Confederate agent, but received no answer. Finally
one morning, before Semmes had got out of bed, a
peremptory order came from the governor "to de
part within six hours." Semmes says : "I went on
shore, for the flrst time, to have an official inter
view with the blockhead. I found him . . .
a large, thick-set, bull-necked fellow with whom
. . . it would be of but little tise to reason."
The most he would yield was to ask from the au
thorities in Madrid that Semmes should be granted
the privilege of remaining in Cadiz until a remit
tance could come, but he declared if no reply came
within six hours, the Sumter must get under way.
Semmes was highly indignant and resolved to go
with the small amount of coal on hand aud put
into Gibraltar. As he was getting ready an official
came aboard to report that the Queen had ordered
that the time limit be put at twenty-four hours in
stead of six and that the governor was drawing up
a formal paper to send on board. Semmes treated

SECOND ESCAPE 157
the concession very carelessly, and set off, but as he
was passing the government house a boat came
rapidly toward him "with a mau standing up in
the bow shaking a letter at us with great vehe
mence." Eeceiving no attention the boat turned
about, and Semmes left the Spanish dominions for
the second and last time. He had suffered exasper
ating delays and contemptuous rebuffs.
At dawn the next day, while moving up the
Strait, he overhauled two sail, the Neapolitan and
the Investigator. The latter having neutral cargo
aboard was bonded ; the former having flfty tons of
sulphur, consigned to Boston, was given to the
torch. Here within one of the most historical
gateways of the earth, viewed by the Moor and the
Spaniard, was an exhibition that called forth sketch
book and pencil, and the artists were busy delineat
ing one of the most remarkable spectacles of the
ages. Some time after dark, the Sumter brought to
uuder the shadow of the renowned Eock of Gibral
tar, but no man knew that she had made her last
voyage under the Confederate flag.
Here she and her master and crew were at rest for
nearly three mouths, in much more congenial com
pany than at Cadiz ; for, instead of the forbidding
countenance of the Spaniard, the English turned to

158 BAPHAEL SEMMES
the visitors a face as friendly as the official formali
ties would permit to a mere belligerent. Semmes
and his ward-room received all the social courtesies
possible. They visited and were visited, clubs and
reading-rooms were thrown open to them, mili
tary aud citizenry invited them to all festivities.
Semmes was shown over the fortifications as far as
any outsider was privileged to go, and he noted that
whenever he appeared iu his uniform he was always
saluted by the guards. In fact no distinction was
drawn between the Confederates and Federals ex
cept that the flag of the former was not saluted,
being recognized only for warlike purposes.
As far as the usage of nations would at all permit
it, the English aided him. Within twenty-four
hours after his official landing he got an anchor
from the naval officer. Even this delay was not a
persona] choice, but to give time for the law officers
to pass upon the request. No doubt the same
generosity would' have been extended in arresting
his deserters, but in the absence of any treaty
between England and the Southern states, the
authorities could not see their way clear to do any
thing. Doubtless there was the same private inclination
toward him on the question of supplying him with

SECOND ESCAPE 159
coal from the government stores, but again the legal
branch, this time at headquarters in London, de
cided adversely. Immediately after securing funds,
the first week in February, Semmes wanted to
restock the Sumter, but was baffled at every turn by
the combination among the dealers not to sell to
him at all or only at prohibitive prices. The alert
and resourceful consul of the United States, with
his prestige and his commercial infiuence, knew
how completely the Sumter's wings wotUd be clipped
if she remained without fuel. Semmes, in his wrath,
believed that the consul stopped at neither flattery
nor cajolery, at neither bribery nor corruption ; but
even if he did, he had the sanction of the ages past
and the endorsement of untold precedents, all
summed up in the terse maxim that " all is fair in
love and war."
Semmes, however, was as fertile in expedients,
and as undaunted before difficulties as any man.
He drew on his reservoir of legal knowledge and
sent a despatch to the English officials stating his
dilemma and desiring the right of purchase from
the government stores, advancing the very shrewd
analogy of a ship coming into port without provi
sions, and being unable to buy from private firms.
Certainly in such case the public authorities would

160 EAPHAEL SEMMES
aid her from the public stock. Coal had been de
clared "innoxious" by the Foreign Secretary in
London, and hence the Gibraltar officials would have
just as much excuse to supply him with a hundred
tons or so as to help a starving ship with provisions,
or a disabled one with a mast. At Cadiz the Sumter
had been repaired in a government dock because
there was no private one there ; why could not she
be loaded with public coal in Gibraltar when none
was to be had from private hands ? It was a strong
argument, skilfully put, but all to no purpose.
Hearing that there was a chance at Cadiz, he
ordered his paymaster to go there, in the company
of a Southerner who had served as United States
consul at that place, on board a French vessel.
While stopping at Tangier, on the Moorish coast,
these two gentlemen walked into the town, and were
arrested by the local police at the instance of the
United States consul who claimed them for "the
crime of treason or for robbery on the high seas."
They were put in irons, but the paymaster, Myers,
"got the frons off and jumped out of the second
story of the consulate, . . . got over the wall
into the house of a Moor, and was again arrested."
The natives arranged a demonstration in their favor,
but they were soou transferred to a naval vessel,

SECOND ESCAPE 161
and carried to Cadiz and thence forwarded on a
merchantman to the United States.
In the meantime, Semmes had acted with all his
native energy aud well-known eloquence. He de
manded of the Tangier governor the release of the
men, and tried to get the Sumter ready for serious
action, but found that her boilers would not bear a
greater pressure than twelve pounds. He then
sought to enlist the aid of the English representative
in Gibraltar, and urged him to ask the English
diplomatic agent in Tangier to use his influence
with the semi-civilized Moors to set the victims
free. Semmes contended that as both countries
were recognized as belligerents, it was unfair for
the Moors to aid one side. Though there was a
treaty with the United States, it did not cover
political offenses. But the British consul and
the representatives of all the civilized lands there
deemed it best to keep hands off, and refrained
from offering any advice. Semmes wrote to the
British consul, and very lucidly stated the case.
" If Morocco adopts the status given to the Confed
erate states by Europe, she must remain neutral be
tween the two belligerents, not undertaking to judge
of the nationality of the citizens of either of them,
or to decide auy other question growing out of the

162 BAPHAEL SEMMES
war which does not concern her own interests. She
has no right therefore to adjudge a citizen of the
Confederate states to be a citizen of the United
States ; and not having this right herself she cannot
convey it by treaty to the United States to be exer
cised by thefr consul in Tangier."
All of this clear logic did not move the recipient
to do more than tell the Moors that he had no sugges
tion to advance to them. But Semmes had one more
scheme. He tried to get some action by the French
government, and sent a strong argument to Slidell,
the Confederate agent in Paris, urging that the
honor of the French flag was involved, inasmuch
as both of the men had been passengers on a French
boat and had merely touched on land. If Morocco
had been among the family of European nations, of
course the two travelers would have come under the
land jurisdiction immediately, but as it was, the
French consul had authority of trial of all offenses
in which Frenchmen were involved. If they had
been Frenchmen, their case would have been taken
before the consul as judge. K the flag would have
protected Frenchmen on that vessel, why should it
not also throw its folds around these two passengers
who had embarked on it iu good faith that they
would be guaranteed agaiust unjust molestation.

SECOND ESCAPE 163
All Semmes' legal shrewdness and training came
to naught, as neither the French nor the English
would stir iu the matter. But the strength of his
position was virtually admitted by the United
States, as both men were set fr'ee in a few months
after their arrival in Boston, where they were
treated as prisoners of war.
In the meanwhile, amid all this verbal battling
on international law points, Semmes' attention was
seriously drawn to the condition of the Sumter. He
had been unable to use force against the Moore be
cause of the weakness of her boilers. He had
hoped, when he came into a port of so much traffic
as Gibraltar, that he could replace them with a new
set, but none were available for him. He had beeu
tied up there by lack of funds, but wheu some six
teen thousand dollars were remitted to him he was
still unable to take the aggressive, not only because
of the defect in his machinery, but because she was
blockaded for the third aud last time. He could
see only inaction for several months at least, and
that was galling to his nature. There remained
only abandonment of the Sumter, and subsequent
service elsewhere. She had gallantly done her part.
She had taken eighteen ships, and though Semmes,
contrary to his expectations, had captured very

164 BAPHAEL SEMMES
little money, about a thousand dollars only, her ex
pense to the government had been slight, only
about $28,000. Only seven of the prizes were
burned, but the damage to commerce was incalcula
ble, as the alarm spread out of all proportion to the
destruction, and the carrying trade was already be
ginning to be seriously crippled. Besides she drew
off some half a dozen cruisers from the blockading
line along the Southern coast. But, useful as she
had beeu, her career was over, and the routine proc
ess of ending her course was rapidly followed. A
board of survey pronounced her unseaworthy in her
boilers, and the officers voted unanimously iu favor
of layiug her up.
It was a painful wrench to Semmes' heart to en
dorse this view and forward the request to his su
perior in London. He had become attached to the
ship, as she had brought him through many dan
gers. His whole nature was thrown into his trib
ute: "She had run me safely through two vigilant
blockades, had weathered many storms, and rolled
me to sleep in many calms. Her cabin was my
bedroom and my study, both iu one, her quarter
deck was my promenade, aud her masts' spars and
sails my playthings."
Tender relations had beeu established between

SECOND ESCAPE 165
him and the force uuder him. As he remarks, " The
commander of a ship is more or less in the position
of a father of a family. He necessarily forms an
attachment for those who have served under him."
The bond of comradeship is also an additional link.
"When men have been drenched and wind-beaten
in the same storm, have stood on the deck of the
same frail little ship, with only a plank between
them and eternity, and watched her battling with
the elemeuts, which threaten every moment to over
whelm her, there is a feeling of brotherhood that
springs up between them that it is difficult for a
landsman to conceive."
These memories aud associations, abstract and
invisible though they be, are often more powerful
than cables of steel. In spite of the pangs it
brought to sunder them, preparations went for
ward, and before the middle of April, 1862, the
men that had manned the Sumter dispersed, leaving
her in charge of a midshipman. She was sold in a
month or so, and her name changed to Gibraltar.
She flnally met her fate in the North Sea, and " her
bones lie interred not far from those of the Ala
bama."

CHAPTEE IX
ON THE " ALABAMA " AMONG THE WHALEES
"The Alabama was the first steamship in the
history of the world — the defective little Sumter ex
cepted — that was let loose agaiust the commerce of
a great commercial people. The destruction which
she caused was enormous. She . . . became
famous. It was the fame of steam." In these
direct terms, her daring commander does not over
state her wonderful career or the portentousness of
her achievements.
Semmes had no hand iu her building or iu her
dash for liberty from the shipyard on the Mersey.
J. D. Bullock, the Confederate agent in England,
had bargained with an English firm for the con
struction of a boat according to specifications he
furnished. It was the two hundred and ninetieth
order on their books since they had begun their
business and hence on their records she was Num
ber 290 — an inuocent name that was seized upon by
thoughtless writers and speakers iu the Uuited
States as an insult from Confederate sympathizers

ON THE "ALABAMA" 167
in England, since they thus boldly proclaimed that
two hundred and ninety of them had contributed to
pay the expense of the fabrication of this marine
destroyer. Bullock watched over her birth and
growth with the interest of a fond father, as he was
slated to command her. He would doubtless have
made a brilliant history for her aud himself, as the
Confederacy was served abroad by no abler or more
honorable mau thau he ; but when his superiors
gave the berth to Semmes, Bullock murmured not,
aud cheerfully put in his claim for the next one
that might be launched. He was never to serve on
the water, however ; he was too much needed on
laud. Even with him iu charge, it was only by the
narrowest margin that the Alaba-mM escaped, since
both the consul at Liverpool and the minister to
England were most alert and watchful. Evidence
was secured as to her warlike build ; depositions
were taken aud forwarded to London and laid before
the Foreign Office. Communications were drawn
up, reports were asked for, and the case was bandied
about from office to office with aU the red tape, dig
nity, aud circumlocution that ponderous intricate
organizations are capable of. Finally a responsible
opinion was definitely rendered that the building of
the ship was in violation of an English law, and

168 BAPHAEL SEMMES
orders were despatched for her seizure, but too late.
The indefatigable Bullock had not slept at his deli
cate task ; his ear was attuned to all whispers of
danger. He had got a hint, aud early on the morning of
July 29, 1862, he put on boai'd the incompleted
craft a gay party of ladies and gentlemen and
passed down the Mersey on a trial trip. Custom
house officials went along also to see that no inter
national wrong was done. It was a compUmentary
jaunt enjoyed by all with a seasonable luncheon in
the cabin about noon, but later a tug came along
side and the surprised party were all requested to
pass over the side into her. The feast was cleared
away, the bunting taken down, aud there was Uvely
bustling to get the "290 " in shape for her maiden
voyage on the high seas, as she was ordained never
to see Liverpool again. In the darkness of the
early morning of the last day of July, she turned
her prow out of the bay on the coast of Wales where
she had been at anchor aud plowed northward
through the Irish Sea, theu around the north of
Ireland and vanished in the broad ocean.
Charles Francis Adams, the minister from Wash
ington to England, had steadily driven the whole
engine of diplomacy to head her off He inter-

ON THE " ALABAMA " 169
viewed the Foreign Secretary, Lord Eussell, to the
limits of politeness, he placed the proofs before him
of the character of the vessel iu the Laird yards at
Liverpool, he insisted ou quickness of decision and
energy of action, he called upon the United States
gunboat Tuscarora, but it was all too late. The
Tuscarora was down toward Queenstown, while her
game was skimming ou past the Giant's Causeway
in her rush to begin her destiny of destruction. At
that geological puzzle Bullock had landed and made
his way thence to Liverpool.
Bullock had been active but prudent throughout
the period of getting this cruiser afloat. Although
he had been on pleasant social terms with Mr.
Laird, he had never divulged his object, and that
gentleman had only spoken the truth when he de
nied in the House of Commons all knowledge of the
purpose of the boat. There were plenty of prece
dents in the history of the Eevolutionary War for
securing vessels in foreign lands to hurl against a
belligerent. Franklin had done in France just
what Bullock had accomplished in England. The
United States authorities themselves had made over
tures to Laird for obtaining some steamers soon
after the Civil War started. But the time limit set
was too short, as the flrm was already overburdened

170 BAPHAEL SEMMES
with work. With such examples and uuder such
difficulties went forth this
" Beautiful steamship, pride of the seas.
Decked for the battle aud rigged tot the breeze." '
In the meantime the captain of this future
"scourge of commerce" was restlessly searching
another chance to strike at the euemy. After lay
ing up the Sumter in Gibraltar, Semmes sailed for
England, and got in touch with the Confederate
representatives there. He soou saw there was no
prospect of another ship for him, as it was the un
derstanding that Bullock was to have the " 290 " as
soou as she left the yards. Semmes went to Nassau
ou an English boat, with the aim of dashing through
the blockade, returning to the South aud fighting
on land, if he could not get into his own element
again. But shortly after reachiug Nassau he was
instructed by the Confederate Secretary of the Navy
to return to England aud to take charge of the new
cruiser. It was an anxious time for him, — waiting
to catch a neutral bottom to Europe. But he sent
a message to the efficient Bullock to push all work
on the Alabama with as much care and thoroughness
as if he himself were to be her guide.
' Colburn'a Magazine, Vol. 168, p. 498.

ON THE "ALABAMA" 171
Finally, the first week in August Semmes him
self reached Bullock. With his corps of officers, a
few days afterward, all set out in a boat, previously
engaged by Bullock, for the Azores, the appointed
rendezvous. Another vessel, freighted with muni
tions and supplies for the Alabama, had been already
ordered to these islands. These half-way resting
houses are a peaceful haven for the mariner and an
alluring sight to the eye of mau. Nature smiled on
the carefuUy tilled hiUs, "the red- tiled roofs, sharp
gables, aud parti-colored verandas. " Little wonder
if it was horrible to Porter that from "this beauti
ful spot, where it seemed as if nothing unlawful
could exist, started forth one of the most devastat
ing expeditions against a nation's commerce known
in the history of war." Here in sight of these
green-clad slopes and summits, amid the sun flashes
from the waves, with enchanting peacefulness above
and around, the last touches were put on the
Alabama, that had struggled for nine days with the
gales and swells of the Atlantic after escaping from
the Irish Sea.
Her English captain, immediately after coming
to, set his crew ostensibly to repairing the ma
chinery, as he claimed he was disabled by the
storms, but really to make all ready for the arma-

172 BAPHAEL SEMMES
ment that he knew was on the way. The Portuguese
authorities looked on suspiciously ; he swore at
them, bullied them, and continued his work with
added energy. With the coming of the other two
vessels, the harbor officials became more and more
inquisitive, aud although the pitiful plea was made
that one of the consorts was sinking and aU bauds
were feverishly straining themselves to lighten her
aud save her, all three were forced to go outside.
With some deception, much boldness, a little defi
ance, unceasing toil of the crews, and racking
vigilance and apprehension on the part of Semmes
lest au enemy appear before he was armed, the
Alaba-mM was finally gotten into shape.
John Laird, her creator, declared she was " the
finest cruiser of her class in the world." To the
great sea leader on the other side of the civil con
flict, Porter, "she was the most dangerous machine
to be used against American commerce ever yet
planned." In the opinion of one of her officers,
Sinclair, she was "fitted out with the most careful
aud astute provision, . . . had unusual re
sources within herself, such as no other man-of-war
of the day could boast. She carried the means
for making all ordinary repairs upon her ma
chinery, spars, and armament while at sea, or in

ON THB " ALABAMA " 173
ports where mechanical facilities could not be com
manded." At his first glance iu these Portuguese waters, her
master saw "she was indeed a beautiful thing to
look upon." His home aud his floating fortress for
more thau a score of mouths, she deserves a more
material description. Thus has Semmes given it : '
"She was about nine huudred tons burden, two
hundred and thirty feet iu length, tbirty-two feet in
breadth, twenty feet iu depth, aud drew, wheu
provisioned aud coaled for a cruise, fifteen feet of
water. Her model was of the most perfect sym
metry, aud she .sat upou the water with the light
ness and grace of a swan. She was barkentine
rigged, with long lower masts, which enabled her
to carry large fore-and-aft sails, as jibs aud trysails,
which are of so much importance to a steamer, in
so many emergencies. Her sticks were of the best
yellow pine, that would bend in a gale like a willow
wand without breaking, aud her rigging was of the
best Swedish iron wire. The scantling of the vessel
was light, compared with vessels of her class iu the
Federal Navy, but this was scarcely a disadvantage,
as she was designed as a scourge of the enemy's
commerce rather thau for battle. She was to de-
feud herself simply, if defense should become neces
sary. Her engine was of three hundred horse power
aud she had attached an apparatus for condensing
from the vapor of sea water all the fresh water that
her crew might require.
" She was a perfect steamer aud a perfect sailing
' "Nav. Hist, ot Civil War," p. 628.

174 EAPHAEL SEMMES
ship at the same time, neither of her two modes of
locomotiou being at all dependent upou the other.
. . . The Sumter, wheu her fuel was exhausted,
was little better than a log ou the water because of
her inability to hoist her propeller, which she was
in consequence compelled to dray after her. The
Alabama was so constructed that iu fifteen minutes
her propeller could be detached from the shaft, and
lifted iu a well contrived for the purpose, sufficiently
high out of the water not to be au impediment to
her speed. When this was done aud her sails
spread, she was to all intents aud purposes a sail
ing ship. On the other haud, when I desired to
use her as a steamer, I had only to start the flres,
lower the propeller, aud if the wind was adverse,
brace her yards to the wiud, aud the conversion
was complete. The speed of the Alabama was al
ways greatly overrated by the euemy. She was
ordinarily about a teu-kuot ship. She was said to
have made eleven knots and a half ou her trial
trip, but we never afterward got it out of her.
Under steam aud sail both we logged on one oc
casion thirteen knots and a quarter, which was her
utmost speed.
"Her armament consisted of eight gnus; six
32-pouuders, in broadside, and two pivot guus
amidships ; one ou the forecastle, and the other
abaft the mainmast— the former a 100-pouuder rifled
Blakeley, aud the latter a smooth bore eight-inch.
The Blakeley gun was so deficient in metal com
pared with the weight of shot it threw that after
the first few discharges, wheu it became a little
heated, it was of comparatively small use to us, to
such au extent were we compelled to reduce the
charge of powder ou account of the recoil. The
average crew of the Alaba-ma before the mast was

ON THE " ALABAMA " 175
about oue huudred aud twenty men ; aud she car
ried twenty-four officers. The cost of the ship with
everything complete was about $250,000."
Such was the boat, put iu commission in mid- At
lantic, beyond all human jurisdiction, with a few
lonely islands in sight. A graphic pen-picture has
Semmes given us of the event :
"The ship haviug been properly prepared we
steamed out, ou this bright Sunday morning, under
a cloudless sky, with a gentle breeze from the south
east scarcely ruffling the surface of the placid sea ;
and, under the shadow of the smiling and pictur
esque island Terceira, which nature seemed to have
decked specially for the occasion, so charming did
it appear iu its checkered dress of a lighter and
darker green, composed of corn-fields aud orange
groves, the flag of the new-born Confederate states
was unfurled for the flrst time from the peak of the
Alabama. . . . The ceremony was short but im
pressive. The officers were all iu full uniform, and
the crew neatly dressed. I caused 'all hands' to
be summoned aft on the quarter-deck, and, mount
ing a gun carriage, I read the commission of Mr.
Jeffersou Davis appointiug me a captain in the Con
federate States Navy, and the order of Mr. Stephen
E. Mallory, the Secretary of the Navy, directing
me to assume command of the Alabama. Following
my example the officers and crew had all uncovered
their heads, iu deference to the sovereign authoritJ^
as is customary on such occasions ; as they stood
in respectful silence and listened with rapt attention
to the reading aud to the short explanation of my

176 BAPHAEL SEMMES
object and purposes iu putting the ship in commis
sion which followed, I was impressed with the
spectacle. " While the reading was going ou, two small balls
raight have been seen ascending slowly, oue to the
peak, aud the other to the raain-royal masthead.
These balls were so arranged that, by a sudden jerk
of the halliards by which they had been sent aloft,
the flag aud pennant would unfold themselves to the
breeze. A curious observer would also have seen a
quartermaster standing by the English colors, which
we were still bearing, ready to strike them, a baud
of music ou the quarter-deck, aud a gunner (lock-
string iu haud) standiug by the weather-bow gun.
All these meu had their eyes upon the reader ; aud
wheu he had concluded, at a wave of his hand, the
guu was fired, the change of flags took place, and
the air was rent by a deafening cheer from officers
aud men : the baud at the same time playing
'Dixie,' that soul-stirring national anthem of the
new-born governmeut. Thus amid this peaceful
scene of beauty, with all nature smiling upon the
ceremony, was the AlabamM christened ; the name
'290' disappearing with the English flag."

In this way on Sunday, August 24, 1862, was
boru the Alabama ; ou another Sunday a little over
a score of months later she died.
It was an anxious moment after Semmes had made
his address inviting seamen from the crews to en
list. He had enticingly stated the case to them,
briefly describing the cause of the South as a strug
gle for liberty, painting the delights of strange

ON THB "ALABAMA" 177
skies and foreign ports with "liberty on shore,"
aud mentioning the prospects for corabat with the
foe. Especially careful had he been to emphasize
the flnancial side, — the unusually good rate of pay he
offered them, and the chances for big prize raoney
if all turned out successfully. He raust have beeu
eloquent if results were the test, as he got nearly all
the avaUable fellows, or eighty out of the total of
ninety. It was a happy ending for the flrst and
only "sturap speech " ever made to the crew of the
Alabama. Semmes, Bullock, and the British cap
tain were aU kept busy till late that night arranging
raatters for the newly-enlisted raen, so they could
make remittances horae. Semraes was gratified
that so many were married, as he felt that for this
reason he could rely on them all the more.
It was a raotley corapany at the start, becoming
more so as desertions were raade good at the various
ports visited. KeU found that among the English,
Dutch, Irish, aud Spanish, were a few Yankee tars,
aud a nucleus of Southern pilots from Charleston,
Savannah, and New Orleans, but all iu all, he de
clared, "a braver and raore willing crew never
floated." They were ready to dare all for their
commander, and begged hira to get another deck
after the loss of the Alabama so they could sail with

178 BAPHAEL SEMMES
him again. One of the number has portrayed them
as lawless, turbulent, wild as animals, and defiant
of all rule, but he also testifies to the firmness and
decisiveness of the captain, and his spirit of iron
rule when mutiny seeraed imrainent. The twenty
months at sea, with a long series of prizes, are an
answer to all criticism of proper control.
Late that night Bullock parted from Semmes,
noting a propitious horoscope in all nature in spite
of his depression. "With heartfelt prayers for his
success, I stepped over the Alabama's side with
feelings very much akin to those which oppress a
man when he leaves his home behind him. The
heavens were brilliant with stars, a blazing comet
illuminated the sky to the northwest, the lanterns
of the Alabama glearaed brightly as she rose aud
fell to the sea ; the signs were all favorably ominous
aud, banishing every sentiment but hope, I pre
dicted a glorious cruise for the dashing little craft
aud her gallant commauder." Confident was he in
another despatch to his superior, when he said of
Serames, "You will not be long in hearing of his
moveraents." '
Bullock was prophetic, though there was a short
delay. Serames had not only a uew crew, but also
' " Naval War Eecords," Series I, Vol. I, p. 776.

ON THE "ALABAMA" 179
almost a new staff of officers. Kell, his right hand
mau on the Sumter, was the same for him on the
Alabama, but the other lieutenants were replaced by
Armstrong, Wilson, Low, aud Sinclair, the last of
whom has left a lively account of life on shipboard.
Gait, the Sumter's surgeou, aud Freeman, the former
chief eugineer, filled the same posts on the Alabama.
Llewellyn, au Englishman, as assistant surgeon, aud
Bulloch, brother of the Alabama's designer, were
iu the list. In addition one renegade slipped in,
Semmes admitted with shame, the paymaster, who
tried to tamper with the crew with a view to mutiuy.
He was discharged, aud then went over to the other
side, his place being filled by Gait.
Leisure was needed for drilling the organization
into a compact mass, so that each part would kuow
its place, aud all could work in harmony. Semraes
withdrew therefore "uuder easy sail, from the
beaten tracks of coraraerce," and devoted " several
days to the exercise of the crew, as well at general
as at division quarters." He accounted it fortu
nate that sorae of his sailors had served ou raen-of-
war. The boat herself had been built of green lumber,
aud uuder the warm sun timbers begau to warp and
yawu. The meu got to know all about calking.

180 EAPHAEL SEMMES
The guns also were put in shape, and tried out with
some blank cartridges.
It was soon seen that the Alabama was a fiue
sailer, a thing she abundantly proved afterward, as
she made all of her captures except half a dozen
with her propeller out of water. She could never
have become the terror she did if she had relied on
steam, as she carried only eighteen days' fuel. Her
radius of action would have been so limited if she
had been forced to go into port every two or three
weeks to recoal, that she would have beeu soou
caught or badly crippled in her movements.
But she had finally preened and pluraed herself,
aud was ready for a dash at the whalers around the
Azores, a field which, though open to the bold ad
venturers of all countries, was alraost entfrely pre
empted by the New England boats. These waters
do not themselves produce the food for these mon
sters of the deep. Their supplies are grown in the
warmer regions of the tropics, aud are brought to
these feeding areas by the currents. The hunting
here ends about the first of October, when the
winter gales begin. There were ouly a few weeks
left for Semmes to deal his fatal strokes, aud he lost
no further time. Early on September ^h, he ran
across the Ocmulgee, and astonished the captain by

ON THE "ALABAMA" 181
showing the Confederate colors. She was busy
with a huge whale alongside, within one huudred
railes of where the Alabama had been commissioned
eleven days before. Semraes did not waut to alarra
other boats in the whaling industry, and although
he had removed all the stores that he wanted frora
his prize by nine o'clock the night of the capture,
he waited till the uext day to start his bonfire. He
rau iu near the island of Flores and landed his
prisoners in their own boats, allowing thera to take
what stores they desfred.
Hardly had this been done, when another sail was
seen raaking for the protecting zone of the marine
league around the island. She did not show her
colors, but to the keen eyes on the Alabama she was
American in every feature. She gamely held on
her way iu spite of the warning from a blank cart
ridge. After humoring her a few minutes longer,
Serames sent a round shot whistling through her
rigging. The crew of seven were all put in irons,
iu retaliation for the treatraent that Serames' pay
master, Myers, had received after his capture in
Tangier. The passengers aboard were permitted to
reraain, with a prize crew in control, till the next
day, when they with the prisoners were landed.
Setting out again Seraraes overhauled a Portuguese

182 BAPHAEL SEMMES
"whaling brig," the ouly foreign whaler he ever
held up. There were practically none engaged in
this business except Americans, all the others hav
ing beeu driven out in fair, free contest by the
"superior skill, energy, industry, courage aud
perseverance of the Yankee whaler, who is perhaps
the best speciraen of a sailer the world over."
Such is Serames' spontaneous tribute to the noble
worth and character of his foes, a tribute coming
frora him in spite of his hostility to the government
of the section which sent them forth.
But the day was not lost. That afternoon he
bagged the Ocean Bover, a large craft on her way
horae to Massachusetts, with eleven hundred barrels
of oil, after a cruise of over three years. To
Semraes' poetic nature pathos terapered the pride
of victory. He could not help feeling a syrapathy
for this gallant fellow homeward bound to his wife
aud "babies," after his long separation. But the
master did not mope over his misfortune. When
he heard that the Ocmulgee meu had been allowed
to pull to freedom on the island he asked for the
same favor, declaring that the distance of four or
flve miles was nothing. "We whalers sometiraes
chase a whale ou the broad sea until our ship is hull
down, and think nothing of it. It will relieve you

ON THE "ALABAMA" 183
of us the sooner and be of sorae service to us be
sides." The water was sraooth, the chance good to be rid
of prisoners, aud Serames gave permission for the
boats to be loaded with provisions and personal
effects. The delighted fellows worked like beavers,
and in a couple of hours the six boats, manned by
six each, were alongside waiting for the word of
release. Serames says : "I could not but be amused
when I looked over the side into these boats at the
amount of plunder that the rapacious fellow had
packed in them. They were literally loaded down
with all sorts of traps, from the seamen's chests aud
bedding to the tabby cat and parrot. Nor had the
main chance been overlooked, for all the ' cabin
stores' had been secured, and sundry barrels of
beef and pork besides. I said to him, ' Captain,
your boats appear to rae to be rather deeply laden ;
are you not afraid to trust them ? ' ' Oh, no, ' he
replied, 'they are as buoyant as ducks, and we
shall not ship a drop of water.'" After being
paroled, they shoved off, and set out to row to
land. The scene aud the occasion touched Semraes'
strain of sentiraent, and he has painted it all for us
tenderly: "That night landing of this whaler's

184 BAPHAEL SEMMES
crew was a beautiful spectacle. I stood on the
horseblock watching it, my mind busy with many
thoughts. The moon was shining brightly, though
there were sorae passing clouds sailing lazUy in the
upper air that flecked the sea. Flores, which was
sending off to us, even at this distance, her perfuraes
of shrub and flower, lay sleeping in the raoonlight,
with a few fleecy white clouds round the mountain
top like a turban. The rocky islets that rise like so
many shafts out of the sea, devoid of all vegetation,
and at different distances from the shore, looked
weird and unearthly, like sheeted ghosts. The
boats moving swiftly and mysteriously toward the
shore might have been mistaken when they had
gotten a little distance from us for Venetian gon
dolas, with their peaked bows and sterns, especially
when we heard coming over the sea a song sung by
a powerful and rausical voice and chorused by all
the boats. Those raerry fellows were thus making
light of misfortune, and proving that the sailor after
all is the true philosopher. The echo of that night
song lingered long in my raemory, but I little
drearaed as I stood on the deck of the Alabama and
witnessed the scene I have described, that four
years afterward it would be quoted agaiust me as a
violation of the law of war. And yet so it was.

ON THE "ALABAMA" 185
It was alleged . . . that miles away at sea, in
rough and inclement weather, I compelled my
prisoners to depart for the shore, in leaky and un
sound boats, at the hazard of their lives, designing
and desiring to drown them. And this was all the
thanks I received for setting some of these fellows
up as nabobs among the islanders. Why, the
master of the Ocean Bover, with his six boats and
their cargoes, was richer than the governor, when
he landed in Flores ; where the simple islanders
are content with a few head of cattle, a cast net and
a canoe." Semraes was right ; this act and the romance of
this flight to land were considered at first most
damaging to him when the Navy Department was
searching for evidence against hira as he lay in jail
in Washington in the early part of 1866. Happily
for the judicial calm of the legal adviser, the case
was investigated, and the actors cheerfully exoner
ated him frora all blarae.
Conscious of having dealt generously with the
defeated, Serames of course could feel none of these
apprehensions, and turned in and slept soundly till
aroused at midnight to be informed that a large
ship was near. Without disturbing the regular
routine of officers and crew, as it was his rule in

186 BAPHAEL SEMMES
such cases to use only those on custoraary duty un
less in an eraergency, Semmes came on deck and
supervised the chase himself. It was a close race
for four hours, as she was hurrying for the shelter
of the marine league, and disdained to heed a blank
cartridge. Bnt a thirty-two pound shot behind her
stern gave her such a drenching that she hauled up
at once.
She was the Alert frora Connecticut, ont only six
teen days, with an ample outfit to reach a whaling
station in the islands of the South ludian Ocean.
It was a very opportune catch for Semraes as he got
from her a quantity of clothing, canned meats, and
tobacco. The crew was sent ashore in their own
boats, and the Alabama tars sraoked to their fill of
good " Virginia twist."
As he could take no prizes into a neutral port,
there were soon three pyres burning around Semmes
at the same time. A fresh boat, seeing that the
triple volumes of sraoke carae from vessels afire,
wheeled aud made off, but not fast enough, and he
soon had the Weatherguage, a whaler from Massa
chusetts. Perhaps her crew enjoyed that night as
the Alabama bayed after more flying prey until
dawn, only to discover then that she had been pur
suing a Dane for Hamburg. The poor, tired

ON THE "ALABAMA" 187
Alabama could only limp back on her tracks, aud
cheer herself with destroying her prize, the Weather
guage, after landing the crew.
No other excitement followed for two days, theu
the Alabama raet the Altamaha, which had beeu out
only five raouths and had but little oil. It was a
stirring run the ensuing night under a soft raoon
light after the Benjamin Tucker, eight mouths from
home, with over three huudred barrels of oil, and,
what was still more welcorae, sorae tobacco. As
soon as she stopped, Semmes turned in to conclude
his nap, leaving the boarding party to fluish opera
tions. Within the next four days, three other
" birds ofthe sea" were caught ; the Courser, which
was flrst devoted to target practice, the Virginia,
whose name did not save her, and the Elisha Dunbar,
which last was taken on Septeraber 18, 1862. The
capture ofthe Dunbar seriously tested the Alabama' s
powers in bad weather, as a stiff breeze was whip
ping the ocean into buffeting waves. Serames was
charmed with the ship's behavior. He says : "It
was soon quite evident that ray gallant little ship
was entirely at home in the roughest weather. She
seemed, like a trained racer, to enjoy the sport, and
though she would tremble now and theu, as she
leaped from sea to sea, it was the tremor of excite-

188 BAPHAEL SEMMES
raent, not of weakness." The wind was flerce but
there were daring souls with Semmes who would risk
all whenever he gave command. The boarding
squad went down with the wind and after applying
the torch continued with the sarae help to the
Alabama which had raanceuvered to windward of
the prize.
It was the last whaler to be got, and nature
angrily helped to celebrate the event : "This burn
ing ship was a beautiful spectacle, the scene being
wild and picturesque beyond description. The
black clouds were mustering thefr forces in fearful
array. Already the entfre heavens had been over
cast. The thunder began to roll and crash, and the
lightning to leap from cloud to cloud iu a thousand
eccentric liues. The sea was in a tumult of rage ;
the winds howled and the floods of rain descended.
Araid this turmoil of the elements, the Dunbar, all
in flames, and with disordered gear and unfurled
canvas, lay rolling and tossing upon the sea. Now
au ignited sail would fly away frora a yard, and
scud off before the gale ; and now the yard itself, re
leased from the control of its braces, would swing
about wildly as if in the madness of despair, and
then drop into the sea. Finally the masts went by
the board, and then the hull rocked to and fro a while

ON THE "ALABAMA" 189
until it was filled with water, and the fire nearly
quenched, when it settled to the bottom of the great
deep, a victira to the passions of man and the fiiry
ofthe eleraents."

CHAPTEE X
THE SINKING OF THE " HATTEEAS "
The storra that had sounded the dirge of the
Dunbar heralded a series of similar disturbances that
put au eud to the whaling season several days earlier
than usual. Semraes set out for new pastures, the
Grand Bauks of Newfoundland, to intercept the
great American "junk fleet," or bearers of the
grain from the Mississippi valley to the hungry
raouths of Europe. Fortunately stocks of heavier
clothing had been got from the whaler in time for
this excursion northward. Semraes was all the tirae
very thoughtful of the health aud welfare of his
men, and during his career on both boats never lost
a man by disease, though he had in all some flve
hundred iu his crew and two thousand prisoners.
Good luck went with him into the Gulf Stream ;
in the first half of October he took seven vessels :
Brilliant, Emily Farnum, Wave Crest, Dunkirk,
Tonawanda, Manchester, aud Lamplighter. All were
burned except the Farnum which had neutral
cargo, and the Tonawanda which had some sixty

THE SINKING OF THE " HATTEEAS" 191
passengers, one-half being women and children.
Although chivalrous to the weak, Semraes did not
want the Alabama converted into a nursery, aud the
stewards set to feeding babies. He kept her by
under a prize crew, hoping for some vessel with
neutral freight to come aloug ; but, no such fortune
turning up, he was compelled by the circumstances
to give her freedom under a ransom bond. There
were English goods on the Manchester, but they were
not so documented. The owners afterward wanted
their government to make a diplomatic contention
based on this fact, but were informed by the Eng
lish Secretary of Foreign Affairs that they must
"look for redress to the country ofthe captor," as
that was the principle in the law of nations, when
there was no evidence that the material was the
property of an outsider.
Serames was now so constantly hailing vessels out
of American ports that his mail was almost as regu
lar as if he had been on land, often tri-weekly aud
sometimes daily. It was his habit to scan the
papers for news of the raoveraents of opposing ves
sels, and thus learn how to escape traps and avoid
dangers. In his diary of October 12th, he notes
that, according to the New York Herald of October
5th, of one hundred and ninety-two of " the eneray's

192 EAPHAEL SEMMES
gunboats" only thirteen were superior in force to
him. After he had extracted what he considered
the essentials, he passed the papers on to the officers
and theu to the crew. Some of the younger mera
bers of the staff got to expect the morning news at
every breakfast, and when " it was not forthcom
ing, they would wonder what the d — 1 the Alabama
had been about the past night that she had not
gotten hold of a raail." Of course many batches of
papers were generously furnished him by boats of
other nationalities which he would hold up. All
the letters Seraraes opened hiraself, as his right un
der the laws of war, and scanned them for any con
fidential relation either as to the progress of the war
or on the character of the cargo aboard.
Twice during this time did he feel himself in
jeopardy. Once he unlirabered his guus and cleared
for action with what he thought was a United States
war- vessel, but she turned out to be Spanish. Still
he was pleased with the creditable showing of his
men in making the ship ready.' It was a furious
cyclonic gale that raost endangered the safety of all.
This lasted over four hours, the vortex passing over
the ship, which hardly changed her position while
the wind carae upou her frora opposite directions for
' " Naval War Records," Series I, Vol. I, p. 795.

THE SINKING OF THE "HATTEEAS" 193
two hours at a time in turn. She rode through the
storm almost buoyantly, though all hands were set
to repairing minor damages the next day.
For several days after this outburst of the ele
meuts, there were no captures. By this time the
Alabama's force had become "very expert in de
tecting the nationalities of ships." One of the sub
ordinate officers was unusually good in this respect,
and scarcely ever made a mistake. Only once did
he blunder iu declaring a boat "Yankee," and that
one had been built in Canada, and consequently had
aU the earmarks of ships constructed in the United
States. Not only did Semmes see something dis
tinctive and excellent about the American ships
that he was destroying, but he frankly adraired
' ' the seamanship of my enemies. " " The Yankee, "
he said, " is certainly a reraarkable speciraen of the
genus homo. He is at once a duck aud a chicken, and
takes to the water or to the land with equal facility. "
Neither were the raerchants without dexterity and
shrewdness as Semmes now began to find out. After
the word of his first captures in the Gulf Stream
reached the shippers, they started iu to " cover
cargoes" with certificates of foreign ownership.
Knotty questions came up before " The Confederate
States Adrairalty Court held on the Confederate

194 EAPHAEL SEMMES
States Steamer .4Z«6ama on the High Seas." Some
plain-spoken persons on the other side indignantly
declared that this august tribunal consisted of oue
mau ouly. Captain Eaphael Semmes, commanding
the Alabama. Of course there could be no appeal
from his decision, but so thorough was his mastery
of the law touching such raatters, and so careful
was he of the rights of neutrals, that it is safe to say
that he would never have been overruled, even if
his cases had beeu taken to a regularly constituted
unprejudiced court on land. He would sit in his
cabin, hear evidence, exaraine the ship's papers,
render his decisions aud enter forraal decrees on his
records. The atterapts at deception were often very
apparent, especially at first. Some blanket docu
raent would be exhibited to the effect that all the
cargo belonged to neutrals or to subjects of His
Majesty, the King of Italy, or to subjects of Great
Britain or sorae other country. Again the goods
would be consigned to a firm abroad, but subject to
the order of the consignor, thus of course making
them the property of the merchant in the Araerican
port. Semmes was charged by the New York news
papers with deciding such matters very abruptly,
even profanely, but he would have been justified in
his impatience with such fraudulent impositions.

THE SINKING OF THE " HATTEEAS " 195
Thanks to the enterprise ofthe Araerican reporter
and editor, Serames was apprised iu the last week
of October that several gunboats were rushing out
of New York harbor after him. He turned south
ward and westward ; or, as he puts it, " while they
are running from New York, I am running toward
it. ' ' He had another reason for this move ; he boldly
aimed to raake a capture alraost in the very face of
the metropolis, aud actually got within two hun
dred and twenty miles of the city when he was
forced to give up his daring scheme as his coal
would last ouly four days longer.'
After adding the Lafayette, Crenshaw, Lauretta,
Baron de Castine, and Levi Starbuck to his spoils,
Semmes got raore than he had counted ou iu the
T. B. Wales, au East India trader, because she car
ried several lady passengers and children, the
faraily of the captain, aud an ex-consul on his
return horae. Serames gallantly allowed thera to
bring all their wardrobes aboard without any in
spection, and some of his lieutenants relinquished
their quarters for these prisoners. The boat as
sumed a doraestic air with the cries of childish
voices aud the pattering of tiny feet. Tbe ex-consul
at least, if not the others, appreciated the kindness
' "Naval War Records," Series I, Vol. I, p. 802.

196 EAPHAEL SEMMES
all received, and when Semmes, because of unreason
ing hatred, seemed under the shadow of the gallows
sorae years later he volunteered hiraself as a witness
in Semmes' behalf.
The Wales proved almost a floating shipyard, as
she provided spars and rigging to replace the losses
incurred iu the terriflc storms of the Gulf Streara.
Her raain-yard "was alraost of the precise dimen
sions of that of the Alabama," which had been car
ried away in the cyclone of the middle of October.
Best of all, perhaps, there were eight recruits frora
her for the Alabama, bringing her corapleraent
nearly to the standard of one hundred aud twenty.
Having despoiled her of all he wanted, Semmes let
the torch fluish the work.
It was ten days before his cramped quarters were
relieved of the congestion. He passed along the
coast of the island of Dominica, which had looked
so soft and peaceful to hira just a year before when
he made his escape from the Iroquois in the slow
little Sumter. He lowered his propeller, put on
steam, glided by iu sight of St. Pierre, and shortly
after dropped anchor iu Fort de France, ou the 18th
of November, 1862. This was the Alabama's first
harbor since her baptism off Terceira not quite three
months before.

THE SINKING OF THE "HATTEEAS" 197
The prospect of leave ashore and the smuggling
of Uquor aboard were too much for his irresponsible
crew. They biu'st all bonds, defied all discipline
and tried to disable their officers. But Semmes
mastered the riot. He left his dinner and carae ou
deck, had the lieutenant "beat to quarters," aud
passed along the platoons. All drunken raen were
arrested, taken to the gangway, and doused rapidly
with buckets of water. It only araused them at
first, and they swore all the raore volubly, but
Serames had tried this method aud knew it would
be entfrely efficacious if kept up long and rapidly
enough. They soon began to gasp for breath and
then to shiver, then to beg for raercy and to proraise
to behave ever afterward. For two hours the treat
ment was applied and then all were docile and peni
tent. This, the only semblance of mutiny on the
Alabama, was effectively quelled because as the
sailors put it : " Old Beeswax was hell upon water
ing a fellow's grog."
This little flare up did not delay the execution of
the purpose of Semmes' call to port. The indefati
gable Bullock had despatched the coal ship, and it
had arrived several days before, in ample time for
her loquacious Scotch master to divulge her mission.
Semmes expected a gunboat to be nosing about, and

198 EAPHAEL SEMMES
he shrewdly sent the coal ship out to a sraall island.
Before he followed her, the San Jacinto carae up,
aud raade all preparations for corabat. Seraraes
had no intention of meeting her as she had twice as
much metal as the Alabama, but he felt no alarm
because he knew she was only an "old wagon ofa
ship ' ' for speed.
The weather was far kinder to the Alabama than
to the Sumter a year before, as the night was dark
and rainy. Semmes was very cool about it as we
see in his narration : " We ran up our boats, lighted
our flres, and when the steam was ready, got under
way, as we would have done ou any ordinary occa
sion, except only that there were no lights permitted
to be seen about the ship, and that the guus were
loaded and cast loose, and the crew at quarters. In
the afternoon, a French naval officer had come on
board, kindly bringing rae a chart ofthe harbor, from
which it appeared I could run out in almost any di
rection I might choose. I chose the most southern
route, and giving my ship a full head of steam, we
passsed out without so rauch as getting a glirapse of
the San Jacinto." In fact so neatly was the escape
effected that, according to a British subordinate,
the San Jacinto reraained there, looking around for
four days and nights before discovering that the

THE SINKING OF THE "HATTEEAS" 199
quarry had eluded him, aud was free from all pur
suit.' Semmes tranquilly sailed ou to Blanquilla, a small
coral island off the coast of Venezuela, barren ex
cept for a few goats pastured there by sorae herders
frora the mainland. There he found a whaling
schooner boiling out blubber ou the beach. As he
was withiu the saving grace of the marine league,
he could only frighten the skipper by divulging to
him the dreaded narae of the Alabama, aud ordering
him not to depart before she did. " He gladly as
sented to these terras," and, although an enemy,
carae on board in a quite friendly raanner.
Here the Alabama lay for five days "coaling
ship and getting ready for another cruise. " It was
thoroughly safe to let the crew go on land as there
were neither bar-rooras nor dance- halls in the place.
Peaceful picnics, happy fishing trips, and success
ful hunts for water fowl, while not so exciting as
evenings in a port, were far more healthful for the
crew, and more conducive to discipline. The whole
ship was put iu the best physical condition.
It was necessary to have raen aud material in the
highest state of efficiency, as Semraes had deterrained
ou a very daring deed. From the energetic Ameri-
' Cornhill Magazine, May, 1897.

200 EAPHAEL SEMMES
can newspapers, got from his captures, he had
learned of General Banks's expedition against Texas,
with his rendezvous at Galveston. He knew a large
number of transports would set out for that port.
As the water over the bar was only twelve feet, the
raost of thera would have to anchor outside. It was
his aira to make a night raid on them aud throw the
whole into such confusion that they would faU afoul
of each other, when raany would be burned or sunk
aud the whole fleet crippled. If he could attack the
arraed convoys unexpectedly, they would be off
guard aud would likely not be very harraful to hira.
He was very hopeful of this as the press had spread
it far that the Alabama " was well on her way to the
coast of Brazil and the East Indies. " He was sure
no passing vessel had noted his presence at Blan
quilla, so he raight slip into the Gulf of Mexico
without detection, if all went well.
But Banks would not arrive at his destination till
about the tenth of Jauuary, and as it was now only
the latter part of November, there were several
weeks for active work meanwhile. A good diversion
to fill in this tirae would be the capture of a Califor
nia treasure-stearaer. He reflected how much the
Southern cause could be encouraged and aided by a
deposit of a million or so of gold in European

THE SINKING OF THE "HATTEEAS" 201
capitals, to be drawn on for new Alabamas, raras,
and ironclads.
After dfrecting his coal consort to repair to Areas,
a desert island on the Gulf coast of the peninsula of
Yucatan, so as to refurnish him about Christmas
for his final dash at Galveston, Semraes set out for
the east end of Cuba. He thought the passage there
raore likely for the California boats than the one at
the west end of the island. On the way he caught
the Parker Cooke, a godsend to the Alaba-mM, as she
was full of crackers, bread, butter, meats, aud dried
fruits. After she had been despoiled, she lighted her
captor's passage until near midnight. Five days
later, the Union came along to break the monotony,
but happily for her, she had neutral property aboard,
aud hence was dismissed under ransom bond.
Sorae forty- eight hours later, on December 7, 1862,
high hopes were followed by deepest disappointment.
As all hands were getting ready for the usual Sun
day raorning rauster, a musical voice floated down
from aloft of "Sail ho !" and a large steamer was
sighted. All were sure of the California gold, but
she was going in the wrong direction. As the ships
neared each other, the stranger's upper deck was
seen crowded with passengers, male aud female, the
uniforms, veils, gay dresses, aud fluttering ribbons

202 BAPHAEL SEMMES
making a bright, joyous scene, soon to be one of
fright and consternation. She did not heed a blank
cartridge except to put ou steara and speed, but a
round shot splintered her raast, caused a wild panic
araong the ladies and a scampering below, and
brought the ship to at once. Instead of gold, Semmes
got what he little knew how to take care of, as
there were flve hundred women and children on the
ship, besides a squad of raarines. He paroled the
latter, and sent his handsoraest young officer aboard,
in his nattiest uniforra, to calra the nerves of the
ladies. This officer was so gallant that all fear and
alarm disappeared, and his coat buttons were cut
off as mementoes of the occasion. So polite were all
on both sides that the entire cabin, at his request,
drank the health of Jefferson Davis, but a bright
American girl on the other side evened up raatters
by roguishly proposing a toast to Abrahara Lincoln,
which the chivalrous officer had to accept amid the
hurrahs of all.' Such was the festive afr on the
A-riel, which Semmes kept by him for several days
with a view to transferring all the souls to sorae
neutral bottom. None coming, however, he was
forced to send her away uuder written obligation,
since he could not take her into any port.
'Sinclair, "Two Years on the Alabama," p. 59.

THB SINKING OF THB "HATTEEAS" 203
Au accident to her engine was responsible for the
Alabama's withdrawing from thetracks of coraraerce,
and keeping still like a wounded animal for a couple
of days. Her eugineer was skilful, and mended
the very serious break. Then she went ou to the
Areas Island to coal and gird herself for the sortie
against Banks's expedition for Galveston. Luck
was with Semmes, as he spoke no sail after leaving
the vicinity of Jamaica, and slipped to his breath
ing quarters unseen by any eye, either on land or
water. Two days before Christmas he was alongside
the faithful Agrippina, and ceased his wanderings
for a week, " coaling ship, refittiug, aud repaint
ing," careening her over, and scrubbing her bottom
below the water line. The Alabama was soon in
such excellent trim that the sailors affectionately
said of her that she could be made to do anything
but talk.
Like a racer trained almost to a razor edge, she
was ready for this daring venture into the midst of
a fleet of vessels of uuknown speed aud arraaraent.
Porter generously renders his raced of adrairation
for the audacity of the move. It was " a bold and
feasible plan," he says, " aud no one can deny that
Semmes displayed great daring in thus bearding the

204 EAPHAEL SEMMES
lion iu his den, and entering waters that he knew
to be full of his enemy's gunboats." '
The run up the Gulf was uneveutf ul, and the crew,
off duty, killed time as best they could, reading,
playing games, and telling yarns. But the most
entertaining diversion was the speculations as to the
amount of prize money each would receive from the
lump appropriation the Confederate Congress would
vote for the total value of aU the captures made,
after the cruise was ended.
Excitement climbed to its greatest height on the
afternoon of the eleventh of January (1863) when
they got in sight of a lot of ships off Galveston. It
was the crafty scheme to hover near until night,
and then dart into the immense fleet, for which the
lookout had been instructed to scan the horizon.
He soon cried, "Sail ho!" "Land ho !" but no
transports were in sight — only flve war steamers.
Presently, one of these threw a shell over the city,
aud the dream of devastation of the foe's sail raelted
away. The South had retaken Galveston, and
Banks's huge armada had put into New Orleans in
stead. Semmes surraised all this, and he pondered over
his predicaraent. It would shock the morale of his
' "Nav. Hist. Civ. War," p. 639.

THE SINKING OF THE "HATTEEAS" 205
men, undermine their faith iu him, to run away
without striking a blow, and yet it would be fool
hardy, even suicidal, to pit himself against flve ad
versaries, any one perhaps his equal. But one of
the opposing force relieved all his perplexity by
coming out after him. That was what Seraraes
desired. He had no wish for au engagement so
near the others, and he slowly moved seaward. He
turned his propeller slowly, even stopping it at
times, and thus decoyed his pursuer some twenty
miles from his comrades. Theu, he says, " I furled
my sails, beat to quarters, prepared my ship for
action, and wheeled to meet hira. The two ships
now approached each other very rapidly. As we
carae within speaking distance, we simultaneously
stopped our engines, the ships being about one hun
dred yards apart. The enemy was the flrst to hail.
'What ship is that?' cried he. 'This is her
Britannic Majesty's Petrel,' we replied. We now
hailed in turn and demanded to know who he was.
The reply not coming to us very distinctly, we re
peated our question, wheu we heard the words,
' This is the United States ship  ,' the name of
the ship being lost to us. But we had heard enough.
All that we wanted to know was that the stranger
was a United States ship, and therefore our enemy.

206 BAPHAEL SEMMES
A pause now ensued, a rather awkward pause, as
the reader may suppose. Presently the stranger
hailed again, and said, ' If you please, I will send a
boat ou board of you.' His object of course was to
verify or discredit the answer we had given him,
that we were oue of her Britannic Majesty's
cruisers. We replied, ' Certainly, we shall be
happy to receive your boat ; ' and we heard a boat
swain's mate call away a boat, and could hear the
creaking of the tackles, as she was lowered into the
water. "Things were now corae to a crisis, aud it being
useless to delay our engagement with the enemy any
longer, I turned to my flrst lieutenant and said, ' I
suppose you are all ready for action.' 'Weare,'
he replied ; ' the meu are eager to begin and are
only waiting for the word.' I said, 'Tell the
eneray who we are for we mnst not strike hira in
disguise, and when you have done so, give him the
broadside.' Kell now sang out in his powerful
clarion voice through his trumpet, 'This is the
Confederate States Stearaer Alabama,' and . . .
gave the order, ' Fire ! ' "
The raen had beeu instructed beforehand that the
signal to flre would be "Alabaraa," aud hence im
raediately they poured a broadside into the Hatteras.

THB SINKING OF THE "HATTEEAS" 207
The English sailors on the Alabama had been nettled
at reading in New York papers the slurring refer
ences to the low character of the crew, and they
took this occasion to season thefr shots with pungent
comments, such as, " That's from the scum of Eng
land." "That's a British pill for you to swallow."
One of the officers reports that Semmes stood
calraly on his quarter-deck throughout the engage
ment with the shot flying about him, encouraging
the gunners by word aud gesture : " Give it to the
rascals. Pire low, men. Don't be aU night sinking
that fellow ! " Of course he did not know whether
he was flghting an ironclad or a ram.
The Alabama fought with her starboard broadside
and the Hatteras with her port. Semmes was highly
pleased with the steadiness of his force, as they
"handled thefr pieces with great spfrit aud com
mendable coolness, and the action was sharp and
exciting while it lasted, which, however, was not
very long, for in just thirteen minutes after firing
the first gun, the enemy hoisted a light and dis
charged an off-gun as a signal that he had been
beaten. We at once withheld our fire, and such a
cheer went up from the brazen throats of my fellows
as must have 'astonished even a Texan if he had
heard it."

208 BAPHAEL SEMMES
The captain of the Hatteras wrote a concise, manly
account of his defeat, indulging iu no heat of feeling
or aniraosity aside from a reference to " piratical
craft" and "rebel steamer," making in all what
Semmes frankly admitted was " a pretty fair report
of the engagement." He pointed out what Semmes
generously granted, that "the great superiority of
the Alabama, with her powerful battery and her
raachinery under water line " made victory a fore
gone conclusion. To his antagonist he "behaved
like a man of courage and made the best fight he
could." The Hatteras was one hundred tons larger than the
Alabama, with eight guns and a crew of one hundred
and eight ; the Alabama had nine guns and a crew
of one hundred and teu, but there was considerable
disparity in favor of the Alabama " iu the weight of
the pivot guns, and the Alabama ought to have won
the flght," says her coraraander. There were two
men killed and flve wounded on the Hattera,s, and
oue man wounded, only slightly, on the Alabama.
Semmes was very quick in taking all off the sinking
Hatteras. " In just nineteen rainutes from the open
ing broadside the officers and crew of the Hatteras,
wounded included, were on our decks, aud the
AlabamM was steaming away at her best speed for

THE SINKING OP THE "HATTEEAS" 209
the Yucatan passage. This is probably one of the
quickest naval duels on record, " and also, perhaps,
" the flrst yard-arm engagement between steamers
at sea," as at times during the combat the boats
were only a few yards apart, and the most of the
while only a hundred yards or less.
There was no time for delay. Assistance was
rapidly coming up from the other ships off Gal
veston, and the twinkling lights warned Semmes to
glide off in the darkness. The Alabama was un
hurt, not a shot hole to be plugged in the hull and
not a rope to be spliced in order to steam away at
once. She was raore than a match in speed for her
pursuers. They spread out like hounds hunting for
the scent and beat to and fro through the night, but
all they got was the sight next morning of the tops
of the royal masts of the Hatteras just above the
waters. Her courageous comraander and her valiant
crew were aboard the Alabama on the path to
Jamaica. Thefr captors did all they could to
soothe their spirits. The captain shared the com
forts of Semraes' cabin, whUe the rank and file
received all the attention it was possible to give
thera iu the crowded quarters, which were rendered
still raore uncorafortable by the raging gales during
raost of the teu days' passage to Kingston.

210 EAPHAEL SEMMES
The boat that had been lowered to board the
AlabamM stayed by till the Hatteras surrendered,
and then the officer very discreetly stole away to
the base at Galveston. The obloquy that so often
during the Civil War followed the vanquished did
not fall to the portion of the captain of the Hatteras
at all, as he had fearlessly faced heavy odds and
been beaten fairly. He was exonerated as having
borne himself in "an efficient and praiseworthy
manner." He took part in several briUiant en
gagements later and rose to the rank of commodore
just before his death iu 1880.

CHAPTEE XI
SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN
The Alabama had had a wide sweep, and had
lighted her passage with triuraphant bonfires. She
had raet a foe in combat and beaten him, and her men
had shown their spirit and worth. Thus far there
had been no check, either frora mau or from nature.
She had breasted the storms and ridden the gales
victoriously ; she had sailed the highways of trade
and threaded the islands of the seas, truly an em
press of the waves.
Her exulting career was not due to the supineness
or stupidity of her opponents. The Navy Depart
ment under Secretary Welles had been fertile in
schemes and vigilant in pursuit. They soon saw
that here was a far swifter and more dangerous
rover than the Sumter. Because of the long stretch
of sinuous coast line to be blockaded from Norfolk
to Mexico, hundreds of boats were needed for that
service and only a very few could be spared for
chasing the Confederate cruisers, but ready and
daring souls were deeply intent on the problem of

212 EAPHAEL SEMMES
strangling this serpent of speed aud destructiveness.
On the same day two officials iu the New York Navy
Yard had unfolded a scheme. They urged the fit
ting out of a fast side- wheel steamer arraed with
two hundred raen and protected and disguised with
bales of hay, with the purpose of running alongside
the Alabama as a raerchantman or neutral, suddenly
boarding her aud overcoming all resistance. It is
hardly likely that such a device would have ever
deceived Semmes' sharp eyes. Some better heads
must have recollected also that hay burns very
readily, and the project might have ended in a
wholesale cremation of the fearless fellows aboard.
Nothing came of the novel suggestion.'
But far more practical and far more energetic
were the orders issued frora Washington to sorae
half dozen vessels to range over alraost the entire
Atlantic on the hunt for Semraes. The Mohican was
directed to cruise to Cape Verde, thence on toward
the Cape of Good Hope ; the San Jacinto to Berrauda,
the Windward Islands and Trinidad ; the Onward
to patrol between England aud the United States ;
the Sabine to go to the Azores, Cape Verde and Brazil ;
the Ino to St. Helena ; the Kearsarge, Tuscarora,
and St. Louis around the Azores to be helpful to the
' "Naval War Eecords," Series I, Vol. I, p. 529.

SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN 213
whalers in those waters. Besides the alert consuls
and commercial agents were always on the watch,
sending news, sketches, and photographs from all
points at which the Alabama touched.
But the inquisitive reporter and the ambitious
editor in Washington and iu the seaports were just
as unwearied as ever in gathering the news and
giving it to the public, and hence to Semmes, who
could thus easily learn where danger lurked. He
plotted the courses and marked the positions of
the various pursuers, and could cut across thefr
trails and elude their traps. But being on the rack
all the while wore on his nerves. It strained even
his dauntless spirit to feel that all over the face of
the waters were bold, relentless hunters looking for
his ship. Especially was it a tax to glide into that
snare, the Gulf of Mexico, with only two outlets,
one by Florida meaning alraost sure ruin, the other
by Yucatan that almost as surely threatened extinc
tion if by chance a couple of vessels were guarding
the channel.
He was glad to find relaxation among his English
friends on the island of Jamaica. As soon as he
entered the harbor of Port Eoyal, near Kingston,
" the most cordial relations were at once established
between the officers " of the three British boats

214 BAPHAEL SEMMES
there and those of the Alabama. An English resi
dent invited Semraes to spend a few days up in the
mountains. After lauding his prisoners, he turned
over affairs to his efficient First Officer Kell, while
he went up into the heights to enjoy the untram
meled hospitality of an English admirer. Semmes
had not had a holiday since leaving England to
command the Alabama some five months before. He
had been cramped in his cabin, had breathed only
the salt air, had cast his eyes seaward on the same
wide waste of waters. It was monotonous in spite
of the changeful moods of the ocean.
He wanted the steadiness of the land, the green
vegetation, the hills firm and unyielding in their
verdure. His pen registered his throbbing delight
in the pictures of the tropical luxuriance and lush-
ness. He writes :
"For the first ten miles, we rode over a beauti
ful macadamized road, or rather avenue, lined
with the gigantic cactus, growing frequently to
the height of twenty and thirty feet, and several
specimens of the palra ; chief among which was the
cocoanut tree, shooting its trunk with the straight
ness of an arrow to a great height, and waving
gracefully in the breeze its superb, feather-Uke
foliage. The way was lined with many picturesque
country houses, each surrounded by its extensive
and well-kept grounds, on which were growing
crops, chiefly of fruits and vegetables, but inter-

SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN 215
spersed occasionally with a field of Indian corn or
sugar-cane. Hedgerows and shade trees adorned
the front yards. . . , We occasionally obtained
glimpses of beautiful valleys . . . in which fairy
cottages were nestled. The scenery was continually
changing, uow skirting the base of abrupt hills,
now running over a streara, and now plunging into
the recesses of a wood, with the trees arching over
head, like the groined work of a cathedral.
" At the end of our ten railes of carriage-drive,
we found ourselves at the foot of the raountains
. . . and after some refreshment raounted sad
dle-horses which we found in waiting. As we as
cended the slopes of the mountains, we changed
rapidly the character of the vegetation, every hun
dred feet bringing us in the presence of new forest
trees and new plants, until we dismounted on the
lawn of my friend, the imraediate surroundings of
which were all English, the cedar and other well-
known trees and shrubs of the teraperate latitudes
supplanting the tropical vegetation we had left.
The afr was so delightfully changed frora the sultry
heats of the coast that we found a fire quite pleasant
as the night set in.
" How magical the change was to the ample halls
aud elegant leisure of an English home, perched on
the mountainside and overlooking a perfect wilder
ness of tropical vegetation ! . . . How soundly
I slept . . . fanned by the gentlest of sea
breezes . . . and luUabied by the distant
breaker ! I was awakened the next morning by the
merry songs of a hundred birds, that came appro
priately blended with the perfurae of the flowers that
clustered around ray windows ; and I have seldom
looked upon a more beautiful picture than when I
threw back the blinds and caught a view of the

216 EAPHAEL SEMMES
landscape, rejoicing in the raorning's sun, with all
its wealth of tropical fruits and flowers, and the
sea — the glorious sea — glittering like a rairror iu
the distance. Nothing cau be raore charming thau
the interior of an English household wheu the ice
has been broken. The successful entertainraent of
a guest is one of those artless arts of which the
English gentleman above all others is raaster ; aud
the art consists in putting the guest so entirely at
his ease as to raake him feel at horae in the first
half hour.
"We raade several agreeable visits to neighbor
ing plantations. I was in au entirely new world —
those mountains of Jamaica — and was charmed with
everything I saw. All was nature ; and nature
presented herself in her most lovely aspect, whether
we viewed the sky overhead, the sea at our feet, or
the broken aud picturesque country around us.
Tirae flew rapidly, and what with delightful rides
aud lunches and evening parties, where rausic aud
the bright eyes of fair women beguiled the senses, I
should have beeu iu danger of forgetting the war and
the Alabama, if Kell had not sent me a courier on
the third or fourth day informing rae that he was
nearly ready for sea. I descended at once from the
empyrean iu which I had beeu wandering . . .
and rode back to the coast.
' ' Upou ray arrival iu town I found that my friends
,had kindly put a notice in the papers informing the
good people that I would be at the Exchange at
twelve, etc. Was obliged to go, and made a speech
to the people, which was well received." '
But there was other work of a much more dis
agreeable kind, which Semmes did not in the least
' " Naval War Eecords," Series I, Vol. II, p. 724.

SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN 217
shirk. His paymaster had got drunk, and was
"hail feUow well met " on shore with all the sailors
he saw. KeU had arrested him, and held him for
Semraes to deal with. Of course the case was settled
alraost in a moment. In half an hour the man was
landed bag and baggage. He deserted to the other
side, and went to England, and was always ready to
swear to evidence against the Confederate cause.
He was the only instance among the officers on
either of Semmes' boats of disloyalty to his chief.
The sailors also had been carousing and rioting
ou shore, in deflance of the police. Many had been
dragged on board, ironed, and passed below. Two
others, not liking the prospect, seized a dugout
alongside, took the paddles from the negroes and
began to make for the shore. Instantly a boat was
sent after the fugitives. As the pursuers came
near, the two sailors pitched one of the negroes
overboard, and the chase was of course delayed to
haul him in so as to save him frora the sharks,
always prowling in this bay. The sarae trick was
resorted to by the sailors when they seemed again
about to be overtaken, but at last they were over
hauled, aud were put in frons on being returned to
the Alabama.
Semmes' courtmartialed the offenders after the

218 EAPHAEL SEMMES
Alabama was out on the high seas again. They
were penitent in answers aud profuse iu proraises.
Even the two runaways who had had such a thrill
ing race protested that they had meant only a frolic
ou shore to bid the girls "good-bye." All the cul
prits made out a fair defense for themselves and
were soon set at liberty to go about thefr appointed
tasks. Thus again had Semmes proved the quali
ties of flrmness and quickness terapered with judg
ment. The whole force was needed as active days were
immediately at hand. Two prizes were soon in the
hands of Semraes, the Golden Bule, and the Chate
laine. The islanders of St. Domingo and Jamaica
witnessed a bonfire of the two sail. The prisoners
were put ashore at St. Domingo, where the Alabama
anchored for a few hours in one of the most historic
spots of the New World, since it was for years the
chief seat of the Spanish empire in the western hemi
sphere. Here Columbus, Cortez, and other Spanish
explorers and adventurers had lived at tiraes. The
events of this roraantic era passed through Serames'
mind ; he called up the stfrring scenes of that by
gone tirae as he strolled through the town, loitered
in the decaying palace and mused in the ruined
cathedral.

SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN 219
But he dared not tarry ; there were always keen
hounds at his heels, and there was prey for him to
seek and faU upon. The first capture after quitting
this ancient port was the Palmetto, which was soon
lighting the waves, as the AlabamM went on with
her quest. She next ran down the Olive Jane and
the Golden Eagle. The former was fiUed with choice
wine and delicacies from Bordeaux, but Semmes
dared not put the cargo at the disposal of his crew,
as every one would have soon been drunk. The
fire consumed it all. It was pathetic to Seraraes to
destroy the Golden Eagle, as she was near the end
of a long voyage from Sau Francisco to Cork. ' ' This
ship had buffeted the gales of the frozen latitudes of
Cape Horn, threaded her pathway among its ice
bergs, been parched with the heats of the tropics,
and drenched with the rains of the equator, to fall
into the hands of her enemy, only a few hundred
miles from her port." She was freighted with
guano of the best quality, which would have en
riched the fields and magnified the yield several
fold, but she was sacrificed to the god of the flaraes.
The prisoners were placed on the Washington the
next to the last day of February, as she, though
American, had neutral goods aboard, and hence
was forwarded under bond.

220 BAPHAEL SEMMES
Two days after the John A. Paries, with her white
pine lumber, delighted Semraes' carpenter, as he
was sorely in want of such supplies. She was docu-
raented correctly, but unfortunately for her a letter
in her bag gave away the deception as the dealer
chartering the boat in New York wrote that he was
going to have the cargo " certified to by the British
consul as the property of British subjects." She
went up in smoke like so mauy of her sisters. Her
unlucky crew saw two ships bonded, the Bethiah
Thayer and the Punjaub, on the last of which they
were placed.
Semmes still headed south and came near crossing
the equator with the sun as he was less than three
degrees north ou March 21st. Sorae forty-eight
hours later the Morning Star and the Kingfisher be
carae his victims. The former sailed on under bond.
The Kingfisher was a whaler, and the oU in her hold
made the flames bravely defiant of the torrents of
rain that seemed to battle for her agaiust the raging
fire. With the thunder rumbling, and the black
clouds overhead, the Alabama was uniquely cele
brating her course in tropic waters. Before the
close of March, she had two raore bonfires to her
credit, thoiigh not with such draraatic effects — the
Charles HUl and the Nora. Both had made pitifully

SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN 221
awkward attempts to , document their cargoes as
neutral, but the trick was too transparent.
Ou the third of AprU, five days after crossing the
line, Semmes made a most valuable capture, the
Louisa Hatch with her thousand tons of the best
Welsh coal, bound for Ceylon. The Alabama was
running short of fuel, and was headed for her tryst-
ing place, Fernando de Noronha, to meet the
Agrippina. Semmes knew it was a violation of the
neutral stand of Brazil to take his prize into the
port of this volcanic island, off Cape St. Eoque,
but he dared attempt it as it was out of the question
to transfer the coal on the high seas.
It was a penal station for Brazil. "It is too
insignificant for traffic, and has no good harbor
where a ship could repair damages or refit."
Semmes' arrival was announced, and he began to
coal from the Louisa Hatch. When the governor's
messengers carae aboard, there was a popping of
charapagne corks and a clinking of glasses, but no
objection was made to the nearness of the prizes,
and Serames continued to take on fuel.
The next morning he went ashore to pay his re
spects to the governor. He rode the governor's horses
up to the mansion and sat at table with that dig
nitary, whose skin was about the color " of tanned

222 BAPHAEL SEMMES
sole leather," while his wife " was a very sprightly
and not uncomely mulatto," and the two children
whom Semmes praised and patted on the head had
"rather kinky, or perhaps I should say curly,
hair." Though he was battling for the South in
the interest of slavery, and though he always re
fused to treat negro captives as prisoners, it was
far frora any wish of Seraraes to call up the race
issue now, as he " was a man of the world aud was
not at all dismayed" at the discovery that he was
iu the midst of a faraily of inferior blood. He
drank the wine, sraoked the cigars, aud chatted at
full ease with the other guests at the levee ; then
went on horseback across the island, stopped at a
country house, where he ate grapes, figs, raelous
and the delicious " green cocoanut."
He returned that afternoon to his berth, and the
next morning carae a fat turkey aud a beautiful
bouquet from the governor's wife, who, Semraes
very astutely thought, reraerabered the gentle pat
ting of her children's curly heads. It was plain
sailing henceforth. " My diploraacy frora this time
onward was all right. I did not hear a word frora
the governor or any one in authority about neutral
rights or the violation of neutral jurisdictions.
Brazil had, I knew, followed the lead of the Euro-

SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN 223
pean powers in excluding prizes from her ports,
and I had fuUy expected to receive some re
monstrance against my bringing in the Louisa
Hatch, but madarae was too strong for the gov
ernor." His conquests were not yet over. He had not in
the least counted on any prize in this unfrequented
place, but just as he got ou his last boatload of coal
"the ubiquitous Yankee" turned up, two of them
at the same time, whalers. They heaved to out
side, and the two masters pulled in to do sorae
bartering. They went to the Louisa Hatch and
very amicably struck up a conversation with the
prize master, who, being English, tried to play
American as thoroughly as he could. He lied
smoothly and pleasantly, saying that his boat had
sprung a leak and that the other one was a Brazilian
packet. Not being in uniforra on account of warrath
and rain, he was getting on flnely when a Con
federate flag was accidentally exposed. Orders
were bawled out and both began to puU back to
their own quarters. But the Alabama, was now
ready, and she passed out to take a look. There
was nothing doubtful about the nationality, and the
Lafayette and the Kate Cory increased the Alabama's
list by two naraes. Both, with the Hatch, were

224 EAPHAEL SEMMES
burnt, the prisoners from all three vessels being
sent to Pernambuco on a Brazilian vessel.
Semraes could now carry out the cherished object
of cruising off the coast of Brazil, as his bunkers
were full, his crew in flne shape, and his ship in
the best order. He had raade the effort with the
Sumter but had been forced to give it up. He
passed out of the tropical rain belt, and in less than
twenty-four hours after his departure, the whaler,
Nye, with over four hundred barrels of oil, on her
homeward stretch after nearly three years' absence,
dropped into his hands. It seemed such a bitter
disappointment after so many months of exposure
to all the flerceness of the seas, but she was well
soaked in oil and made a magnfficeut blaze. The
Dorcas Prince, with coal for the far China coast,
shared the same fate. A day or so later, on May
3d, there were two more victims, the Sea Lark and
the Union Jack ; they were trapped in two hours.
These four crews crowded the AlabamM, the more
because several women and children were included
among them.
Semmes ran into Bahia, the secoud port of the
Brazilian empire. No sooner was he at anchor than,
thanks to the activity of a United States consul, he
was served with a proclamation of the President of

SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN 225
the Province of Pernarabuco, charging hira with
sundry violations of neutrality and ordering him to
depart from Fernando de Noronha within twenty-
four hours, where it was supposed that he still was.
Seraraes' answer is not extant, but it was scarcely
couched in gentle terms. Whatever it was, it was
" perfectly satisfactory," though the governor kept
asking him to get away. Another Confederate ship,
the Georgia, came in to load up from a consort
ordered there, the Castor, which, being a neutral,
had the right to land her coal, and then the Georgia
and the Alabama had the right to take it on board.
It was a delicate question of neutrality that Semmes
raised when he wanted to coal direct from the con
sort, but flnally it was brought off to him in lighters.
With these two Confederate boats in Bahia, and the
Florida at Pernambuco, within wiring coramunica
tion, the South had a squadron in foreign waters,
perhaps for the only time during the entire four
years of war.
But the Alabama went her way alone, and soon
had at her belt two more trophies, the Gildersleeve,
which was burnt, aud the Justina, which was sent
on uuder bond, with the prisoners. Now the
Alabama's powers were severely tested. She espied
a corapetitor in speed aud about nine in the evening

226 EAPHAEL SEMMES
set off after her. She put on all sail, had her best
steersraan at the wheel, and all night she strained in
the chase with Seraraes on deck. At half-past seven
the next morning, after a race of eleven hours, she
won, and found her prey was a Dutchman. Semraes
admits that he was a little sour at his breakfast, and
perhaps excusably so, as his steed had never been
so nearly distanced.
His humor was softened in the coraing few days,
when the Jabez Snow and the Amazonian, both bound
for Montevideo, the first with coal, the other with
assorted freight, were taken. Both went up in
smoke. An Englishman took off the captives in
return for some provisions and a valuable chro
nometer. With the taking of the Talisman, on which
Semraes noted four twelve-pounders, he determined
to'commission a ship hiraself, as he could spare some
officers aud a dozen seamen, aud arm her with a
couple of the Talisman's pieces. He did not have to
wait long after burning the Talisman. The Conrad
soon fell into his grip. Being " a tidy little bark of
about three hundred and fifty tons, with good sail
ing qualities, I resolved to commission her as a
cruiser. . . . Never perhaps was a ship of war
fitted out so proraptly before. The Conrad was a

SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN 227
coraraissioned ship, with armament, crew, and
provisions on board, flying her pennant and with
sailing orders, signed, sealed, and delivered, before
sunset on the day of her capture." Being a child of
the Alabama, it was meet that she should be chris
tened the Tuscaloosa, after the town of that name in
the state of Alabaraa. She went through the cere-
raony far out on the ocean, but the legitiraacy of her
birth was undoubted. Semmes placed her former
crew on an English boat, and the three vessels went
their several ways.
Semmes turned to the South and soon came to the
forks of the road, oue way leading to Cape Horn,
aud the other, which Semraes took, to the Cape of
Good Hope. But before going far, he found that
his bread was infested with weevils. He raust go
back to Bio de Janeiro unless he could capture a
craft with a supply aboard. Luck saved hira that
long trip of some eight hundred miles to the baker's
shop, as the Anna F. Schmidt crossed his path on her
journey from Boston to California. She had heels
also, aud gave the Alabama another all night chase,
but it was worth the pursuit as she not only had
bread " put up in the nicest kind of air-tight casks,"
but also a quantity of "ready-made clothing, hats,
boots, and shoes." It rau^t have been hard to put

228 EAPHAEL SEMMES
the torch to such a generous raother after spending
almost a day iu " robbing " her.
After two more exciting experiences Semmes
dropped anchor iu Saldanha Bay, ou the coast of
Africa, not far from Cape Town. But before set
ting foot on this continent for the first time in his
life, he had a long race, nearly all night, after a
boat that answered his shot with another, and thus
set his whole force on edge, as they felt sure of a
fight with the euemy. She looked almost raountain
high as the Alabama neared her, and five guns could
be raade out through her port-holes. Wheu Kell in
thundering tones demanded, " What ship is that? "
there floated back the quiet answer : " This is her
Britannic Majesty's ship Diomede." A few remarks
passed and each went on.
Shortly after, the god of the waves smiled on
Semraes as the Express carae into his keeping. Her
guano, though really the property of the Peruvian
governraent, was not properly attested and Semmes
treated a sovereign power just as he would have
treated an individual. There was not the proper
legal evidence that it was neutral, aud hence boat
and all received the torch.
Then the Alabama glided into the land-locked
harbor of Saldanha Bay, with an anchorage spacious

SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN 229
enough to accomraodate a large fleet. Serames
wanted to overhaul his vessel, recaulk inside and
out, and repaint. He had also to learn what danger
there raight be at Cape Town as the fame of the
" British pirate" had spread to these distant lands,
and oue or two United States cruisers might be lying
in wait thereabouts for him. The Boers were not
inquisitive on neutrality questions, perhaps did not
kuow there was such a matter, while their English
overlords were more than content to let it all alone
unless prodded by some busy, or aggrieved person.
Nevertheless the South Africans were very curious
about this strange visitor. They flocked in from
their farms, with presents of game, railk, skins, and
horns, went over the boat with the fresh eagerness
of children, wondered at the hugeness of the guns,
tested their rauscle in handling the hundred pound
shot, aud invited all to go ashore, hunt, eat, and
partake of their hospitality generally. As raany as
could get relief from the work ou the ship fished,
shot water fowl, or enjoyed other diversions, but
none returned with big game.
One of these joyous excursions brought the only
death that occurred among the Alabama's crew dur
ing her career dowu to the engagement at Cherbourg.
A young engineer officer, in pulling his fowling

230 EAPHAEL SEMMES
piece toward himself, discharged the load into his
heart. Naturally the accident carried gloom to all
the little band, and with impressive ceremony he
was left to rest in the graveyard of a benevolent
Dutch farmer, under a marble slab.
Having satisfied hiraself that no adversary was
waiting for hira at Cape Town and having been
assured of English friendliness there, Semraes drew
out of his snug retreat and saUed for the objective,
some sixty miles away. On the trip he spoke his
bantling, the Tuscaloosa, which had not yet accora
plished anything of raoment. Semraes continued
toward Cape Town, and in sight of the point
he scooped in the Sea Bride, from New York, with
goods for trading along the African coast. It was a
grand spectacle, and a gala day for all the inhab
itants who could scrarable to any place of vantage
for viewing it.
A daily paper, the Argus, gave a Uvely, efflores
cent description of the occasion :
"Here was to be a capture by the celebrated Con
federate craft, close to the entrance of Table Bay.
The inhabitants rushed off to get a sight. Crowds of
people rau up the Lion's hill, and to the Kloof road.
All the cabs were chartered — every one of them ;
. . . no questions asked, but orders were given
to drive as hard as possible. . . . As we reached

SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN 231
the corner, there lay the Alabama within fifty yards
of the unfortunate Yankee. . . . The Yankee
was evidently taken by surprise. . . . Like a
cat watching and playing with a victimized mouse.
Captain Semmes permitted his prize to draw, off
a few yards, aud then he got up steam again, and
pounced down upon her. She flrst saUed round the
Yankee from stera to stern, and from stern to stem
agaiu. The way that flne, saucy, rakish craft was
handled was worth going a hundred railes to see.
. . . She sent a boat with a prize crew off,
took possession . . . and sent the bark off to
sea. ' ' The Alabama then made for the port. We came
round to visit Captain Serames ou board. . . .
We found the heights . . . covered with
people ; the road . . . lined with cabs. . . .
The windows were all thrown up and ladies waved
their handkerchiefs, ... all joined in the
general enthusiasm. . . . There were raasses of
people, nothing but a sea of heads as far as the eye
could reach. . . . The roofs of all the houses
frora which Table Bay is overlooked were made
available as standing places for the people. . . .
The jetties were all crowded ; ... it was
almost impossible to . . . get a boat. How
ever ... we did get a boat, and went off, in
the raidst of dingies, cargo-boats, gigs, and wherries,
all as full as they could hold. Nearly all the city
was upon the bay. . . . On getting alongside
the Alabama, we found about a dozen boats before
us, and we had not been ou board five minutes be
fore she was surrounded by nearly every boat in
Table Bay, and as boat after boat arrived, three
hearty cheers were given for Captain Semraes and
his gallant privateer. This, upon the part of a

232 EAPHAEL SEMMES
ueutral people, is perchance wrong ; but we are not
arguing a case — we are recording facts. They did
cheer, and cheer with a will too. It was not per
haps taking the view of either side. Federal or Con
federate, but in adrairation of the skill, pluck, and
daring of the Alabama, her captain and her crew,
who afford a general therae of admiration the world
over. " Visitors were received by the officers of the ship
most courteously aud without distinction, and the
officers conversed freely and unreservedly of their
exploits. There was nothing like brag in their
manner of answering questions put to them. They
are as fine and gentlemanly a set of fellows as ever
we saw. . . . She had a very large crew, fine,
lithe-looking fellows, the very picture of English
man-of-war's raen."
Semmes says that this picture of the interest
aroused by the Alabama was not overdrawn, as the
deck was so crowded that one could hardly stfr, and
that, too, not with the merely curious and idle, but
with "the better classes, gentlemen and ladies of
distinction." He was especially gratified at the
endorsement of the ladies, since, he declares, "I
have always found the instincts of women to be
right." And he was delighted with their spon
taneous sympathy. Of course the officers were all
hospitably entertained and the crew's temper for
service was little improved by the incense offered to
their valor and fame.

SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN 233
The international aspect of the capture off the
harbor that aU the town had rushed to see led to a
legal contention. The alert consul claimed that it
was doue in English waters, and he bolstered up his
case with affidavits, but the decision went to
Semmes, who was always scrupulous about the
marine league. Both principle and policy favored
the utmost care, as it would be short-sighted to fly
in the face of such good friends as the English. He
was soon tested agaiu. On his way to Simon's
Town he overhauled the Martha Wenzel within the
mouth of False Bay. Semmes dumbfounded the
captain by "releasing instead of burning his ship,"
though he might have strained the evidence, and
have held the boat for an indefinite time while the
case was befogged with technicalities and delayed
by red tape to a tiresome degree.
He did not stay here longer thau necessary to
coal. Having ordered the Tuscaloosa aud the Sea
Bride to go to Angra Pequena on the west coast of
Africa, he pulled out into the great roadway around
South Africa, keeping a lookout for his prey, but
without any catches. He then beat his way up to
the rendezvous, sold the Sea Bride to an English
man for English sovereigns, consigned the wool on
the Tuscaloosa to dealers for sale, two-thirds of the

234 EAPHAEL SEMMES
proceeds to be credited to the Confederacy in some
English bank. All these transactions in a port of
savage Hottentots, where there were no hints of
civilized jurisdiction, bordered closely on the ex
ploits of pirates of several centuries before, but of
course the aims were all different no matter how
close the reserablance in the steps taken to gain
thera. As the raoney was counted, the rich clink
of gold could be heard by the sailors as they passed
conveniently near, but so weUwere they disciplined
that there was not a raurraur of discontent araong
thera or a scowl of envy. In these acts, "sorae
what suggesting the pranks of the buccaneers, our
crew were as well held iu hand as though serving
on an English raan-of-war in tiraes of profound
peace, and at the sarae time in a state of perfect
contentment." '
The trio parted. What diplomatic snarls might
have been heard over this transfer of a ship in the
twilight of law and order cannot be known, but aU
trouble was forestalled by the loss of the Sea Bride
ou the African coast shortly after." Semraes hira
self sailed away to haunt the roadstead off the Cape,
but all to no purpose in spite of his watchfulness.
'Sinclair, "Two Years on the Alabama," p. 158.
^lUd., p. 159.

SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN 235
Not caring to put into Cape Town without having
had any fortune, about the middle of Septeraber he
ran into Siraon' s Town again, preparatory to his in
cursion into far eastern waters.
While on sentry duty outside oue night, a mighty
ship flew past, which might have been the Vander
bilt. Since leaving the island of Jamaica, araid all
her wanderings southward, zigzagging across the
Atlantic, the Alabama had sighted no war vessel of
her enemy, though the faithful hounds of the hunt
had unflaggingly followed her "cold trail." A
fox-sleuth was the Vanderbilt, presented to the
United States government by, and naraed in honor
of, one of the first multi-millionaires of the new
world. Like a shuttlecock, she had been steaming
between Cape Town and Simon's Town, and one
day the two boats were almost in sight of each
other's smoke. She won the admiration of the Ala
ba-mM' s staff. Sinclair~considered that her captain,
Baldwin, had used the best judgment. He had fol
lowed his prey from the West Indies to the Brazil
thoroughfare, and thence to the Cape without loss
of the scent at any time. But it took eighty tons of
coal a day to heat her boilers, and in consequence
she had to retrace her steps and lose time. Except
for such a contingency she might have been stationed

236 EAPHAEL SEMMES
in the Strait of Sunda, to grapple with the Alabama
there, aud the famous conflict might have been
viewed by naked East Indian islanders instead of
the polite natives of France.
These lurking dangers from man and the ever-
present perils of the sea would wear on nerves of
steel. The Alabama was unscathed, the plaudits of
the English swelled around her, the eyes of the world
were turned toward her, but her resolute, self-con
tained commander was growing weary from the
strain of his anxious service. No raan heard it
frora his lips, no shade of it flitted over his face, bnt
it trickled frora his pen on the pages of his diary,
that solace of the solitary soul shut off from fellow
creatures, yearning to commune with some one.
Perhaps his spirits were sinking with the waning
of Confederate hopes, or raelancholy was creeping
on hira with his increasing distance from home, as
he approached the antipodal point in the Southern
hemisphere frora his own hearth and fireside. At
any rate, from some or all these influences, the note
of depression began to sound in his confidential ut
terances. Down in the wintry air of the Southern hemi
sphere, he felt the change : "I ara quite knocked up
with cold and fever, but sick as I may be, I can

SOUTHWAED TO CAPE TOWN 237
never Ue by, and be quiet, the demands of duty
being inexorable and incessant."
The physical despondency grew on him, aud some
two weeks later he wrote : "Ship rolling and pitch
ing in the sea and all things dreary looking and un
corafortable. I ara supremely disgusted with the
sea aud all its belongings. The fact is I am past
the age wheu men ought to be subjected to all the
hardships and discomforts of the soa. Seagoing is
one of those constant strifes which none but the
vigorous, the hardy, and the hopeful — iu short, the
youthful, or at raost the raiddle-aged — should be en
gaged in. The very roar of the wind through the
rigging with its accorapaniraent of rolling and
trerabling, hard, overcast skies, etc., gives rae the
blues." Several days afterward, he iraparted to the silent
receptacle of his thoughts and feelings one Sunday
wLen the regular muster was over : " How tiresome
is the routine of cruising becoming. An ugly, short,
chopping sea got up during the night into which
the ship plunged and rolled so as to awaken rae
every now and then." '
Araid these physical distresses and mental dis
cordances, about the raiddle of October, he calcu-
' " Naval War Records," Series I, Vol. II, pp. 762-5.

238 BAPHAEL SEMMES
lated that he was alraost diametrically opposite the
dearest spot ou earth to him : " I am to-day about
antipodal with my home in Alabaraa." But he
drew oue consolation from his position: "Well,
there is one comfort, I cannot very well get any
farther away from home. Every day's run from
this point, whether east or west, raust carry me
nearer to it." But neither the weaknesses of the
flesh nor the anguish of the heart could obscure his
insight or slacken his energy.

CHAPTEE XII
IN EASTERN WATEES
Semmes had hunted over the marine roads of the
Atlantic, passing frora winter in the north to winter
in the south, with all the attendant afflictions of
these extremes. With the few other Confederate
cruisers, he had practically swept the flag of the
United States from the commercial highways of that
greatest area of water transportation in the world.
If he was to beat up more game, he must hunt in
other flelds. Under directions from Secretary Mal
lory, he was now to cross the Indian Ocean.
But he must flrst replenish his crew, which had
beeu reduced by the dissipations and debaucheries
of Cape Town, and seduced by the purse and the
proraises of the wily and indomitable Araerican
consul there. Though Semmes applied to the po
lice and they were willing to do all they could,
there were the barriers of extra-territoriality around
the consul. In some cases, the sailors found refuge
within the consular grounds, or at least claimed
protection.

240 EAPHAEL SEMMES
Semmes, however, was not the mau to be balked
by any but irapassable obstacles. He was also a
master of the nicest strategy and the most delicate
diplomacy. He might violate the spirit of neu
trality, but he must not ruffle the form in the slight
est. The fourteen men lost by desertion must be
replaced in a manner consonant with the respect
due her Majesty, whose subjects in South Africa
had been so cordial to the Alabama.
He reasoned out the case very logically: "I said
to myself, my sailors have gone on shore in her
Majesty's dominions and refuse to come back to
me. When I apply to her Majesty's police, they
tell me that so sacred is the soil of England, no raan
raust be coerced to do what he doesn't want to do.
Good ! I reply, a ship of war is a part of the terri
tory to which she belongs, and that if some of the
subjects of the Queen should think proper to come
into my territory, aud refuse to go back, I may
surely apply the same principle and refuse to com
pel them."
At this juncture a landlord came along to say
that he had eleven boarders ready to volunteer.
Semmes turned to hira and quietly said, "And so
you have some gentlemen boarding at your house
who desire to take passage with me ? " It is thus

IN EASTEEN WATEES 241
that he tells of the incident : "The landlord smiled
and nodded assent. I continued, ' You know I can
not ship seamen in her Majesty's ports, but I see no
reason why I should not take passengers to sea with
me if they desire to go.' ' Certainly, your honor —
they can work their passage, you know.' 'I sup
pose you will charge something for bringing these
gentlemen on board?' 'Somewhat, your honor.'
Here the landlord pulled out a memoraudura and
began to read. ' Bill Bunting, board and lodging,
ten shilUngs — drinks, one pound ten. Tom Bow
line, board and lodging, six shillings — ^Tom only
landed yesterday from a Dutch ship — drinks, twelve
shiUings.' 'Hold,' said I, 'never mind the board
and lodging and drinks— go to the paymaster' —
aud turning to Kell, I told him to give the pay
master the necessary instructions, — 'and he will
pay you your fares for bringing the passengers ou
board.' The 'passengers' were afready alongside,
and, being sent down to the surgeon, were ex
arained, and passed as sound and able-bodied raen."
It was nine at night before all was ready, and,
though a stiff gale was blowing, Serames got off ; he
was afraid the Vanderbilt, which was faster than the
Alabama aud threw twice as much metal, might
come up and blockade him. He headed his boat,

242 BAPHAEL SEMMES
under steam, against wind and wave. "This
struggle of the little ship with the elements was
a thing to be remembered. The moon . . . was
near her full, shedding a flood of light upon the
scene. The bay was whitened with foam, as the
waters were lashed into fury by the storm. Around
the curve of the ' horseshoe ' arose broken, bald,
rocky mountains, on the crests of which were piled
fleecy white clouds, blinking in the moonlight like
banks of snow. It appeared as if the Devil . . .
had touched the mountains with the stUlness of
death, and wreathed thera with winding sheets.
The scene was wild and weird beyond description.
It was a picture for the eye of poet or painter to
dwell upon. Nor was the imagination less touched,
when from time to tirae the revolving Ught upon
the grira old Cape — that Cape which had so long
divided the Eastern frora the Western world —
threw its full blaze upon the deck of the struggling
ship. Overhead the sky was perfectly clear, there
being not so much as a speck of cloud to be seen —
and this in the midst of a howUng gale of wind.
At three A. M. we cleared the Cape, and, keeping
the ship off a few points, gave her the trysails with
the bonnets off. She bounded over the seas like a
stag hound unleashed. I had been up all night.

IN EASTEEN WATEES 243
aud now went below to snatch sorae brief repose
before the toils of another day should begin."
Thus he set off. Six raonths would elapse before
he should see the storray Cape of Good Hope again.
He made south at once for the fortieth parallel to
follow that for his easting, so as to get the push
from the "brave west winds " that blow so steadily
all the year round in the Indian Ocean, since they
are not interrupted by auy large bodies of laud.
They are also more unfavorably known as " the
roaring forties," and Semraes found them deserving
of their evil name.
He passed in sight of two lonely islets, St. Peter
aud St. Paul, in the faint hope of sighting some
whalers there, as that was a sort of rendezvous for
them ; but no sail rewarded his search. The gales,
unimpeded by any headlands of size, piled up
enormous rollers that came towering over Serames'
ship. After passing these specks of rock, he rau
into another gale. " The scene was a sublime one
to look upou. The seas — those long swells before
described — were literally running mountains high,
the wind was howling with more than usual fury,
and a dense snow-storm was pelting us from the
blackest and mo.st angry looking of clouds." This
storra subsided only to be succeeded by another one

244 EAPHAEL SEMMES
in which the ship lay for ten hours. One of the
crew graphically wrote of some of these storms :
" We were actually running in a deep valley be
tween hills of dark green water, and striking a huge
cross wave that would bury our bows, bringing tbe
vessel to with a shock that made her vibrate in
every timber." ' So gallant and staunch was the
ship, however, that, in spite of " every variety of
bad weather," she made some 4,400 railes in twenty-
four days, about 178 miles daily.
Semmes turned northward and soon the atmos
phere became softer and gentler. The raen aired
their bedding and raended their garments. Word
was spread around that the United States gunboat
Wyoming was waiting for them. Things were put
to rights aud drilling went forward almost daily.
" The ship is soon sparkling as a diamond, in fresh
paint and polished brasswork, aud is verily a nau
tical school. . . . The various warlike exercises
are going on for hours together. . . . It is an
active and at times stirring and exciting drill, par
ticularly in the boarding rushes where exaraples of
wonderful activity aud quickness may be observed ;
for Jack takes real iuterest iu his exercises and
studies, if we except the handUng of small fire-
' " The Cruise ot the Alabama," p. 99.

IN" EASTEEN WATEES 245
arms. . . . He has a thorough contempt for
this sort of weapon ; ... he will slight and
avoid it as far as he dares to the bitter end. . . .
Later on the news that the Wyoming is holding the
passage of the strait emphasizes the excitement, and
the crew feel that something more than playing
fighting may take place in a few hours. " '
In the latter part of October, an English ship
gave the definite information that the Wyoming was
cruising iu the Strait of Sunda, but anchoring every
night uuder the island of Krakatoa, which just a
score of years later blew up, causing nearly forty
thousand souls to perish, the most awful natural
catastrophe that history records. As Semmes drew
near this narrow passage, numerous sail were seen,
but all neutral except oue, the Amanda, the first
catch on this trip. Her hemp and sugar were not
protected, as the awkward certificates that claimed
the property for British subjects had not been sworn
to, aud hence all, with the ship, went to the torch,
throwing "a grim aud ominous glare to the very
mouth of the strait."
Even this conflagration at night did not draw the
Wyoming. After resting in the narrow channel one
evening, Semmes passed on, and at the other en-
'Sinclair, "Two Years on the Alabama," p. 168. ,

246 BAPHAEL SEMMES
trance bagged the Winged Bacer, " a perfect beauty
— oue of those New York ships of superb model,
with taut, graceful masts, and square yards, known
as clippers,' ' with a cargo chiefly of sugar, hides and
jute, and sorae provisions. These last the Alabama
took iu large part, but allowed the two captured
crews at their request to supply theraselves with all
that the rowboats could carry to Batavia. Thus
" robbed," the ship made a bonflre in the darkness,
and the historic Strait of Sunda was Ughted up at
both ends. All merchant craft had now such clear
warning that Semraes felt it was useless to hover
here longer, and he shot out into the China Sea.
Now carae a severe test for the Alabama, and she
showed her age, aud the effects of the straining and
racking she had undergone in her arduous days
since leaving Liverpool. A flne clipper ship, the
Contest, was sighted. Four miles away, she was or
dered to heave to, but instead of "obeying our com
mand, the gallant ship kept off a point or two, prob
ably her best point of saiUng — gave herself top-gal
lant and topmast studdingsails and away she went.
" The breeze was tolerably fresh but not stiff.
. . . The chase was evidently gaining on us. It
was some flfteen or twenty minutes before the en
gineer had a head of steara on. We now gave the

IN EASTEEN WATEES 247
ship all steam, and trimmed the sails to the best
possible advantage. Still the fugitive ship retained
her distance from us, if she did not increase it. It
was the first time the Alaba-ma had appeared dull.
She was under both sail and steam, and yet here
was a ship threatening to run away from her. She
must surely be out of trira. I tried therefore the
effect of getting my crew aft on the quarter-deck,
and shifting aft sorae of the forward guns. This
helped us visibly, and the ship sprang forward with
increased speed. We were now at least holding our
own, but it was impossible to say as yet whether we
were gaining an inch. If the breeze had freshened,
the chase wonld have run away from us beyond all
question. I watched the signs of the weather anx
iously. It was between nine and ten o'clock A. M.
Fortunately as the sun gained power and drove
away the mists of the raorning, the breeze began to
decline. Now carae the triuraph of steam. When
we had corae within long range, I threw the spray
over the quarter-deck of the chase with a rifle shot
from my bow chaser. Still she kept on, and it was
not until all hope was evidently lost that the proud
clipper ship, which had been beaten rather by the
failure of the wind than the speed of the AlabamM,
shortened saU and hove to."

248 EAPHAEL SEMMES
Semmes cordially congratulated the captain on his
skilful handling of his ship, and expressed his re
gret that he must burn her and her cargo of Japa
nese goods. He stretched on northward through
the Karimata Strait, and lay to at Souriton Island
while he sent out his launch to cruise around for
merchantmen. Though he got no reward for this
effort, he overhauled a larger number of ships, and
got one of thera, an Englishraan, to take his pris
oners to Batavia.
Beating araong the rayriad islands of the East In
dian archipelago, he crossed and skirted the west
coast of Borneo for many miles, aud then went over
the China Sea to Cochin China, and to Pulo Con-
dore, a coral island, opposite the mouths of the
Mekong Eiver. Expecting to flnd it uninhabited
except by Malays, he counted ou making it tempo
rary Confederate soil as he had done with Angra
Pequena, on the west coast of Africa; but to his
astonishment he saw the French flag iu the harbor,
aud met the French governor in control, that nation
having taken possession two years before. He was
a raost courteous, generous fellow, and received the
Alabama with due honor, raade presents of food to
the crew, aud gave the whole force the run of the
land. Beiug hardly raore thau a beardless youth, he

IN EASTEEN WATEES 249
had very likely never heard of those thorny thickets
of beUigerent rights aud neutral liraitations. At
least he asked no embarrassing questions and threw
out no meddlesome hints as to Semraes' length of
stay. Untrammeled iu raoveraent, undisturbed by
points of international etiquette, the crew when off
duty disported theraselves at will, — swimming, flsh
ing, hunting, exploring every cranny of the island,
studying the antics of the monkeys, bagging huge
vampires, killing snakes, getting fresh meat, fruits
and vegetables. One of the sailors, of whom we
shall hear iu noble roles later, was an adept in a
peculiar exercise with the serpents. It was his
pride to catch a dangerous reptile by the tail, and
while swinging him out at full length, give a sudden
snap as one does in cracking a whip, and break the
creature's neck.
But there were no dance-halls and no rum shops
ashore here, so Jack had full leave when not at
work ; and there was no insubordination. It was a
fortnight of rest aud ease aud healthy relaxation ;
it was a better, stronger crew at the eud.
In the meantirae very serious and difficult work
had been done on the ship to improve her speed.
Sorae of the copper had fallen off below the water
liue. There was enough mechanical ability aboard

250 BAPHAEL SEMMES
to construct a sort of coffer to fit along the hull so
closely that the water could be pumped out, leaving
a dry box for the men to work in to replace the
sheets, and make other repairs.
After these two weeks of wholesome enjoyment
and pleasure, the boat set out for Singapore. Here
Seraraes unlocked the mystery of the disappearance
of the American flag from these far eastern routes.
He saw twenty-two ships tied up in the harbor, and
he learned of some eight or ten others at different
ports on the eastern coast of Asia. The rays from
the two bonfires in the Strait of Sunda had
frightened the fleet so badly that aU were idly
moored in some haven. They would certainly not
leave these secure retreats so long as there was
danger. The Alabama could not seize them, but
once she was away, they might creep out and make
a dash for home, and she might be able to pounce
down on some of them.
Her sending the American coveys scurrying to
cover had unintentionally inconvenienced her best
friends in sorae arausing ways. An English official
relates a huraorous instance of the coraplaint made
in a social club whose members otherwise sympa
thized strongly with the South : " One hot season
when Madras lay gasping for breath, there were no

m EASTEEN WATEES 251
cooling drinks to be had — the ice ship from Boston
to Madras had not arrived. The Alabama was
known to be out, and to her account the fact of the
ice ship's being missing was at once laid. The
Southern cause had many supporters among us at
the time but . . . had not our mess rights
. . . been violated? So, for a time at least,
there was pause in debate araong us, until one day '
the ice ship was seen in the offing, aud the Federal
cause went dowu again to zero like the temperature
in our tumblers. " '
In Singapore, the meeting center for all Asiatic
peoples, Semmes could gather up all the threads of
rumors about his career and his purposes, but he
stayed only long enough to see the uselessness of re
maining in the East. So he repaired his boat, took on
coal, and, so far as the exigencies of the situation
permitted, accepted the English hospitalities which
were profusely offered. The recreations aud arause-
raents of the land seduced some half dozen of
Semmes' fellows to desert, while many of the rest
were bodily dragged aboard by searching parties
from the vessel.
Semmes' retirement from Eastern waters was all
the more to be recommended in view of the fact that
' Sir William Butler's " Autobiography," pp. 42-43.

252 EAPHAEL SEMMES
his ship's strength and usefulness were much im
paired. The copper on the bottora, which could
not be reached unless in dry dock, was falling off in
sheets. The constant fires iu the furnace prevented
cleaning, so that the boilers were dangerously weak.
As there were uo facilities in that distant quarter for
putting her in trim again, he determined to cross to
the shores of India, coast along the peninsula around
to the western side, thence sailing for the east line
of Africa, and ou southward to Cape Town once
more. Semmes hauled out into the strait and started on
his trip. The uext day, he hiraself for the first and
last time during the war boarded a prize, the Texan
Star, or Martaban. When sighted, she looked
American, but was flying the English colors. The
boarding officer found all the papers regular, but as
she had been transferred within the last teu days
from American to British ownership, aud as the
general appearances were all American, he requested
the captain to go aboard the Alabama to visit
Serames. He refusing and Semmes having no
authority to compel a foreigner to come aboard,
there was nothiug to be done except for the captain
of the Alabama to go to the other boat. As he
noted her graceful liues, and splendid sails and rig-

IN EASTEEN WATEES 253
ging, Semmes could see only "American" written
all over her. The flgures and faces of the officers
almost shouted "New England" to him. These
traits were still more irapressed on the captain of
the captive. " No amount of English customhouse
paper or sealing wax could by any possibility con
vert hira into that rotund, florid, jocund Briton who
personates the English shipmaster."
" When the papers were produced, I found among
them no bill of sale or other evidence of the transfer
of the property. . . . His crew list, which had
been very neatly prepared, was a raute but power
ful witness against him. It was written throughout,
signatures and all, in the same hand — the signatures
all being as like as two peas. After glancing atthe
papers, aud making these raental observations as I
went along, I asked the master a few questions. As
well as I recollect he was from Hallowell, Maine.
His ship had been two years in the Bast Indies,
trading from port to port. . . . The freshly
painted assumed narae on her stern was scarcely dry.
The raaster had sat with coraparative coraposure
during this exaraination and questioning, relying
with great confidence upon his English flag and
papers ; but when I turned to him and told hira that
I should burn his ship, he sprang from his chair.

254 EAPHAEL SEMMES
and said with excited manner and voice : ' You dare
not do it, sir. That flag,' pointing to the flag flying
frora his peak, 'won't staud it.' ' Keep cool, cap
tain,' I replied; 'the weather is warra, and as for
the flag, I shall not ask it whether it will stand it or
not — the flag that ought to be at your peak will
have to staud it though.' In half an hour . . .
the Texan Star, alias Martaban, was in flames."
It was a daring thing to do, almost a foolhardy
oue, as Semraes was taking desperate chances of a
raistake that might have been fatal. If it had
turned out to be a bona fide sale, theu he would have
affronted the ouly friends he had in this eastern
venture. But his insight was keen, his judgment
true, as subsequent confession proved.
In the afternoon, after the captain had had leisure
to calm dowu aud thiuk matters over, he was called
into Serames' cabin, put under oath before the prize
court, and addressed: "Now, captain, when you
and I had that little conversation in your cabin,
you had hopes of saving your ship, and moreover
what you said to me was not under oath. You were
perhaps ouly practicing a pardonable ruse de guerre.
But uow the case is altered. Your ship being des
troyed, you have no longer any possible interest
in misstating the truth. Be frank ; was, or was

IN EASTEEN WATEES 255
not, the transfer of your ship a bona fide transac
tion?" "I will be frank with you, captain," he replied.
"It was not a bona fide transaction. I was alarmed
when I heard of your arrival iu the East Indies, and
I resorted to a sham sale in the hope of saving my
ship." Semmes tersely remarks : "Upon this an
swer being recorded, the court adjourned." That
night the captives were landed on English territory.
Some two days later, on the morning after Christ
mas, 1863, two Massachusetts boats, in ballast, were
captured, the Sonora and the Highlander, both
"monster ships" of some twelve hundred tons
burden. They had been safe iu Singapore harbor.
Judging that the Alabama had gone on up the
Asiatic coast, they had started through the Straits
of Malacca, but had been delayed by head winds
aud were at anchor waiting for a fair breeze to bear
them on out into the Indian Ocean. Oue of the
captains took the mishap quite good-humoredly.
As he came on the Alabama's deck, he offered his
hand, and cheerily said : "Well, Captain Semmes,
I have been expecting every day for the last three
years to fall in with you, and here I ara at la.st."
Semraes pleasantly replied that it was a nice thing
to find him after so long a search. "Search!"

256 EAPHAEL SEMMES
said he ; "it is some such search as the devil may
be supposed to make after holy water. The fact is,
I have had constant visions of the Alabama by night
and by day ; she has been chasing me in my sleep,
and riding me Uke a nightmare, aud now that it is
all over, I feel quite relieved." Such a superior
soul may have felt keen pangs at seeing the torch
applied to his ship, but it is a safe deduction that
no weakness shone iu his face. Under his fearless
lead, it was possibly an agreeable trip back to
Singapore in the boats which Semraes perraitted to
be loaded with provisions aud other necessaries be
fore the flaraes devoured both vessels.
Semmes passed out into the Indian Ocean, thence
on across it, doubled the island of Ceylon, and sailed
up the Malabar coast, taking the Emma Jane about
the middle of January, 1864, the ouly haul made on
that long sail frora the Straits of Malacca to Cape
Town. The Emma Jane had no cargo, and there
were no complications as to neutral property. She
was burned and her crew landed on Indian
ground. Enveloped and driven bythe northeast "trades,"
the Alabama stretched across the Arabian Sea for
the Comoro Islands. It was a blessed voyage nearly
all the way, — fair wind, delightful weather. "For

m EASTEEN WATEES 257
twelve successive days we did not have occasion to
lower a studdingsail, day or night. We had a
constant series of clear skies and gentle breezes.
The nights were serene and transparent, and the
sunsets were magnificent beyond description. The
trade wind is par excellence the wind of beautiful
sunsets. Bright, gauzy clouds float along lazily be
fore it, and soraetiraes the most charraing cumuli
are piled up on the western horizon while the sun is
going dowu. Stately cathedrals, with their domes
and spires coraplete, raay be traced by the eye of
fancy, and the most gorgeous of golden, violet,
orange, purple, green and other hues, light up now
a colonnade, now a dome, and now a spire of the
aerial edifice. And theu carae on the twilight, with
its gray and purple blended, and with the twilight
the sound of merriment on board the Alabama."
Thus tenderly aud eloquently does this imperious
coraraander paint the glories of the heavens and the
rapturous influence it exerted on the spirits of raen
seeking to harm their enemies wherever they might
flnd them.
He anchored at Johanna, the chief of the Comoro
group. He reraained there for about a week, being
kindly received by the dark-skinned Moharamedau
peoples. It was a good chance to get fresh meat

258 EAPHAEL SEMMES
and provisions, but was a dull episode for the sail
ors. There were no grog, no dancing, no merry
partners. Jack tried going ashore once, but he was
glad to get back, and happy that the Alabama
went southward toward the theater of civilized
amusements. Though wayward in mood, turbulent in anger,
and riotous in liquor, the sailor often has the noblest
impulse in the heart of man, — love for his brother, to
the risking of his owu life for hira, the sacrifice of
it if need be. A precious instance was afforded on
the Alabama after she had got far down toward the
Cape of Good Hope. Oue of the officers has left a
fine appreciation of the deed, as well as Serames'
hearty recognition of it.
" The wind is blowing a good topgallant breeze,
with a clear sky and rather a frisky sea. One of
the crew, who had beeu on the sick list for a long
time, now convalescent, was ordered by the surgeon
to be carried on deck for sun and fresh air. While
lying ou the topgallant forecastle, by some means
not positively known, the mau went overboard to
leeward. At once the cry was given, ' Man over
board ! ' . . . The vessel was at a standstill in a
twinkling, with the struggling invalid some distance
astern, battling with feeble strength for life. Mars
took in the situation instantly. Seizing a grating,
he rushed to the lee gangway, and throwing it over
board ahead of him mounted the rail. Meanwhile

IN EASTEEN WATEES 259
the first lieutenant reached the deck, and observing
the intent of Mars, ordered him not to go to the
rescue of his comrade in such rough water ; the boat
could pick the mau up, and one of the crew was
enough to lose if auy. But his order was not heeded ;
humanity had asserted itself, and all thought of the
gravity of the disobedience of orders was thrown by
Mars to the winds. Ouly replying, ' Keep cool, Mr.
Kell, I will save the poor fellow,' he swam rapidly
to the uow nearly exhausted sailor. He reached
him, aud, shoving the grating under him, awaited
the approach of the life- boat, . . . the invalid
being raore dead than alive. A wild yell broke
frora the throats of the gallant tars. The boat
hoisted to the davits, the vessel was once raore ou
her course.
" Seraraes had officers and crew mustered on the
quarter-deck, aud, mounting the horse-block, in a
speech of teu minutes, delivered a flattering tribute
to the superb gallantry of the man. He called upon
the rest of the officei's and crew to emulate his ex
ample in all hours of danger and trial. The speech
was an indorsement any man might be proud to
receive from his coraraander. At the conclusiou of
the reraarks, ... as the crew were strolling
forward. Mars, with a hitch of the trousers so com
mon with Jack Tars, remarked, 'The captain lias
made a bloody fuss over nothing. ' During the entire
time occupied by Semmes in addressing officers and
crew, Mars stood hat in hand, head down, and blush
ing like a schoolgirl at the well-earned compliments
showered upon him." '

It is the mark of a great leader to seize the
' Sinclair, " Two Years on the Alabama," pp. 227-9.

260 EAPHAEL SEMMES
psychological moment for bestowing a tribute upon
a subordinate for gallant conduct. Such executive
wisdom inspires his followers, aud strengthens the
bond of loyalty. It may have nerved Mars a few
months later to other acts of heroism and devotion
at the sinking of the Alabama.
Without further incident of note, the Alaba-ma
soon anchored in Cape Towu, just six mouths away
on her bold run to the East Indies. Semmes was at
once involved in a diplomatic battle, and, as nearly
always in these contests, he vanquished his adversa
ries. The Tuscaloosa, the tender which Semmes had
coraraissioned on the Atlantic outside of all jurisdic
tion, had obeyed orders to cruise along the Brazilian
coast aud then return to South Africa. Wheu she
raade the British port of Siraon' s Town, she had
beeu apprehended by the authorities under orders
from the Home Governraent on the ground that she
had not been conderaned in a prize court, and in
consequence should not have been allowed in a
British harbor since that nation along with other
great powers had refused the right of entry to prizes
of either belligerent iu the Civil War in the United
States. Semmes, of course, demolished that position,
basing his reasoning ou the principle of international
law accepted by the United States supreme court,

IN EASTEEN WATEES 261
that a nation could not inquire into the antecedents
of a ship of war, and that her commission from cora
petent authority constitutes her a part of the terri
tory of that sovereign body, and she can no more be
seized thau a portion of the soil without such
seizure becoming an act of war. He, Seraraes, was
an officer of a belligerent, with full right to cora
mission a tender, a right that the British admirals
often exercised. The Tuscaloosa under the protection
of this document had visited British ports and been
treated as a belligerent. It was true that she had
not been put through a prize court, but her com
mission as a tender of the Alabama was a far
stronger title than a court could give. Of course
she had been the property of the citizens of the
other belligerent, and had been captured and sent
forth as a cruiser, but no nation had the right to
ask for anything further thau her commission. If
that was in due form, she was just as much entitled
to belligerent privileges as the Alabama or any
other ship of war.
The local officials could not return the boat to her
commander or to Semmes ; they could only transmit
his protests and arguments to the central power in
London. In due time an order came for the res
toration of the Tuscaloosa to her comraander, but

262 BAPHAEL SEMMES
he had long since departed, and as the war was
drawing near its close, she fell back into the hands
of her original owners. But Seraraes had gained
one legal triumph ; he had got one point of law
settied, that "one nation cannot inquire into the
antecedents of the ships of war of another nation "

CHAPTEE XIII
the end OF THE " ALABAMA "
This little international duel with pens had no ef
fect upon the general heartiness of the English
greeting of the Alabama on her second visit. Her
decks were thronged with civilians aud officials,
with sightseers, and with well-wishers from shore.
But she did not allow either welcorae or curiosity to
hold her. As rapidly as possible she was refur
nished and recoaled and after three days she was off
again, — this time up the Atlantic looking for some
avaUable repafr yard.
Before she came to Cape Town, Semraes had ad
raitted : "My ship is weary too, as well as her com
mander, and will need a general overhauling by the
time I can get her into a dock." It was his inten
tion "to make the best of ray way to England or
France, for the purpose of docking and thoroughly
overhauling aud repairing ray ship." Yet he had
a presentiment that the cruises of the AlabamM were
about at an end. Confederate fortunes on land were
sinking, and it seemed a draraatic fltness that the

264 EAPHAEL SEMMES
greatest Confederate charapion on water shotdd go
dowu at the sarae pace. Her captain's spirit was
still unconquerable, but his body, like the Alabama's
frame, was racking down : " Vigils by night and by
day, the storra aud the drenching rain, the frequent
and rapid change of climate, now freezing, now
melting or broiling, and the constant exciteraent of
the chase and capture had laid, in the three years of
war he had been afloat, the load of a dozen years on
his shoulders. The shadows of a sorrowful future,
too, begau to rest upon his spirit."
Though the Alabama was liraping to her lafr, she
added two raore nurabers to her roster of conquest,
the Bockingham and the Tycoon, both caught below
the equator, aud both burnt. She passed on by the
Azores, boarding nuraerous neutrals, but finding no
hostile flag. Eariy in the raorning with hope still
ahead, in spite of gloomy news frora home, the Ala
bama raade the port of Cherbourg, France, on June
11, 1864. Semmes aimed to go into dock, give his
crew two mouths' leave, wait till all was ready, and
theu take to sea again. But there were only govern
raent docks here, and the Eraperor's permission had
to be obtained before the privilege of using one of
them could be granted. He was at Biarritz, and
would not be back in Paris for several days. In

THE END OF THE "ALABAMA" 265
the meantime, the Kearsarge, off Flushing, hearing
of the Alabama's presence down the channel, came
on the 14th, steamed into the harbor, and then out
beyond the breakwater aud there stationed herself.
Semraes saw his chance for a trial of strength with
his foe. He had been fully deterrained over in the
East Indies to engage the Wyoming if he had come
across her, and now he sent for Kell aud announced
that he was going to flght the Kearsarge. He had
had target practice at the Bockingham, and while the
gunnery was good, the shells in several instances
had not exploded, and it was clear that the quality
of the powder had deteriorated. Kell knew all this,
and gently intimated that it was a handicap ; but he
saw that Semraes was firm iu his decision, and he
discussed what it was best to do in preparation.
Kell himself was always ready for a set-to, and had
long wanted one. Of course the other officers were
just as wiUing as soou as they learned "of the chance
of it.
The British tars, composing most of the crew,
were eager for the fray. From tradition and frora
ancestry, the fighting instinct in them was strong,
and they were keen for auy danger. Besides they
were within sound of Old England, the home of so
many of them, and their ardor was kindled, and

266 BAPHAEL SEMMES
their pulses quickened by a song, the last song, of
the ship's poet :
" We're homeward, we're homeward bound.
And soon shall stand on English ground.
But ere that English land we see.
We first must fight the Kearaargee." '
On the 15th, the day after the Kearsarge got to
Cherbourg, her captain, John A. Winslow, received
word that Serames wanted to fight hira, coraraunica
tion having beeu raade through the respective con
sular representatives. Semmes had notified his
superior in Paris of his purpose, and had been
directed to use his discretion. A presentiment of
battle was felt among the crew, and there were con
jectures and rumors, gossip and idle predictions on
land araong the French townspeople, but Semmes
was not the man to keep a still tongue iu his head
for three years as to his plans, and then at the
supreme crisis to turn it loose to wag at random.
It was not known generally, in fact it was positively
known to only a few, though of course all the crew
and other observers could infer for one or two days
preceding the engagement what was ahead.
The train-load from Paris did not corae down to
' " Cruise of the Alaba-na," p. 135.

THE END OP THE "ALABAMA" 267
witness the battle. It was a regular Sunday excur
sion made weekly through the warm season, and
that was the first of the series that summer.' In fact
Bullock, who was iu a position to speak authorita
tively, says that outside of the special officials very
few had notice of the coming contest. Of course
wheu the Alabama began to move out, all who could
rushed to the highest places to view the struggle.
The " congregation was dismissed and peasants,
soldiers, nuns, and cur6 passed out of the church to
watch the fight from the cliffs." Others climbed
towers, stood on roofs, and looked out of windows.
Outside, a few miles away from shore, quietly lay
the Kearsarge, with the captain going through the
usual routine of Sunday morning. She had been
idly raoving to and fro for several days waiting for
her challenger to come out. Although made ou
opposite sides of the Atlantic, the two ships were
almost "evenly matched in size, armament, and
crew. " The Alabama was 220 feet long, the Kear
sarge 214 ; the Alabama's beam was thirty-two feet,
the Kearsarge's thirty-four ; the Alabama's depth
was seventeen feet, the Kearsarge's sixteen ; the
Alabama's tonnage was 1,150, the Kearsarge's 1,031 ;
the Alabama's armament was one 8-inch Blakely,
' Prentice in Harper's Monthl-y, Nov., 1910, Vol, 121, p. 873.

268 BAPHAEL SEMMES
one 8-inch shell guu, aud six 32-pounders, all
British, — the Kearsarge's was two 11-inch guns,
one 30-pounder, and four 32-pounders, all Ameri
can ; the Alabama had a total force of 149, the
majority being British, fifty-nine being of the
original eighty-flve that enlisted at Terceira when
the Alabama was commissioned ; the Kearsarge force
was 163, all but eleven being native Americans.'
While the Alabama had eight guns to the Kear
sarge's seven, the total weight of raetal frora the
Kearsarge was about twenty per cent, more than
that from the Alabama. The Alabama was about
two years old, the Kearsarge six months older.
The Kearsarge had been in dock for repairs less
thau three months before, the Alabama had never
been iu dock since she was launched. But taking
it all in all, aside from the Kearsarge's recent dock
ing, "it is hardly probable that two ships more
equally matched will ever fight in single combat." "
There is also historic significance in the fact that it
was the first open sea fight of iraportance between
two steara vessels substantially equal, provided with
raodern ordnance.
There was also a parallelism in the careers of the
'Bennett, "Steam Navy ot U. S.," p. 431.
'EUicott's "Winslow," p. 191.

THE END OP THE "ALABAMA" 269
two captains. They were born at nearly the same
time, Semmes being two years the senior. Both
were Southerners, Semmes from Maryland, Winslow
from North Carolina. Both had beeu raidshipmen
in the Old Navy. Both had served gallantly in the
Mexican War, and, singular to relate, each had lost
a vessel in a storm off Vera Cruz. They had after
ward beeu shipmates, messmates, and roomraates.
Winslow had been on the Kearsarge two months
over one year, while Semmes lacked two raonths of
corapleting two years ou the Alabama. They had
been playing the game of hide-and-seek in the
Atlantic siuce Winslow had beeu assigned to the
Kearsarge. Of course both meu were of the highest
character and courage.
Exactly a week before Winslow had been coming
dowu the Scheldt, the inhabitants beiug crowded on
the banks to take a look at the boat. The crew
were all mustered and Winslow uttered a few plain,
manly words to them : " Meu, I congratulate you
in saying that the Alabama has arrived at Cher
bourg, and the Kearsarge, having a good name iu
France and England, is to have her cruising ground
off that port." Upon this, " a patriotic young
Irishman stepped forward and proposed three
cheers for the success of the Kearsarge, and was

270 BAPHAEL SEMMES
responded to by both crew aud officers ; aud theu
three cheers for Captain Winslow, aud they were
given with a will. Captain Winslow said he hoped
that every man would be on the lookout, and ready
at a moraeut's notice, as we were leaving the Bel
gium and Holland coast, perhaps never to look on
them again."'
Now a raore mercurial folk, farther south on the
Atlantic shore, were massed on the prominences to
see these two enemies corae together in deadly en
counter. As they neared oue another on that bright
Sabbath mom in June, sorae of those aboard raay
have thought of the historic waters they were to
battle in, that in that stretch between Continental
Europe and England had beeu enacted stirring
scenes ; — that Csesar with his raighty Eoman legions
had crossed that arm of the ocean, that along the
shores the Northmen had ravaged, that in that
channel the Spanish Armada had been dispersed.
Perhaps the martial ardor and the fighting blood
of the French had something to do with Semmes'
decision here and now to cast his die on the issue.
In military circles it was considered a challenge for
the Kearsarge to steam into the harbor in proximity
'Diary kept on Kearsarge, "N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg.," Vol.
35, p. 341.

THE END OF THE "ALABAMA" 271
to the Alabama, and then pass out again. As no
word had corae from the Eraperor, Seraraes could
not go into dock, and he did not care to reraain
there bottled up. The local papers may have
spurred him on by thefr sentiments, as they de
clared that he and his men must be tired of a life
of attacking only defenseless craft. They thought
it would be glorious for him to grapple with the foe
even if he should be defeated. The Confederate
representative in Paris declared that Semmes, when
delayed in his aim to dock, was placed " in a situa
tion which prevented him from declining without
dishonor a corabat in which his vessel was lost."
Public opinion, in a word, seeraed to look on the
engageraent as a matter of honor on the part of the
Alabama's captain and crew. "Wliatever his mo
tives, it was a deed of daring to go boldly out in
his limping ship against a watchful enemy in flrst
class trim.
He was attended by a French war-ship to guard
against any violation of neutrality. Semmes says :
"Everything being in readiness, between nine
and ten o'clock, we got uuder way aud proceeded to
sea, through the western entrance of the harbor ;
the Couronne foUowing us. As we eraerged frora
behind the mole, we discovered the Kearsarge at a
distance of between six and seven miles from the

272 EAPHAEL SEMMES
land. She had been apprised of our intention of
coming out that morning aud was awaiting us. We
were three-quarters of an hour in running out to the
Kearsarge, during which time we had gotten our
people to quarters, cast loose the battery, and made
all necessary preparations for battle. The crew had
been particularly neat in their dress ou that raorn
ing, and the officers were all in the uniforras ap
propriate to their rank. As we were approaching the
eneray's ship, I caused the crew to be sent aft, within
convenient reach of my voice, aud mounting a gun
carriage delivered them the foUowing brief address.
I had not spoken to them in this formal way since I
had addressed them on the memorable occasion of
commissioniug my ship :
"'Officers and Seamen of the Alabama: You
have at length another opportunity of meeting the
eneray — the flrst that has been presented to you since
you sank the Hatteras. In the raeantime you have
been all over the world, and it is not too much to
say that you have destroyed and driven for protec
tion under neutral flags one-half of the enemy's
commerce, which at the beginning of the war cov
ered every sea. This is an achievement of which
you may well be proud ; and a grateful country will
not be unmindful of it. The narae of your ship has
becorae a household word wherever civilization ex
tends. Shall that narae be tarnished by defeat?
The thing is irapossible. Eeraember that you are
in the English Cbaunel, the theater of so much of
the naval glory of our race, aud that the eyes of all
Europe are at this moraent upon you. The flag
that floats over you is that of a young Eepublic,
who bids defiance to her eneraies whenever and
wherever found. Show the world that you know
how to uphold it. Go to your quarters.' "

THB END OP THE "ALABAMA" 273
He adds : " The utmost silence prevailed during
the delivery of this address, broken only once iu an
enthusiastic outburst of 'Never! Never!'" wheu
he asked his sailors " if they would perrait the name
of their ship to be tarnished by defeat."
The Kearsarge had been keenly watching for flve
days for this crisis, with every soul on board keyed
up to the highest pitch. On this morning, while
the captain was conducting religious services, the
raan aloft sang out, "A steamer is coming and I be
lieve it to be the Alabama." It is said that "the
drum immediately beat to quarters and in two
minutes every man was at his station ready for
action."' Winslow had been urged by the United States
Minister iu Paris to be careful not to corae within
the marine league of shore, and if he felt safe it
would be better to get off six or seven miles so as to
avoid all chance of diplomatic protests. Bearing all
this caution in miud, he stearaed out farther to sea.
When he was certain of his distance he carae back
aud one of the most meraorable conflicts of naval
warfare opened.
Seraraes had counted the sun flashing on the waters
as a good sign for the Alabama, and had unbent so
'Diary in " N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg.," Vol. 35, p. 343.

274 BAPHAEL SEMMES
far as to do something very unusual with him.
After saying, " If the bright, beautiful day is shin
ing for our beneflt, we should be happy at the
omen," he asked one of his lieutenants, "How do
you think it will turn out to-day, Mr. Sinclafr ? "
This surprised the officer very much as " he rarely
addressed any of us off duty, and never asked advice
or opinion of his subordinates on weighty matters ;
at least not to my knowledge." He got only the
cautious reply of a subordinate : "I cannot answer
the question, sir, but can assure you the crew will
do thefr full duty, and follow you to the death."
Semmes knew that this was true, and he resumed
his usual pacing of the quarter-deck, and so con
tinued as the ship bore the brave crew down toward
the Kearsarge, for so many a scene of death.
With glass in hand Semraes stood on one of the
horse-blocks in an exposed but advantageous posi
tion for directing the work of his force and for ob
serving the Kearsarge. When the latter was some
seven miles from land, she wheeled and came for
the Alabama end-on, intending if it seemed feasible
to ram her foe ; but the Alabama sheered to one
side, and, when the two were about a mile apart,
Semraes opened fire. The flrst broadside did no
damage, as most of the shot went wild, only one

THB END OF THE "ALABAMA" 275
striking the Kearsarge's rigging. Two raore broad
sides followed so rapidly that Winslow gave up all
thought of boarding, and began action hiraself, now
that he was in sufficient nearness for his guns to
take effect, as the Alabama had the longer range.
The fight speedily becarae very warm, and, in order
not to pass each other, each ship sheered so that
they fought in circles or loops, some seven in all,
bearing toward the shore all the while. Early in
the action, one mau was killed and another wounded
on the Alabama, and then for a tirae neither seeraed
able to get the range of the other and no daraage of
any moment was done. In fact in the first half of
the contest the advantage seemed to be with Semraes.
He sent a 100-pouud shell crashing into the Kear
sarge amidship, and his crew, believing that it
had penetrated her boilers, cheered loudly, but
it had passed through the engine-room skylight.
Eight after this, another of these shells struck uuder
her counter, glanced aud lodged iu her stern-post,
but unfortunately for Semmes did not explode. If
it had done so, he was sure that it would have per
manently disabled her, but some expert opinion ou
the other side is just as positive that no substantial
harm would have beeu suffered, although six weeks
later in an official despateh Winslow stated that it

276 EAPHAEL SEMMES
bound " the rudder so hard as to require four men
at the helm," and Browne, the Kearsarge surgeon,
twenty years after admits that "luckily the shell
did not explode, otherwise the result would have
beeu serious, if not fatal." Almost at the sarae
tirae another shell exploded ou the quarter-deck
wounding three men, oue of whom afterward died.
Another exploded in the smoke-stack, tearing an
enormous hole.
Semraes had been closely watching the effect of
his guns, and noted that raany shells that struck the
Kearsarge fell back into the water. He called Kell's
attention to this and ordered the use of solid shot,
but these did not penetrate the Kearsarge any better,
because of the chain arraor upon her sides. But
there are competent judges to assert that the shots
struck at such height above the water line that no
serious hurt would have been inflicted, even if they
had entered. Here, again, Semmes believed the
victory would have beeu his if the Kearsarge had
not been protected as she was. By this time, how
ever, Winslow' s gunner had their range, and the
distance was all iu favor of his heavy pieces. His
weighty charges began to pierce their way into the
Alabama, doing terrible havoc. Oue hit her best
cannon, put it entirely out of gear, and disabled

THB END OP THE "ALABAMA" 277
eighteen meu. He ordered his gunners to aira low so
as to plough through below the water line. A lucky
shot daraaged the rudder so that substitutes had to
be devised for steering. The ship was hulled repeat
edly, and her decks were like shambles. Semmes,
having great faith in the prowess of his men in
a hand to hand struggle, wanted to run up to the
Kearsarge aud board her, but Winslow easily kept
off as he had the superior speed. Finally two
eleven- inch shells passed through the Alabama's
bunkers at the water line, the water poured into the
heart of the ship, and she began to sink. Semmes
tried to head for the shore, and set out sails for that
purpose. Winslow saw the raove and got inshore
to rake her, but she settled so fast that there was no
hope of reaching the raarine league. Semmes or
dered her colors down, sent an officer to make a sur
render of his ship and men to the foe, and set to work
to get out his wouuded for despatch to the Kearsarge.
The bulk of the boats on both vessels had been des
troyed, and at the most there were only some four
or flve in all available. Many of the wounded
were placed on these, when the AlabamM could float
no longer. Lifting her bow straight up in the air,
something after midday and less than an hour and
a half after she flred her first gun, "the scourge of

278 BAPHAEL SEMMES
the seas" that had beeu pursued by twenty-flve
war-ships at a cost of seven raillion dollars, sank
into the ocean over which she had beeu a matchless
queen for nearly two years. Not even a splinter
from her passed to her conquerors as a memento of
their triumph. Two of her boats and the shell
which lodged in the stern-post of the Kearsarge
were the only souvenirs.
Just before her flnal plunge into the deep, the
order had been given, "All hands save yourselves !"
The captain and his flrst officer, the faithful aud ef
ficient Kell, threw off thefr outer clothing. For
the second time in his life, Semmes sprang into the
sea from a sinking boat of which he had just been
in coraraand. He could not act with any vigor in
the water as his right arra was almost nseless, having
been struck by the fragment of a shell during the
battle, although he continued in full charge after
having it bound up by a quartermaster. With
Kell's aid he kept afloat until he was picked up by a
boat from the English yacht Deerhound, which, after
viewing the contest, had come near the Kearsarge
and had been asked to help save the unfortunates.
While one of her boats was passing near a drowning
man, a sailor recognized hira as Serames, who spoke
up, " I am the captain ; save me. I cannot keep up

THE END OF THB "ALABAMA" 279
any longer. ' ' He was quickly pulled aboard, placed
on the bottom and covered with a sail to conceal
him from the Kearsarge searchers. He is reported
to have said, "For God's sake, don't put rae on
board the Kearsarge, but put me ou your yacht."
Kell was rescued at the same time, and it was he
who suggested the concealment of Seraraes to pre
vent recognition by any of the Kearsarge's raen.
Kell put on one of the Deerhound hats, took an oar,
and answered a Kearsarge inquiry as to whether or
not Semmes was saved by saying clearly and posi
tively, "No, he is drowned."' In a few minutes
they were both ou the Deerhound, and that sarae
day were lauded at Southampton.'
With the months of Semmes' training on ship, aud
under his guidance and inspiration during the flght,
these men, gathered from all parts of the globe,
uniformly faced death unblenched. The surgeon.

'^ London News, June 21, 1864; and Sinclair's "Two Years
on the Alabama," p. 279.
' An English colonial officer of standing and experience,
Sir George F. Bowen, relates, in Vol. I, p. 332 of his " Auto
biography," that on the visit of the Kearsarge to New Zealand
in 1868 he was informed by her captain that the Kearsarge offi
cers recognized Semmes in the water and let the Deerhov/nd
boat save him, as they were afraid if he waa captured by the
Federal forces he " might be tried, and hanged, for treason, in
the civil courts — a fate from which they wished to save a gal
lant enemy."

280 EAPHAEL SEMMES
an Englishman, who had joined the Southern cause
purely out of a sense of what he considered just aud
right, forgot all of self, remained until knee-deep iu
the water that had entered his sick bay, doing all he
could to save the wounded. When told the ship
was sinking, and that he had better haste, he calmly
answered: "I raust wait for orders, you kuow."
Finally he did get his charges off, but again he may
have waited for orders to go with them. After
the boat had pushed off, he let it be known
that he could not swim, and a float was arranged
for him, but by its shifting he very likely lost his
life. Oue of the sailors, though mortally wounded,
denied that he was hurt and continued on duty until
he fell dead on deck. Another was sent aloft on
some task. When descending he was " completely
disemboweled," but in this desperate plight he
climbed down to the spar-deck, "and with shrieks
of agony, aud his hands over his head, beating the
air convulsively, reached the port gangway, where he
fell and expired." The lower part of the arm of the
captain's coxswain was so shattered that it hung by
the skin. He coolly took out his knife, cut it off,
tied up the stump aud went on with his work as well
as he could with one arm.

THE END OF THE " ALABAMA " 281
A pathetic instance of the tender attachraent
existing between superior and subordinate is pre
served in the case of a generous whole-souled Irish
man, of powerful frame, but au awkward landsman,
nicknaraed Conneraara from his native heath, — the
butt of his comrades, whose pranks he so often and
so hotly resented that he was a burden of anxiety to
the executive officer. With death ouly a little way
from him, he was being passed over to one of the
Kearsarge boats, when he desfred to see the first
lieutenant. Stretehing out his feeble hand he said :
"I have sent for you, Mr. Kell, to ask your for
giveness for all the trouble I've caused you since ray
enlistment on the ship. Please forgive poor Conne
raara now he is going to his long home." Kell
knelt down and stroking his head assured him :
"My poor, dear boy, I have nothing to forgive;
nothing against you, my brave lad ; and I trust you
will be in better trim soon." "No," was the an
swer, " Conneraara is going fast. Good-bye, Mr.
KeU; God bless you, Mr. Kell," as he reverently
and loyally kissed Kell's hand.
But no man ou either side exhibited greater cool
ness or finer devotion to his chief than another son
of Erin, Michael Mars, the same who had been
signally honored by Semraes before the entire ship's

282 EAPHAEL SEMMES
company for his daring unselfishness in the rescue
of a sick sailor who had fallen overboard in the In
dian Ocean. He, with a companion, caught up an
eleven-inch sheU that was about to explode on the
deck and threw it over the rail. A few minutes
later all his mates were struck in the bursting of an
other shell, many being horribly mangled, and the
huraan flesh scattered all around. He himself was
thrown down but not injured, and instantly rising
and seizing a shovel he soon had the ghastly frag
ments overboard aud the decks again sanded. When
it was time to desert the sinking vessel, Semmes en
trusted his valuable papers to Mars, who, holding
them in one hand above the water, swam to a
Kearsarge boat, but learning this sprang out and
was picked up by a French boat. He again jumped
into the water, and was rescued by a Deerhound
boat. When he at last got to that ship, he would
give his precious packet to no one but Semmes him
self. But whatever the fiery spfrit, the martial ardor,
the dauntless control, and the noble self-sacrifice of
these men, they were matched by their enemies on
the Kearsarge in the same glorious qualities. For
over a year she had been going to and fro on the
Atlantic, steaming hither and thither at the beck of

THE END OP THE "ALABAMA" 283
consul or minister, or at the call of rumor, hunting
for the elusive, cunning Alabama. With tireless
drill they had perfected thefr gunnery, had hard
ened their muscles, had tempered their sinews, and
steadied thefr nerves. For five days had they been
strained to the highest tension outside of Cherbourg.
At last they were at the apex of fate, at the culmina
tion of dreams. But their discipUne held them firm
at this crisis in thefr days. They were calm, thefr
hands unshaken, their sight direct. Deliberately
they planted shot and sheU on the AlabamM. As
their deadly work began to tell, thefr enthusiasm
fiamed forth. "Cheer succeeded cheer, caps were
thrown in the air or overboard, jackets discarded,
one encouraging the other, sanguine of victory,
shouting as each projectile took effect : ' That's a
good one ! ' ' That told ! ' ' Give her another ! '
' Down, boys, give her another like the last ! ' ' Now
we have her.' "
Only one man was hurt badly enough to make op
portunity for noble fortitude or forgetfulness of self,
but he was so simple, so sincere in his heroism as to
be a beacon light for the entfre ship's corapany.
His bearing was well worthy to be embalmed in the
official despatches: "Gowin was brought with a
smile upon his face, although suffering acutely from

284 EAPHAEL SEMMES
his injury. He said, ' It is aU right and I am satis
fied, for we are whipping the Alabama,' adding, ' I
willingly wiU lose my leg or life if it is necessary.'
During the progress of the action he comforted his
suffering comrades by assuring thera, 'Victory is
ours.' Whenever the gun's crew cheered at the
successful effect of their shot, Gowin would wave his
hand over his head and join in the shout. In the
hospital he was calraly resigned to his fate, repeat
ing again and again his willingness to die, since his
ship had won a glorious victory."
This was the surgeon's testimony. Similar tribute
to his singleness of character did the executive offi
cer render: "William Gowin, ordinary seaman,
was severely wouuded by the explosion of a shell.
He dragged himself to the forward hateh, refusing
to allow the men to leave his guu for the purpose of
assisting hira. His cheerful willingness to sacrifice
his life for victory's sake was expressed in terras
that aniraated and encouraged others." ' It is no
wonder that his shipraates deterrained to erect a
monument to him in Cherbourg, aud that the Ameri
can residents in Paris contributed a sum for a
meraorial to hira iu his native town iu Michigan.
Of course a crew of his type could appreciate the
' " Naval War Records," Series I, Vol. Ill, pp. 62, 70.

THE END OF THB " ALABAMA " 285
fearlessness of their foes, and were too brave to
exult in the hour of the Alabama's defeat. All were
silent, when the terrible rover of the oceans went
down, carrying many brave men to death.
It is not possible to state accurately the fate of
each man, but virtually all are accounted for by one
of the raost careful investigations of the catastrophe.
Of her roster of 147-149, twenty-six were killed
and drowned, seventy wounded and sound were
taken to the Kearsarge, while forty-two were
placed on the Deerhound, and nine on a French
pilot boat.'
Such was the sacrifice of brave men for a mistress
that was worthy of the imraolation. She had been
a thing of life for ouly twenty -two raonths, but she
had swept in her pride unharraed over two oceans,
had entered numerous ports, had coaled at ten, re
ceiving on board in all about 1, 800 tons of fuel. She
had taken two thousand prisoners, had boarded 386
vessels, had constituted cartel-ships of some half a
dozen, had bonded ten, had raade a tender of one,
had sold another, had sunk a third, and had burnt
fifty-two. No trophies were left of her victories, as
the flags she had won went down with her.
What lords of lucre would the crew have been if
' Ellicott 's " Winslow," p. 207.

286 EAPHAEL SEMMES
they could have got their prize money, as she had
destroyed at a raodest calculation nearly five raillion
dollars' worth of property. Nothiug of the wealth
that was hers carae to any of thera except frora the
seventy odd chronoraeters, which, being transferred
to a British ship before the fight, eventually reached
land and were sold, the proceeds being shared out
by Seraraes in due proportion to the officers.
The entfre crew were all paid in full by the pay-
raaster from funds he had deposited on shore be
fore going out that Sunday morning. In tirae the
legal heirs of those lost in the battle also got their
wages. A third of a century after, the Kearsarge rounded
out her days with a theatrical climax. Her victory
raarked the final drop of the curtain on sails and
wooden walls, but popular sentiment kept her on
the register although she was of no service except
as a patriotic relic. Three decades later she went
ashore on a reef in the Gulf of Mexico, aud a party
of wreckers dismantled and fired her. Araong them
was said to be a child ofa meraber ofthe Alabama's
crew, named " Adrairal Serames " by reason of the
admiration the father had for his commander.
""WTien everything worth saving was taken from
the vessel, the hulk was burned and 'Admiral

THE END OF THE "ALABAMA" 287
Semmes,' the son of the seaman, applied the torch,"
thus, in a way, dramaticaUy placing Semmes beside
Winslow, each now having destroyed the other's
boat.' ' MobUe Begister, Jnne 7, 1900.

CHAPTEE XIV
AFTEEMATH OF THE BATTLE
A BLAZING meteor tn life, the Alabama shone
with greater brUliancy after death through the re
flection of her rays. The dfrges of defeat and the
paeans of victory through the South and the North
respectively were echoed in the expressions of sym
pathy and the felicitations on success in the civU
ized world. The officers made their reports, the ob
servers gave their opinions, and controversies broke
forth that raged for years, aud that can stUl faintly
be heard. The world gazed upon the lurid path
that Semraes had lighted. His work affected the
world's theories of naval warfare. It signalized a
revolution in naval architecture, and a reconstruc
tion of fleets. It marked the end of sails and opened
vistas of steara for the ocean flghting of the future.
The hour aud a half off Cherbourg on that bright
Sunday was Semraes' last battle, and also the crown
ing point of his reraarkable career. His official re
port of that momentous event shows how he feltr
The utterances of his foes furnish correctives. The

AFTEExiATH OF THE BATTLE 289
comments of contemporaries, of students and adrair
ers are of great interest and weight.
Two days after the battle, as soon as his condition
would allow, he penned the following to his superior
iu Paris :
"I have the honor to inform you that, in accord
ance with my intention as previously announced to
you, I stearaed out of the harbor of Cherbourg be
tween nine and ten o'clock on the morning of the
19th of Juue, for the purpose of engaging the enemy' s
steamer Kearsarge, which had beeu lying off, and
in the port, for several days previously. After
clearing the harbor, we descried the enemy, with
his head offshore, at a distance of about seven
my^es. We were three-quarters of an hour in com
ing up with him. I had previously pivoted ray guns
to starboard, and raade all preparations for engag
ing the enemy on that side.
" When within about a mile aud a quarter of the
enemy, he suddenly wheeled, and, bringing his head
inshore, presented his starboard battery to me.
By this time we were distant about one raile frora
each other, when I opened on hira with solid shot,
to which he replied in a few rainutes, and the action
became active on both sides. The euemy now
pressed his ship uuder a full head of steara, aud to
prevent our passing each other too speedily, and to
keep our respective broadsides bearing, it became
necessary to fight in a circle ; the two ships steam
ing around a common center, aud preserving a dis
tance from each other of from three-quarters to half
a raile. " "When we got withiu good shell range, we
opened upou him with shell. Some ten or fifteen

290 EAPHAEL SEMMES
minutes after the commencement of the action, our
spanker-gaff was shot away, and our ensign came
down by the run. This was iraraediately replaced
by another at the raizzenraast-head. The firing
now becarae very hot, aud the eneray's shot and
shell soon begau to tell upon our hull, knocking
dowu, killing, and disabling a nuraber of men, at
the same tirae, iu different parts of the ship. Per
ceiving that our shell, though apparently exploding
against the eneray's sides, were doing him but Uttle
daraage, I returned to solid-shot flring, and frora
this time onward alternated with shot and shell.
"After the lapse of about oue hour and ten
minutes, our ship was ascertained to be in a sink
ing condition, the enemy's shell having exploded
in our side, and between decks, opening large
apertures through which the water rushed with
great rapidity. Por some few minutes I had hopes
of being able to reach the French coast, for which
purpose I gave the ship all steam, and set such of
the fore-and-aft sails as were available. The ship
filled so rapidly, however, that before we had raade
rauch progress, the fires were extinguished in the
furnaces, and we were evidently ou the point of
sinking. I now hauled down my colors, to prevent
the further destruction of life, and despatehed a
boat to inforra the eneray of our condition. Al
though we were now but four hundred yards frora
each other, the enemy fired upon me five tiraes after
my colors had been struck. It is charitable to sup
pose that a ship of war of a Christian nation could
not have done this intentionally.
' ' We now directed all our exertions toward saving
the wouuded, and such of the boys of the ship as
were unable to swim. These were despatched in my
quarter-boats, the only boats remaining to me ; the

AFTEEMATH OF THE BATTLE 291
waist-boats having been torn to pieces. Some
twenty minutes after ray furnace-fires had been ex
tinguished, and when the ship was on the point of
settling, every man, in obedience to a previous
order which had beeu given the crew, jumped over
board, and endeavored to save himself. There was
no appearance of any boat coming to me from the
euemy, uutil after ray ship went down. Fortunately,
however, the steam yacht Deerhound, owned by a
gentleman of Lancashire, England — Mr. John Lau
caster — who was himself ou board, steamed up iu
the midst of ray drowning men and rescued a
number of both officers and men from the water.
I was fortunate enough myself thus to escape to the
shelter of the neutral flag, together with about forty
others, all told. About this tirae the Kearsarge sent
one, aud then, tardily, another boat.
"Accompanying, you will find lists ofthe killed
aud wounded, and of those who were picked up by
the Deerhound^ the remainder, there is reason to
hope, were picked up by the enemy, and by a
couple of French pilot boats, which were also
fortunately near the scene of action. At the end
of the engagement it was discovered by those of our
officers who went alongside of the enemy's ship
with the wouuded, that her raid-ship section, on
both sides, was thoroughly iron-coated ; this hav
ing been done with chains, constructed for the pur
pose, placed perpendicularly, frora the rail to the
water's edge, the whole covered over by a thin
outer planking, which gave uo indication of the
armor beneath. This planking had been ripped
off, iu every direction, by our shot and shell, the
chain broken, And indented in raany places, and
forced partly into the ship's side. She was effectu
ally guarded, however, in this section, frora pene-

292 BAPHAEL SEMMES
tration. The eneray was much daraaged in other
parts, but to what extent it is now impossible to
say. It is believed he is badly crippled.
" My officers and men behaved steadily and
gallantly, and though they have lost their ship,
they have not lost honor. Where all behaved so
well, it would be invidious to particularize ; but I
cannot deny myself the pleasure of saying that Mr.
Kell, my first lieutenant, deserves great credit for the
fiue condition in which the ship went into action, with
regard to her battery, magazine, and shell-rooms,
and that he rendered me great assistance, by his cool
ness aud judgment, as the fight proceeded. The
eneray was heavier than myself, both in ship, bat
tery, aud crew ; but I did not know until the action
was over that she was also iron-clad. Our total loss
iu killed aud wounded is thirty, to wit : nine killed,
twenty- one wounded."

His opponent, Winslow, that afternoon at Cher
bourg, wrote his forraal account to Secretary Welles,
as follows : "I have the honor to inform the De
partraent that the day subsequent to the arrival of
the Kearsarge off this port, ou the 14th instant, I
received a note from Captain Semmes, begging
that the Kearsarge would not depart, as he in
tended to fight her, and would not delay her bnt a
day or two.
"According to this notice the Alabama \e&. the
port of Cherbourg this morning at about 9 : 30
o'clock.

AFTEEMATH OP THB BATTLE 293
" At 10 : 20 A. M. we discovered her steering
toward us. Fearing the question of jurisdiction
might arise, we steamed to sea until a distance of
six or seven raUes was attained from the Cherbourg
breakwater, wheu we rounded to and commenced
stearaing for the Alabama. As we approached her
within 1,200 yards she opened flre, we receiving two
or three broadsides before a shot was returned. The
action continued, the respective steamers making a
circle round and round at a distance of about 900
yards from each other. At the expiration of an
hour, the Alabama struck, going down in about
twenty minutes afterward, and carrying many
persons with her.
" It affords me great gratification to announce to
the Department that every officer and mau did his
duty, exhibiting a degree of coolness and fortitude
which gave promise at the outset of certain victory."
On the next day he drew up another report in
which he states : " Although we received some
twenty -five or thirty shots, twelve or fifteen taking
effect in the hull, by the mercy of God we have
been spared the loss of any one life, whereas in the
case of the AlabamM the carnage I learn was dread
ful." He states further that "the only shot which
I fear will give us any trouble is one 100-pound

294 BAPHAEL SEMMES
rifle, which entered our stern-post aud remains at
present unexploded."
The day following, while at Cherbourg, he for
warded to the Secretary of the Navy this report :
" I have the honor to report that toward the
close of the action between the Alaba-ma aud this
vessel all available sail was made on the former for
the purpose of agaiu reaching Cherbourg. When
the object was apparent the Kearsarge was steered
across the bow of the Alabama for a raking flre, but
before reaching this point, the Alaba-mM struck.
Uncertain whether Captain Semraes was not using
some ruse, the Kearsarge was stopped. It was seen
shortly afterward that the Alabama was lowering
her boats, and an officer came alongside in one of
them to say that they had surrendered aud were
fast sinking, aud begging that boats would be des
patched immediately for saving of life. The two
boats not disabled were at once lowered, and it was
apparent that the Alabama was settUng. This
offlcer was permitted to leave iu his boat to afford
assistance. "An English yacht, the Deerhound, had ap
proached near the Kearsarge at this time, when I
hailed and begged the comraander to run down to the
Alabama as she was fast sinking, aud we had but
two boats, aud assist in picking up the raen. He
answered affirmatively aud steamed toward the
Alabama, but the latter sank almost imraediately.
The Deerhound, however, sent her boats aud was
actively engaged, aided by several others which had
come from shore.
"These boats were busy in bringing the wouuded
and others to the Kearsarge, whom we were trying

AFTEEMATH OF THE BATTLE 295
to make as comfortable as possible, wheu it was re
ported to me that the Deerhound was moving off.
I could not believe that the commander of that boat
could be guilty of so disgraceful an act as taking
our prisoners off, and therefore took no means to
prevent it, but continued to keep our boats at work
rescuing the meu in the water. I am sorry to say
that I was mistaken ; the Deerhound raade off with
Captain Serames and others, and also the very
officer who had come on board to surrender.
"I learned subsequently that the Deerhound was
a consort of the Alabama, aud that she received ou
board all the valuable personal effects of Captain
Semraes the night before the engagement."
It was perhaps unavoidable that sharp differences
of attitude should develop on some points. Semmes
was very bitter over the flre of the Kearsarge, as he
believed, after he had hauled down his colors.
Wiuslow in his longest despatch, that of July 30th,
admits that he flred upou the Alabama after her
flag was lowered, saying : "A few more guns, well
directed, brought down her flag. I was unable to
ascertain whether they had been hauled dowu or
shot away, but a white flag having been displayed
over the stern, our flre was reserved. Two minutes
had not more than elapsed before she again opened
on us with the two guns on the port side. This
drew our flre again, and the Kearsarge was im
mediately steamed ahead, aud laid across her bows

296 EAPHAEL SEMMES
for raking. The white flag was still flying, and
our flre was again reserved. Shortly after this her
boats were seen to be lowering and au officer in one
of them came alongside and informed us that the
ship had surrendered and was fast sinking."
Browne, the Kearsarge surgeon, testifies that Wins
low was amazed at this renewal of firing and ex
clairaed : "He is playing us a trick; give hira
another broadside."
Kell and Sinclair, of the Alabama's officers, were
both of the view that the Kearsarge fired on the
Alabama after the latter had surrendered. But
Kell grants that he did cease firing while the battery
was being shifted to port and then begau again.
After a bit he hauled down his colors, ceased action
entirely, and for good, and yet the Kearsarge dis
charged five shots upon them. As noted above
Wiuslow says the Alabama ceased firing, " a white
flag having been displayed over the stern," and
then " again opened on us with the two guns on the
port side," and he adds, " this drew our flre again."
With the exception of the white flag there is per
fect uniformity in the two accounts up to this point
as to the raain facts, siuce both say the Alabama
ceased flring, both say she began again on the
port side, and both say the Kearsarge flred on her

AFTEEMATH OF THE BATTLE 297
after this, aud both say thatthe Alabama theu ceased
absolutely. It is from this point onward that the two accounts
diverge. The three Alabama officers assert that after
this unmistakable submission the Kearsarge fired
upon them, while Winslow denies that he did so.
If the three Alabama witnesses were independent,
the burden of presumption would force acceptance
of thefr version, but Kell and Sinclair writing after
Semmes and following him so closely throughout,
it is only a reasonable judgraent that they uncon
sciously adopted his notion of this rainor detail.
That leaves the two captains balanced against each
other. Both being iutelligent, experienced, aud
honorable, they are equally entitled to credence and
the question reraains open, every one deciding it
according to which captain he puts the more faith
iu. Earlier in the action, when the Alabama, after
cessation, started again with the port guns, Winslow
was apprehensive of a ruse, and possibly uuder the
same fear he raight have fired after the undoubted
surrender. Or, with the lapse of two days, Semmes'
memory may have played hira a trick and confused
two events, shifting the Kearsarge's firing after the
Alabama's first cessation until it seeraed to be after
the Alabama's second cessation. Such psycholog-

298 BAPHAEL SEMMES
ical raovements are not unknown even during quiet,
norraal life ; they are much more possible during
great stress of mind and body.
After all, probably the best conclusion as to this
painful matter is the charitable one reached by
Sinclair : " The Kearsarge evidently failed to dis
cover at once our surrender, for she continued her
fire after our colors were struck ; perhaps frora the
difficulty of noting the absence of a fiag with so
much white in it, in the powder smoke. But, be
the reason what it may, a naval officer, a gentleman
by birth aud education, would certainly not be
guilty of firing ou a surrendered foe ; hence we may
disraiss the raatter as an undoubted accident."'
In full blend with this noble spirit is the character
ization of Winslow at his death by Serames himself:
"He was the Christian gentleman."
Semmes' criticisra of the Kearsarge for the chain
armor along her sides was without any justification.
Even if it had not beeu generally known, it would
have been one of those deceptions wholly fair in war,
just as allowable as tricks he had made use of in
running up foreign colors to mislead a merchant
boat. Besides, the device had been placed in posi
tion the year before, in the Azores, having been
' " Two Years on the Alabama," p. 259.

AFTEEMATH OF THE BATTLE 299
adopted after similar precautious had been taken
in the early part of the war along the coast or on
the rivers in the United States. There had been no
secret about the matter. The Kearsarge had been
in dock in England several months before the battle,
and the officials there had full knowledge of her
condition. Within a week after the loss of the
Alabama the ministry were questioned in the House
of Comraons whether it was advisable or not to
learn about this method of protection, and it was
auswered that the government already had full in
formation which was obtained when the Kearsarge
was repaired in an Euglish port.'
Furthermore, Sinclair asserts that a sympathetic
French officer "manifested a fellow feeling and
interest in the lone, expatriated exponent of the
Confederacy by informing Semmes a day or so
before the fight that an officer detailed to visit the
Kearsarge in the offing had reported the fact of the
chain armor arranged on the ship, and strongly ad
vised Semraes not to engage her, for that nothing
but unlooked-for good luck could throw the scales
our way."
Semraes' contention that he would have been the
conqueror if it had not been for this arraor is
' London Times, June 25, 1864.

300 BAPHAEL SEMMES
strongly backed up by the executive officer of the
Kearsarge, who wrote to a frieud four days after the
combat "the chain was struck twice by the heaviest
projectiles and unquestionably saved us from dam
age.'" The whole device consisted of spare cables hung
in bights over the sides of the Kearsarge to protect
the raachinery. It was all painted black. There
were a huudred and twenty fathoms of sheet chains
of one and seven-tenths inch iron, "covering a
space amidships of forty-nine and one-half feet in
length by six feet two inches in depth." This use
of chains had attracted notice in the European ports
visited, and there was every opportunity for Semmes
to know about it. There is a coimter assertion that
this advantage was offset by the full coal bunkers
of the Alabama. Those of the Kearsarge were defi
cient sorae seventy tons.
But the collateral incident that caused the most
pleasure araong Southern syrapathizers, the most
"thoughtless wailing" among the Federals, the
greatest acerbity in the English press, and the wid
est and longest discussion in naval and international
circles, was the escape of Seraraes and a part of his
force in the Deerhound. Yet shorn of triumph,
' EUicott 's "Winslow," p. 245.

AFTEEMATH OF THE BATTLE 301
stripped of prejudice, aud divested of disappoint
ment, it becomes a very simple aud natural act, oue
that would have aroused no feeling beyond interest
at the dramatic finish of a wonderful cruise, if it had
not been dragged into the whirlpool ofthe bitterness
of a Civil War. The battle was over, the Alabama
was forever in her watery grave, but here were a
number of human beings struggling and drowning
in the waves. At this instant the English yacht
which had been hovering around viewing the con
test carae up. It was simple humanity for Wins
low, whose boats had been mostly destroyed, to
shout, "For God's sake, save all you can," aud it was
the most instinctive prorapting for the Deerhound to
get as many aboard as she could. After once set
ting foot on her, the rescued were on English soil,
and of course were free from their conquerors.
The owner, John Lancaster, being "a gentleman
of ease and fortune," had corae to Cherbourg from
a Continental trip iu order to embark ou his steam
yacht Deerhound which had been ordered to meet
him there for a cruise of a few weeks northward.
Hearing of the anticipated contest, he consulted
with his family about going out to view the engage
ment. The story runs that it was a tie vote among
his children, till his little daughter voted " yes " at

302 EAPHAEL SEMMES
the instigation of a brother who, boy -like of course,
wanted to see the fight.
Semmes and Lancaster were entire strangers. The
former says that they had never "seen each other,
or held the least coraraunication together, until I
was drawn out of the water by his boat's crew, and
taken on board his yacht after the battle." Lancas
ter raakes the sarae emphatic declaration frora his
side, asserting, " Neither I nor any member of my
family had any knowledge of, or communication
with. Captain Seraraes, or any of his officers, or any
of his crew. Since the fight I have inquired from
my captain whether he, or any of my crew, had had
any communication with the captain or crew of the
Alabama prior to meeting thera on the Deerhound
after the engageraent, and his answer given in the
raost eraphatic manner has been, 'None whatever.'
As to the deposit of chronometers and other valua
ble articles, the whole story is a myth."
Mr. Lancaster was wholly neutral and when he
was thanked by sorae of those he had saved he re
plied : " Gentleraen, you have no need to give rae
any special thanks. I should have done exactly the
sarae for the other people if they had needed it."
Of course as "au English ship is English territory
. . . I ara unable to discover why I was more

AFTEEMATH OF THE BATTLE 303
bound to surrender the people ofthe Alabama whom
I had on board my yacht, than the owner of a garden
on the south coast of England would have been if
they had swum to such a place aud landed there ; or
than the mayor of Southampton was when they were
lodged in that city ; or than the British Governraent
is, uow that they are somewhere iu England."
Of a certainty he was right. The principles of
international law established through centuries of
usage marked the way for him. It was ouly the
passion of the hour that threw officials off their
balance, infiamed the press, and heated the pens of
controversialists. An American author of rank on
naval history has amusingly and convincingly ap
plied the conditions to an imaginary case, placing
the Uuited States in the position of England :
" Suppose Ireland should secede from Great Britain,
and an Irish cruiser should be sunk in the presence
of a Yankee yacht? Would the Yankee yacht
owner deliver up the Irishraan' s crew to the trium
phant British war-ship ? Certainly, if the Yankee
yacht owner was a politician he would not do so." '
On another point has there also been a raass of
discussion, as to Seraraes' obligation to deliver hira
self to Winslow even though he had set foot on the
'Spears, " Hist. Navy," Vol. IV, p. 442.

304 EAPHAEL SEMMES
deck of an English vessel. It was argued that he
was a prisoner, and that a sense of honor would
have sent him back to his captors. Considering
that in the Civil War on both sides, as well as in all
wars of history, men have become heroes because
they dared even death to escape frora prison, this
view seeras quixotic and ethereal. Besides it is a
question whether Semraes was a prisoner at aU. He
had lowered his flag, it is true, but he contends that
this was only an offer to surrender, a confession, —
" I am beaten ; if you will take possession of me, I
will not resist." But in order that he become a
prisoner, he raust be, if only for a moment, in the
possession of the captor, in his actual, physical
possession. If he had swum to the French shore,
there would have been no altercation over his case.
If the Kearsarge had herself been so disabled that
she could not have sent after the drowning men, no
one would have insisted for an instant that they
should have raade their way to her or even to the
shores across the Atlantic in order to surrender
their persons to the victors.
In spite of the plain dictates of the case, a dip
loraatic discussion went on between Washington and
London for sorae six raonths, and " a searching in
quiry was made by the United States officials in

AFTEEMATH OP THE BATTLE 305
England and France to learn how far the yacht had
been an accomplice of the Confederate cruiser, but
no positive evidence was ever found. The corre
spondence finally ceased with no official concession
ou either side." However, international opinion
seems to be crystallizing against the exercise ofsuch
a liberty on the part of a neutral. The United
States Navy Departraent adopted a regulation in
1900 to the effect that a neutral flag, rescuing the
wouuded or shipwrecked of belligerents, wUl violate
neutrality if it attempts to carry off any it has so
succored.' While the debate raged among the participants,
and caustic notes of diplomacy passed from capital
to capital, sobs of grief and the shouts of exultation
resounded on both sides of the ocean over the tragic
fate of the Alabama.
Two days after the event, the London Times, the
greatest paper of the day in the English language,
and one of the most commanding in existence, in a
leader devoted to the famous boat said :
" On Sunday morning, just as all good people
were coming down to breakfast, an awful Sunday
morning's work was preparing within sight of the
British Isles, if araong these isles we may include
'Ellicott's "Winslow," p. 231.

306 EAPHAEL SEMMES
the barren rock upon which a raillion has been spent
to raake it a sentry box to watch the port of Cher
bourg. Frora the latter port, just about nine o' clock,
there issued the Alabama, the ship that has sfruck
terror into the hearts of the raost confldent and
almost the strongest naval power of the world.
More than a huudred tiraes over the very name of
the Alabama, thundered through a speaking trum
pet, has brought dowu the rival flag as if by magic,
and corapelled the luckless crew to subrait to the
inglorious process of exaraination, surrender,
spoliation, and imprisonment, aud to see their ship
plundered aud sent to the bottom. In the shape of
chronometers aud other valuables the Alabama
carried the spolia opima of a whole mercantile fleet.
This time, however, it was not to order a merchant-
raau to lie to while his papers were exarained that
this scourge of the Federal navy came out of Cher
bourg. It is not in our power to say why Captain
Semraes, who has gained so rauch glory and so un
questionable a reputation for courage that he could
afford to be prudent, carae out with a ship just re
turned from a long voyage and much in want of
repair, to encounter a foe, larger, better manned,
better armed, provided with some special contri
vances for protection, and quite as likely to be as
well handled as his owu ship. . . . The captain
of the Kearsarge had assumed that if they raet there
could be ouly oue possible result. Why, then, did
not Captain Semmes see that this was an occasion
for the exercise of that discretion or that ingenuity
which the greatest generals have thought rather an
addition to their farae ? . . . He stearaed nine
railes out to sea, and entered into raortal combat
with the euemy. , . . At the distanceof a mile,
never less than a quarter of a mile, a formidable

AFTEEMATH OF THB BATTLE 307
ship, the terror of Araerican commerce, well
handled, well armed, well manned, is sent to the
bottom in an hour."
Across the water Mr. Welles, the Secretary of
the Navy iu Washington, in his annual report the
foUowing Deceraber, raved iu childish anger aud
pitiful prejudice and ignorance. One wonders how
the raau who would indulge in such abuse and
vituperation could sit at the sarae council table
with Lincoln, who breathed in his last annual
message the divine spirit of charity. That paper
went to Congress the sarae week that Mr. Welles
made the attack upon Serames :
"Some latent remains of pride, which belongs to
the profession, and which animated his earlier and
more honorable life while sailing uuder the American
flag, undoubtedly had au influeuce iu inducing the
pirate coraraander to raeet a naval antagonist, after
his long career of robbery and plunder of unarmed
vessels, iu the vain hope that it might, if successful,
restore to hira sorae portion of the respect which he
had forfeited, aud at the same time relieve him of
some of the debasement he has never ceased to feel,
even wheu applauded by those foreign partisans
who hated the country he had deserted. But the
same dishonor marked his conduct on this occasion

308 EAPHAEL SEMMES
as during his whole ignoble career. Before leaving
Cherbourg he deposited the chronometers and other
trophies of his robberies on shore. When beaten
aud compelled to surrender, he threw overboard the
sword that was no longer his own, aud abusing the
generous confldence of his brave antagonist he stole
away iu the English tender, whose owner proved
himself by his conduct a flt companion for the dis
honored and beaten corsair.
" Having surrendered, he cannot relieve himself
of his obligations as a prisoner of war until he shall
be regularly exchanged. He and each of his surviving
officers and crew, whether received upon the Kear
sarge or the Deerhound, are and wiU be held to be
prisoners of war and amenable to the laws which
govern civilized communities. A predatory rover
may set the laws of nations as weU as those of his
owu country at defiance, but in doing so he must
abide the consequences."
Newspapers work in the glare of public passion,
aud voice the hot exciteraent ofthe moment, butthe
editors of the great American dailies, writing im
mediately on receipt of the news the first week iu
July, show far more poise in their utterances than
this official of so elevated a rank that he should
have been superior to the fury of the hour. Aside

AFTEEMATH OF THB BATTLE 309
frora the foolish fling at Semraes as a pirate, so uni
versally heard ou all sides for three years as to be
reaUy excusable iu these journals, aU their deliver
ances show a restraint of rejoicing, a moderation of
boasting, that are truly admirable.
Without so intending, the New York Times
places Semmes on a pedestal for skill aud daring :
"The pirate Alabama has at last gone to the
bottom of the sea. After a bloody and lurid career
of two years on the high seas — in which career she
has passed frora one continent to another, from the
North and South Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, from
the Gulf of Mexico to the China seas, following in
the wake of our commercial ships wherever they
could be found, and burning and destroying them
wherever they were overtaken — she has been anni
hilated on the very flrst occasion that one of our
ships-of-war was enabled to get an opportunity to
measure metal with her."
The New York Herald exhibits a very pardonable
pride :
"Our national anniversary has again brought
victory with it, and a victory most delightful to the
national heart. Captain Winslow, a native of
North Carolina, and a citizen of Massachusetts, is
the hero of the hour — the happy and gallant raan

310 EAPHAEL SEMMES
who has had the good fortune to give the country
the intense thrill of patriotic pleasure caused by the
announceraent of the destruction of the Alabama.
He has wiped away gloriously a reproach on the
narae of our navy, and has revived the old pride
the people felt in the salt water history of the Stars
and Stripes. He has earned nobly every distinction
that the governraent can confer upon hira, and he
has earned also an honorable place iu that brilliant
record that tells of the achievements of John Paul
Jones, Oliver Hazard Perry, aud Stephen Decatur.
" The battle between the Kearsarge aud the Ala
bama is a very remarkable one in several respects.
It is the second battle between wooden steamships,
and exemplifies pretty clearly the changes that
have been wrought in naval warfare by steara and
heavy guus. Both ships were raanceuvered hand
somely under fire, to such an extent that they are
said to have described seven complete cfrcles as
they neared each other. It was a cool, steady,
stand-up fight, in which with no great discrepancy
in weight of metal, and accidents aside, the best
handled ship was sure to win."
The stabs at the British in the Tribune are gentle
enough for that season of fiery patriotism, only two
days after the fourth of July :

AFTEEMATH OF THE BATTLE 311
"Captain Eaphael Serames of Dixie will hence
forth have araple leisure for those literary pursuits
for which his nuraerous contributions to the British
journals evince so rare an aptitude. His latest
effort is a bulletin of the defeat and destruction of
his lost ship, in which he contrives to insinuate
that Captain Winslow sought to drown him and
his fugitive crew — an insinuation emphatically re
futed by the published log of the Deerhound, by
which vessel he was rescued from the ocean and
saved from capture. It is hardly possible that
Semmes did not see that log, or hear the material
fact stated by Mr. Lancaster, his rescuer, so as to
know his insinuation was false when he uttered it.
He was beaten in fair fight — a fight which he began
— and wherein he needed only to be the better sea
man and warrior to have achieved success. But
burning unarmed merchantmen is a business more
congenial to his tastes, and those of his British
patrons and crew, than fighting an honest ship-of-
war with the Stars and Stripes waving above her
and a crew of brave bluejackets at her guns."
The gratification of a victory over the English,
in the Evening Post, is mild beside Mr. Welles'
flaming invective :
"The news which we print this morning, that

312 EAPHAEL SEMMES
the Alabama has been sunk by the Kearsarge, will
affect the owners and seamen of our merchant
marine with the same feeling of satisfaction that is
felt by the little boys at school wheu a big bully
for the first time meets a fellow of his size, and is
thoroughly frounced. The Alabama has been a
kind of sea bully ; she has for more than two years
devoted herself to robbing and burning defenseless
merchant ships ; her captain constantly and care
fully ran away from our men-of-war sent in pur
suit of him. To all this we should have little tc
say, if Semraes had not everywhere boasted of his
exploits, and at the same tirae on every occasion
asserted for his ship the character of a man-of-war,
and for hiraself that of a naval officer.
"The Alabama was built in Liverpool ; she was
raanned by English searaen ; a majority of her
offlcers were Englishmen ; her guns were of Eng
lish make ; her shot and shell were cast in Eng
land ; her powder was manufactured in England ;
her coal was mined in England and sent out to her
in English ships under the English fiag. Even the
colors she bore were made in England. She had
never entered a Confederate port. She had not a
single quality of a Confederate man-of-war except
this, that her comraander was a deserter frora the

AFTEEMATH OF THE BATTLE 313
United States navy. In all else, in every char
acteristic but this one, she was a British ship."
In the South was a strain of grief, tempered with
a chivalrous contentment, that Serames braved all
rather than hide behind a neutral barrier. The
South was gasping in exhaustion, and not much was
printed in the newspapers. Still less has beeu
preserved to the present, but one of the strongest of
the journals, the Eichmond Enquirer, voices in two
of its issues, July 7th and llth, the sadness felt in
that section by reason of this defeat abroad when
disasters were crowding thick upon those at home.
The Enquirer says on July 7th: "So the noble
Alabama sleeps fuU fathoms five. She has well
eamed a glorious repose on the bed of old ocean.
How many Yankee clippers full of riches has
she sent before her? The statistics are not at
hand — but the nuraber rises considerably over the
huudred. The average pecuniary value of each oue
of those ships (with their cargoes) was probably
greater than the original cost of the Alabama ; and
if the loss to the enemy by the perturbation, inter
ruption, and delay of their coraraerce is added
thereto, it is safe to say that the Alabama has paid
for herself five huudred tiraes. She could afford to
die. There are those who blarae Captain Serames

314 BAPHAEL SEMMES
for going to fight a heavier vessel and a more
numerous crew ; a vessel specially prepared with all
the naval resources of the United States, expressly
to terapt hira into a corabat where he would be
destroyed. He could indeed have reraained in
harbor, or skulked away without fighting, and long
continued to be the terror of Yankee commerce.
But not without some disgrace. Such a course
would have sunk the warrior in the hangman. It is
better as it is. The Alabama neither rau away, nor
was she taken. She fell by the chance of battle
fighting to the last, and not a shadow now dims her
glory. Her narae is written in the pages of history
aud not written with water. Her phantom wUl
long trouble the night watch of the Yankee skipper.
Even now the enemy does not believe she is verUy
dead, " ' But doth sufier a sea change
Into something rich and strange. '
" The spirit which gave her life, and the necessi
ties which created her, still exist, and will repro
duce the lost rover in sorae other form, with some
other name."
Four days later, the editor haviug at hand more
details of the tragedy again recurs to the mournful
theme :

AFTEEMATH OP THE BATTLE 315
"We have lost the gallant Alabama, but no
Federal fiag floats in triumph from her masthead.
In the caves of the ocean she lies with all but honor
lost. Captain Serames, notwithstanding the fortunes
of war have gone against him, will enjoy the ap
proval of his countrymen in accepting the challenge
of the Federal captain, and flghting his ship to
destruction, rather than run away before the eyes of
the world. He fought against the heaviest and
greatest odds, a superior ship built for strength and
for war, with heavier guns, against a light-built,
fast-sailing chaser ; and these odds destroyed his ves
sel. He fought for the honor of his country's navy,
and though he lost his little ship, yet he saved the
honor of his flag. While the country and theworld
will regret the fate of the Alabama, yet all will
agree that, having run her course, having fully and
effectually served the material interest of her coun
try, her captain was right in making her last fight
for the moral effect of illustrating the courage and
gallantry of Confederate seamen. Her sacrifice was
rightly made ; her former career had been oue of
triumph, principally over unarmed vessels ; and
when challenged before the world even by an enemy
far her superior, we rejoice that Captain Semraes
deterrained to fight his eneray rather than, by slip-

316 BAPHAEL SEMMES
ping off in the night, incur the suspicion of coward
ice. Ships raay be replaced, but honor once
tarnished requires far heavier sacrifices than the cost
of navies."
But the Alabama lived ou, gUding the iraagina
tion and enshrined iu the fancy. Facile pens con
stantly revived her exploits and the poets sang of
her career. Nearly fifty years after her death, at
the centennial celebration of Semmes' birth, in metric
measure agaiu her spirit moved over the waters : —

" What spirit stirs 'neath the sunless keel
And wakes in her silent shrouds,
O, hearts ot oak, with the grip of steel ?
Or was it the passing clouds ?
" She has lain so long by a foreign shore.
With never a watch on deck.
With her sunken bells sounding o'er and o'er
To the dead men in her wreck.
" And the tides sweep over her mizzenmast
Through the sails that the channels laved.
And the seaweed clings to the thing of the past
Where the stars and bars once waved.
" But, hearts ot oak, with the grip ot steel.
Wherever ye are, what reck ?
For the spirit ot chivalry stirs the keel
Aud truth treads the quarter-deok.

AFTEEMATH OP THB BATTLE 317
" Full twenty fathoms below she lies,
But she wakes to-night trom the dead ;
Through her ghastly rigging the night wind plies.
Or was it a cloud that sped ?
" Yea, come trom your graves, ye tars that have shared
Her glory, her anguish, her pain !
For the mysticali moment ot time is bared
And she sweeps the ocean again !
" Nor port, nor harbor, nor home is hers
As she breaks from her silent lair ;
But the mighty heart of the great South stirs.
For the spirit of Semmes is there.
" Yea, corsair or viking, pirate or king ?
Let history, answering, speak !
For out of the years shall her record ring
While honor stands at her peak !
" The day breaks soon and the night winds sleep
And the moon goes down blood-red ;
The mists of the years have veiled the deep
Aud shrouded the deathless dead.
" For the night is done and the mellowed age
Ot the past breathes out its tone ;
Bnt the truth ot history holds its page.
Though the sea takes back its own." '
' Virginia Frazer Boyle, in Confederate Veteran, Sept., 1909.

CHAPTEE XV
LATEE LIFE AND DEATH
"I CONSIDEEED ray career upou the high seas
closed by the loss of ray ship. . . . We had a
number of gallant Confederate naval officers, both
in England and Prance, eager and anxious to go
afioat, ... it would have been ungenerous iu
me to accept another command. "
In accord with this unselfish sentiment which
Semraes communicated to his superior, he set out
with some English friends on a tour of the Conti
nent to visit other scenes and to restore his health.
He was ou this pleasure trip only six weeks ; the
martial fire burned within hira, and he wished to
get back to battle for his South, which needed all
the help that could be rendered her. Doubtless his
scorn of Southern "Carpet Knights," whora he
raet in nurabers on his jaunt, hastened his steps
horaeward. Under the English flag, he made his way to the
raouth of the Eio Grande, to the village of Bagdad,
from whence he went overland to Matamoras, and

LATEE LIPE AND DEATH 319
thence across the river to Brownsville, by special
coach for part of the way, and onward by the reg
ular conveyances. He soon covered the long, tire
some ride across the state to Shreveport, Louisiana.
Fourteen days in all brought him into that place.
It was now almost the last of Noveraber. His fame
preceded him even in the hamlets and at the cross
roads. " I w;as received everywhere with enthu
siasm by the warm-hearted brave Texans," he writes,
"the hotels being all thrown open to me free of ex
pense, and salutes of artillery greeting my entrance
into the towns. I was frequently compelled to
make short speeches to the people, merely that they
might hear, as they said, how the pirate talked."
At Shreveport, his entry was raarked by all the
honor of which the harassed and distressed people
were capable. Both the civil and military authori
ties accorded him formal welcorae. A journey of
some one huudred and fifty miles through raud and-
swamp put hira beside his son, who, like his father,
had withdrawn frora the United States service and
joined the South. Frora a pupil at West Poiut at
the outbreak of hostilities, he had risen to the grade
of major.
Of course Semmes' arrival on American soil
soou became known to the Federal forces, and,

320 EAPHAEL SEMMES
judging that he would first aira for his horae iu
Mobile, orders had been issued to watch for hira as
he tried to cross the Mississippi. As he drew near
that barrier, he was very cautious. The path
across the lowlands was varied aud trying. It led
uow through groves of raagnificent trees, again
through tangled thickets with vines which almost
dragged the rider from his steed. He forded some
waters, swara others, and boated over the widest
and deepest streams.
He reached the banks of the Mississippi just be
fore dark, but remained under cover of the forest
till the proper raoraent of safety and "then em
barked in a sraall skiff, sending back the greater
part of our escort. Our boat was scarcely able to
float the nurabers that were packed in her. Her
gunwales were no raore than six inches above the
water's edge. " But the night was still, the river
sraooth, and after a signal of precaution frora his
conductor, Semmes and the others leaped on shore.
The stream was strung with gunboats, Semmes
gliding between two, ouly three miles apart. The
man who had so deftly taken the Sumter and Alabama
out of dangerous situations must have laughed to
himself to see the efforts now made to entrap him.
Once on the eastern side of the river, he rapidly

LATEE LIPE AND DEATH 321
passed to Mobile, and returned, one of the celebrities
of the earth, to the spot that he had left, unknown
to fame, not quite four years before.
Without delay he telegraphed his chief in Eich
mond, and was instructed to come on when he was
ready. That was in some five days, aud again he
set forth on his course. So disorganized was travel
that he was two weeks in getting to headquarters.
His keen eye pierced all the confusion that he
witnessed in this extended trip through the length
of the Confederacy. Desolation, poverty, and dis
tress were painful, but far more heart-breaking was
the demoralization of the people. ' ' Men, generally,
seeraed to have given up the cause as lost, and to
have set themselves to work, like wreckers, to save
as much as possible from the sinking ship. The
civilians had betaken themselves to speculation and
money getting, and the soldiers to drinking aud
debauchery." Semraes was received with great courtesy by
Davis and Lee. He gave his observations and im
pressions as to the state of affairs to Lee, but found
that wonderfully poised raau fully aware of the
glooray conditions, although utterly powerless to
correct them. He was signally honored by both
Congress aud the Virginia Legislature, being in-

322 BAPHAEL SEMMES
vited to a privileged seat ou the floor in each body.
Shortly afterward, ou the nomination of President
Davis, he was unaniraously conflrmed as Eear- Ad
miral, and put in comraand of the Jaraes Eiver
fleet, consisting of three fronclads and flve wooden
gunboats. With the energy and zeal with which he had
made the Sumter ready for service, he set to work in
this larger field, but the odds were all against him.
Outside of a few officers, his crews were all lands
men, just as discouraged and discordant as their
comrades on shore, being like them seautily clad and
on half rations, clamorously applying for leaves of
absence, and deserting singly and in squads when
their requests were refused. The far raore refrac
tory eleraents ou the Alabama had beeu wielded into
discipline in a very few weeks, but that was on the
high seas, shut in on oue ship. In a narrow river,
necessitating driUs on shore, even Seraraes' power of
coramand failed to effect much result.
Semmes considered the circumstances hourly,
plotted Sherraan's advance nightly alone in his
cabin, and visited the Navy Departraent weekly,
being told every time to do what he thought best.
Spring came on, nature awakened and grew brighter,
but the poor Confederacy sank deeper in depression.

LATEE LIFE AND DEATH 323
At last on the second of April, on Sunday, so often
the eventful day iu Seraraes' life, as he was sitting at
dinner, at four o'clock in the afternoon, he read a des
patch that he must destroy his vessels, aud march his
force to join Lee who was iu retreat after the break
ing of his lines of defense that morning.
Seraraes was an adept at burning ships. He had
perhaps fired raore thau any other raan of raodern
times. But they were all of his euemy. Now they
were to be his own. He was just as fearless and
thorough and his pen was just as vivid and literary,
though excusably briefer, as when it described the
leaping, hissing flames of the Golden Bocket, afar
off down in the Gulf of Mexico, nearly four years
before. We detect no shrinking over the inevitable
duty as we read : " My little squadron of wooden
boats now raoved off up the river by the glare ofthe
burning ironclads. They had not proceeded far
before an explosion like the shock of an earthquake
took place, and the air was fllled with raissiles. It
was the blowing up of the Virginia, my late flag
ship. The spectacle was grand beyond description.
Her shell-rooms had been full of loaded shells. The
explosion of the magazine threw all these shells,
with their fuses lighted, into the air. The fuses were
of different lengths, and as the shells exploded by

324 BAPHAEL SEMMES
twos and threes, and by the dozen, the pyrotechnic
effect was very fine. The explosion shook the
houses in Eichmond, aud must have waked the
echoes of the night for forty miles around." When
he got to the city he did not forget to set the torch
to his wooden gunboats also.
Disasters could not daunt him. On landing his
command of five hundred he was told that there
were no trains, that the last one had gone that
morning at daylight. But he had to see for him
self. He moved his force to the station, there to
find a small engine, but " no one iu charge of any
thing and no one knew anything." Semmes was
not dismayed, as he had half a dozen engineers
among his men. He tore down a fence for fuel, got
up steam, made up a train, put his troops aboard
and went off till he came to a grade. Here he was
stalled, though " the fireraen stirred their fires, the
engineer turned on all his steam, the engine panted
and struggled and screamed."
About this time, when even he was feeling a little
blue over his predicament, another engine was found
in the workshops. Both were set to the task and off
the whole party went in triumph. This incident
was arausing to Semraes, after all his desperate ex
periences at sea. His " railroad cruise ended the

LATEE LIFE AND DEATH 325
next day," at Danville, after a narrow escape, as
Sheridan's cavalry carae to the line just an hour
and a half after Seraraes had passed there. His
was the last train to get out of Eichmond before its
capture.' He reraained at Danville ten days, and then took
his men, now reduced to less than half, especially
after the surrender of Lee, to North Carolina, where
he effected a junction with Johnston, reraaining
with him till he aud Sherman made their terms
for the dispersion of Johnston's army. Semraes
was paroled on the first of May, and at once started
for home, getting there the latter part of the same
month, to begin the practice of law.
Seven and a half months after, on December 15th,
he was arrested by a detail from the United States
Marine Corps on an order from the Secretary of the
Navy, transferred to Washington, and "was kept a
close prisoner, with a sentinel at my door, for nearly
four months."
Just as in the retirement of his cabin on board a
vessel under his comraand, Serames turned to his
ever-constant confidant and solace, his diary. He
rejoiced that he had learned self-control and
patience in the navy, as he would have been ex-
' " So. Hist. Soo. Papers," Vol. 21, p. 306.

326 BAPHAEL SEMMES
hausted with the contradictory ruraors, the specula
tions of his counsel, aud the delays of the authori
ties. He went to history and Uterature for relief,
and then started seriously into an investigation of
the law of his case. Very early he began shrewdly
to suspect that the government was not over-anxious
to prosecute hira, even though Winslow was brought
to Washington aud the prosecution was "raking up
sailor testimony about the wharves of New York
aud Boston, and pious New Bedford." He thought
such industry should flnd something to try him
upon. He was certain the lawyers knew they could
not convict him, yet the Secretary of the Navy
would be the winner, as he would accoraplish his
purpose of wreaking vengeance and inflicting pun
ishment; the long incarceration would satisfy the
ends as well as a verdict of guilty. Eventually he
saw that his enemies wanted to let him go, but they
did not know how to do so and yet justify them
selves for having proceeded against him.
In close confinement, unaware of what net might
be weaving outside for his entanglement, debarred
frora his faraily, with all the circurastances of a
nature to make him serious and apprehensive, his
sarcasm melts into humor when held up for viola
tion of faith in beiug rescued by the Deerhound : "I

LATEE LIFE AND DEATH 327
am busy preparing a paper answering the charge of
illegal escape, but the deraonstration is like an at
terapt to elucidate an axiora or first principle iu
matheraatics. It is so clear upon its flrst statement
that the demonstration is not ouly superfluous but
does not tend to make the proposition more
clear." It comes to his knowledge that his acrid antago
nist. Secretary Welles, "though very bitter in the
beginning, is much modified," and " speaks respect
fully aud kindly of me, inquires whether my diet is
good and well served, etc., and says he is ready to
release me at anytime," and "regrets that I re
turned to the country ; a good deal of trouble might
have been saved if I had not done so." Outside of
his walls other channels were being opened to aid
him. Johnston had communicated with Grant, who
promised his great influence.
Notwithstanding the efforts of his friends, the ex
pedients of his counsel, and his owu sense of inno
cence, he was in a cage. For decades he had beeu
in the ocean breezes on the deck of a boat, and here
he was cut off from fresh air, shut iu by four walls.
His philosophy bore it all, but it is a fair thing for
us to take a glimpse into the recesses of his heart
through the entries of one day iu his diary :

328 BAPHAEL SEMMES
" The ground is covered with snow this morning
to the depth of six or eight inches ; wind from the
north singing its mournful song by ray nailed
windows, and there is a leaden sky overhead. The
only raerry sound that comes to me is the occasional
jingling of a sleigh bell.
" Within I have the usual routine of a prison life.
This routine I have not yet described.
"My roora is in the attic; it is very plainly
furnished, but has sufficient for comfort. One of
its two windows looks to the east, iu the direction
of the eastern branch of the Potomac, and of my
good old native state of Maryland. The other
window gives me a view of the Potomac, in whose
waters I used to swira aud fish as a boy, and of the
distant hills in the direction of Alexandria, of the
grand old mother of states aud statesmen, now
mourning in her desolation, and looking down, as I
cau fancy, with sad reproach upon her parricidal
offspring, the states of her own loins that have be
trayed her and destroyed her glorious old doctrines
of '76 aud '98. In unison with this, her raelancholy
situation, with the unfinished Washington raonu
raent, speaking of the ingratitude of the nation, is
seen nearly in the same dfrection with Lee's raan
sion and the dome of the Capitol, and from the lat
ter flaunts the flag, the old flag made new by the
war, which daily covers in their deliberations the
faction of the Eump Congress which daily and
hourly proclaims the Southern states to be con
quered provinces aud refuses admission to their
representatives. " As I pass restlessly to and fro in my narrow
quarters, endeavoring to take a little of that tread
mill exercise which my inhuman jailers deny me
out-of-doors, even in the walled barrack yard of a

LATEE LIPE AND DEATH 329
military post, I cast alternate glances upon Mary
land and Virginia through these two windows, re
flect upon the past aud speculate upon the future,
aud such a past aud such a future ! But a kind
Providence interposes His veil between us and the
dread events of the unknown future that awaits a
people who seem to have abandoned themselves to
their passions, regardless of all precepts, moral or
divine. "My routine life, which I had begun to describe
when these reflections led me astray, is as follows :
I rise in the morning about 8 : 30, when the drum
uuder ray window beats the flrst call for raorning
inspection aud parade ; my attendant in the mean
time has made me a fire. I proceed to wash and
dress. I have plenty of water, soap, aud towels
furnished me. I am usually ready for breakfast by
a quarter past nine, at which hour my breakfast is
brought in. I am supplied by a restaurant in the
neighborhood ; my meals are satisfactory. I ara
frequently asked to call for any particular viands
that I may desire, but I decline, leaving the selec
tion to the restaurateur. My newspaper is brought
iu with my breakfast. It is the National IntelK-
gencer ! But how changed from the days of Clay
and Calhoun ! I read in it sometiraes such a para
graph as this : ' The trial of Eaphael Semraes ' (it
does not even call me the late admiral, or the so-
called adrairal, or the so-called late admiral ofthe so-
called Confederate States), 'Late Comraander ofthe
Eebel Stearaer Alabama, it is generally believed,
will take place very shortly. The full detail for the
court has not yet been made, but it is believed that
the arrival iu this city of Commodore Wiuslow has
something to do with the subject. '
" I do not think I shall be speedily tried. This

330 BAPHAEL SEMMES
would not be in accord with the Bastile system im
ported from a bygone age and the French Eevolu
tion into the latter part of the nineteenth century
and the American Eevolution. Nor do I think I
shall be tried at all, as the government has no case
aud can raake none, though it is even now scouring
the ' raappings ' of the Northern comraercial cities
for evidence agaiust the pirate. N'importe, I shall
be punished. Have already beeu punished by a
close conflneraent of thirty days, and the ends of
justice shall thus be secured.
" But to proceed with ray daily routine. My
newspaper and breakfast occupy me until eleven
o'clock. I then rise aud walk about in my room to
stretch my cramped lirabs and prevent the life cur
rent in my veins from actual stagnation. I then
sit down and read. I have sorae law books and
histories with me by the thoughtful providence of
friends. I have ever found wheu in trouble that
the best remedy is to chain down the iraagination
in its flights aud set the reason at work, at such
work that she could not relax her hold of her sub
ject without haviug it all to do over again, like Sisy
phus at his rock. Mathematics and law are such
subjects. The mind from the necessity of close ap
plication loses itself, becomes absorbed in the sub
ject before it, and thus shuts out the prison walls
and makes the prisoner forget his imprisonment.
Blessed faculty !
"But sometiraes even araid those stern pages lov
ing eyes will intrude, the racist and saddened eyes
of loving hearts in our far-off and now disconsolate
horae ! Aud then the philosopher is overcorae, bis
raanhood is about to give way, he throws down his
book and agaiu is heard the trarap, trarap, of his
narrow cell, as you raay have observed, . . . the

LATEE LIFE AND DEATH 331
ceaseless turnings about of the tiger or the lion in his
cage. I thus alternately walk and read, soraetimes
throwing myself on ray sofa in my weariness and
heart-sickness, until the lock is heard to grate and
turn in my door, and my guard reenters with ray
dinner, ray solitary dinner !
"It is now three o'clock iu the afternoon aud
two-thirds of the weary day has been gotten through
with. A day without a word of intelligence from
my captors, or their intentions or designs. They
are all too busy with the gay world to heed the
groans of the prisoner. Let the hated rebel pine
aud suffer. He struck at the life of this great aud
glorious nation. Yes, I did strike at its life, but I
struck as the surgeon strikes, to save the life of the
nation. The patient struggled and was stronger
than the surgeon, and now the patient is dead.
The government of our fathers has been changed.
There are now, says the dominant party, no more
state liues ; the states are dead aud a great consoli
dated republic has arisen upon the ruins. May
God save the life which the South was unable to
save, and grant this nation raay survive longer than
I believe it will.
"The day now wanes, the sun is sinking over
the hills of Virginia, the navy yard bell rings, and a
stream of working meu coraes out of the gates aud is
tramping up the avenue that leads by my prison.
These men are all going to their homes, to their fire
sides, to their little ones. Happy working men !
" Night has strewn her shadows over the land
scape and darkened my windows and my servant
enters with a light. It is dark at 5 : 30 o'clock and
I have thus five hours of candle-light before 10 : 30,
bedtime, the hour of sweet oblivion! 'Blessed,'
said the innocent Sancho, ' is the man who invented

332 EAPHAEL SEMMES
sleep.' You knew not, Sancho, when you uttered
these words how much philosophy they embraced.
Blessed, thrice blessed, is sleep to the prisoner. It
shuts out those soft eyes that looked out at him
frora between the pages of his book. It quiets his
teeming brain and throbbing heart. It withdraws
him [from] the contemplation of raan's injustice,
and iu dreams it sometiraes even restores him to his
far-off home. I have always been a good sleeper,
aud I sleep soundly. Once or twice in the night I
ara disturbed by the officer looking iu upou me
with a lantern to see that I have not yet escaped !
The tramp of the sentinel at ray door then lulls me
again into forgetfulness. This ... is one of
my days in prison."

Secretary Welles also kept a diary, which has
seen the light of day in the last few years. He, too,
was frank in his record. He threw open the portals
of his heart and he lets any one who cares to read
see his squirmiugs aud wrigglings. Farther back,
during the heat aud noise of the war, he was alraost
pitiable iu the torrent of foolish epithets he hurled
at Serames, such as "pirate," "corsafr," "bucca
neer," and similar terras without an atora of founda
tion. But our respect rises when we see that he has
the strength to show us his weakness. Still better
would it have been if he had bluntly written that he
was wrong.
His anger had cooled during those seven months

LATEE LIFE AND DEATH 333
after the Sherman- Johnston convention, and it is a
safe judgment that in the secret chambers of his
own soul he saw there was no ground for molesting
Semmes. But his latent prejudice stirred him, a
partisan press prodded him, and he was likely
egged on by pedantic politicians like Suraner.
"It is a duty which I could not be justifled in
evading," he wrote, " yet I shall acquire no laurels
in the movement. But . . . the proceedings
agaiust this man will be approved by pos
terity." He got no triumph in his course, and just so
surely sober thought could not have endorsed it. He
cousulted lawyers and publicists, and tried to get
the suit raade an administrative matter, or at least
a combination of the two railitary departraents,
through a raixed commission of soldiers and sailors.
He wanted to drop all counts of treason, piracy, or
offenses amenable in civil courts, and rely on ah
indictment of Semmes for violation of the laws of
war in escaping on the Deerhound. Even here, re
ferring to Semmes, Welles could only "suppose he
was guilty of violating the usages and laws of war,"
and further he confessed that on exaraination "the
points had been narrowed and mitigated so that his
offense was really less aggravated than had been

334 BAPHAEL SEMMES
charged and believed." Of course President John-
sou procrastinated, conferred with other officials,
called for a list of members for a railitary com
mission, promised to sign the coraraission, then
decided he would have no more of such bodies, then
found out that the courts were not acting in matters
of treason or piracy, then wanted to parole Serames.
Welles by this time was abashed at the unjust, ar
bitrary treatment of Semmes, aud saw clearly that,
as the President would not have a comraission and
as the courts would not act for treason, there was
nothing to do but to release Seraraes uncondi
tionally, as far as the executive branch was con
cerned. As nothing could be done adrainistratively, the
endeavor was raade judiciaUy, a drag net of law
having been cast out to cateh Semmes in some of its
meshes. The solicitor of the Navy Department,
J. A. BoUes, was raaking raost prodigious efforts to
frame a case against him. To the layman, drink
ing in the opinions of the street, the halter was
already around Seraraes' neck. The wildest, most
savage animosity had raged against him since he
had begun his exploits on the Sumter, not confined
to reckless editors or thoughtless partisans.
So distinguished a raan as Edward Everett had

LATEE LIPE AND DEATH 335
bitterly denounced Semmes as a pirate, even after
the Alabama's crew had been treated as prisoners
of war. This was perhaps to be condoned iu au
orator and rhetorician, but Secretary Welles, blindly
fatuous as to all law aud logic, in one aud the same
report had stigmatized Serames as a "corsair" and
a "pirate" and then recognized him asa "prisoner
of war" entitled to exchange.
It was the whip and spur of this unreasoning
hatred that drove the lawyer to his disagreeable
task, as it had been guaranteed Semmes at his sur
render that he was not to be disturbed for any acts
of war anterior to that tirae. But this phrase could
be twisted, and the attorneys did so at once. They
argued that it did not debar prosecutions for viola
tions of the laws of war. The issue was raade upon
that ground.
The question arose : "What were Semmes' viola
tions of the laws of war, and what was the evidence ?
Five lines of inquiry were carried on : Was it wrong
to destroy ships instead of taking them into port ?
Had he been cruel to his captives? Was he justifi
able in hoisting false flags to deceive his enemy ?
Was it an offense to capture United States vessels in
neutral waters? Had he been perfidious in the
fight with the Kearsarge ?

336 BAPHAEL SEMMES
The putting of these queries in ordinary language
shows the flimsiness of the case against Semmes, and
it is to the credit of the solicitor that he unquali
fiedly dropped four ofthe counts, and posterity has
just as entirely dropped the fifth one. If Solicitor
BoUes had not been carried away by the passion of
the hour, he himself would just as quickly have
discarded that one also.
A little cool reflection soon showed that three of
the positions were hopelessly untenable. Captures
in neutral waters were matters for the neutral powers
themselves to consider. Fooling the enemy with
foreign flags, and burning prizes on the high seas,
had been too often practiced successfully by Ameri
can sailors in wars with England for this country to
raise a point ou them against Semmes. He had
doue only what Americans had proudly done times
without nuraber, aud raight want to do again, and
it would not do now finally to debar themselves
frora the use of such devices.
As to cruelty toward prisoners, Mr. BoUes pro
ceeded in a coraprehensive, well-balanced manner.
The very air was rife with charges against Semmes
that he had been guilty of the oppression of his
captives, and hundreds of rumors carae frora all
quarters. BoUes caught up all he could, advertised

LATEE LIPE AND DEATH 337
for raore, and then fearlessly aud impartially sifted
the evidence. At the start it looked black for
Semmes, especially with regard to the Solferino
and the Amazonian.
The consul at Queenstown, Ireland, in 1866, had
transmitted to his superior the information that
some of the Alabama's crew had declared that
Semmes had fallen iu with a vessel of the build of
the Solferino, had fired into her, and had sunk her
with all on board, even though she had imraediately
ou being hailed surrendered without any resistance
whatever. But one of the Alabama's crew was
brought over frora England. He denied it all, and
fully established the fact that she could never have
been nearer than five hundred miles to the Solferino,
which had undoubtedly foundered at sea.
The accusations of harsh treatment of some of the
crew of the Amazonian were seen to be just as
groundless. It was alleged that one man was
handled so roughly and starved so barbarously that
he died on the Alabama, all because he had resisted
the lowering of his ship's flag when he was ordered
to do so. It was learned from the captain of the
burnt boat that nothing of this kind had occurred,
that all had been cared for "as well as they could
expect, " that all had beeu set ashore at a foreign

338 EAPHAEL SEMMES
port, that the person in question had found passage
horae on board a neutral, and that he had died on the
voyage from sickness, not from violence or rough
treatraent. Two other cases were investigated, and both
turned out to be just as baseless. BoUes closed this
chapter of "slanderous rumors and idle gossip " by
the judicial conclusion that "in not one solitary in
stance was there furnished a particle of proof that
. . . Semmes . . . had ever maltreated his
captives. "
Nothing was left but the question of Semmes' con
duct in the last fight of the Alabama. The five
counts against him had dwindled to one, and still
better would it have been had they dwindled to
none. When arrested, Seraraes was charged with
triple perfidy ; he had begun firing again after hav
ing shown a white flag, had broken faith in escap
ing, and had reentered the " rebel service " without
having been exchanged.
At this distance from the raging tumult of the
day, it is hard to see how a man of BoUes' s judicial
experieuce could have had any patience with such
childish clamor, but he was calm, and exhaustively
followed out all three lines to the end. He went
through all of Winslow's official despatches and

LATEE LIFE AND DEATH 339
found no complaint against Semmes until thirty-
seven days after the battle. Winslow gave no hint
of such charge either in the report ou the day ofthe
conflict or in that of the next day ; in fact he had
charged nothing of the sort at all until he had
seen Serames' accusation that the Kearsarge flred
on the Alabama after the flag had corae down. Aud
yet "this dilatory complaint was the basis of the
charge ou which Seraraes was ultimately arrested."
Seven of the Kearsarge officers, including the cap
tain, were called to Washington aud examined as to
the Alabama's beginning to fire after she had sur
rendered. They were so at variance in their state
ments that it was folly to attempt a suit on their
evidence. By this time all were weary aud ashamed of the
matter and felt that it was best to release Seraraes,
siuce the trial could take on ouly the forra of parti
san persecution. Dozens of witnesses had been ex
amined, hundreds of letters had been written, nu
merous advertisements for proof had appeared, the
Atlantic seaports had been raked over, the utter
most corners of the earth had been invited to offer
evidence of guilt, and nothing against Semmes' con
duct or character had been found. He remained
unscorched in this baptism of legal fire. Neverthe-

340 EAPHAEL SEMMES
less, it was BoUes's deliberate belief that had he
been tried iraraediately on his arrest, he would have
been convicted and hanged.'
Perhaps Seraraes' own exertions had as rauch to do
with his regaining his liberty as the briefs of counsel
or the pleadings of friends. He had not been behind
the bars a month before he sent a keen, clear-cut
argument to President Johnson, proving how Ulegal
aud unconstitutional his arrest and imprisonment
were. He took his stand ou a few profound prin
ciples, strongly expounded.
He reasoned that his parole, based on the terms
of the surrender by General Johnston, guaranteed
him against all molestation for " any act of war
comraitted anterior to the date of that convention."
Of course, he grauted, he could be held for trans
gressions that were not acts of war, — forgery for in
stance ; — but classifying all possible acts of war, a
violation of the laws of war would fall uuder the
head of acts of war, and under the terras of his dis
charge he could not be held liable for such act. His
escape on the Deerhound was either iu consonance
with the laws of war or was in defiance of thera, but
in either case it was au act of war, aud of course he
was not legally accountable for it, siuce the conven-
^ Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 30, July, Aug., 1872.

LATEE LIFE AND DEATH 341
tion between Sherman and Johnston was an "obliv
ion of all acts of war of whatever nature."
Neither, during the war nor after the war, could
he be tried for treason, as the Constitution of the
United States " declares in words that treason
against the United States shall consist only in levy
ing war against them, or in adhering to their ene
mies, giving them aid and comfort, — all of which ad
herence, giving of aid and comfort, etc., are equaUy
acts of war."
The Attorney General had argued that Semmes
could be tried after the close of the war by the civU
tribunals, since the military convention would then
expire, just as a parole ceases in such circumstauces,
and of course such person could be haled before the
courts for previous offenses. He confused two terms,
asserted Semraes, because the instruraent of his sur
render expressly provides that he is " not to be dis
turbed ' ' so long as he observes the agreement, not
alone during war time, but for all time whether in
peace or not ; and he is "not to be disturbed " by
any branch of the United States government.
Semraes had been seized for an act coraraitted ten
mouths before the surrender in North Carolina,
widely known over the entire land, indeed over the
world, and therefore certainly to the "Federal

342 EAPHAEL SEMMES
Government. " " If, " says Semraes, ' ' that authority
then entertained the design, which it has since
developed, of arresting and trying me for this al
leged breach of the laws of war, was it not its duty,
both to itself and to me, to have made me an excep
tion to any military terms it raight have been dis
posed to grant to our armies ? I put it to you, Mr.
President, . . . whether it was consistent with
honor and fair dealing for the government first to
entrap me, by means of a military convention, and
then, having me iu its power, to arrest me and de
clare the convention null and void."
He eloquently besought the President not to
tarnish the pages of that history which he was raak
ing aud of which " ray record aud that of the gal
lant South " were a part, by any deed of perfidy.
The " passions of men. North and South, were tossed
into a whirlwind by the current events of the most
bloody and terrific war that the human race had
ever seen," but " I shall hope to justify and defend
rayself agaiust any and all charges affecting the
honor and reputation of a man and a soldier.
Whatever else may be said of me, I have at least
brought no discredit upon the American name and
character." Through his own burning words, through the col-

LATEE LIFE AND DEATH 343
lapse of the legal case against hira, through the
cooling of Welles' s fury, through the softening of
the hearts of politicians, through the spreading spirit
of forgiveness for the past, through the complica
tions of politics, or through a combination of all
these influences, happily for the American memory,
the record was saved from the stain of Semmes'
blood by his release in the spring.'
The mighty captain in Washington had not trod
the quarter-deck for the past twelvemonth, and his
ward-room reeked with feverish forebodings, frantic
fears, and the futile frothiugs of auger, but time
meUowed the hearts and kind fate guided the
destiny of the nation. The victors kept their
pledges, with one or two bare exceptions. Seraraes
was allowed his freedora, and he turned his back for
ever on that awful draraa of pain aud death iu which
he had played so signal and so worthy a part.
His career of arras was over, but his fame went to
' On April 6, 1866, Secretary Welles officially addressed Pres
ident Johnson, that " In viewot the recent decision of theU. S.
Supreme Court in the Indiana military commission cases,
and of the present condition of aflairs, it is respectfully advised
that Eaphael Semmes, unless you shall deem it proper to have
him tried forthwith, be unconditionally discharged from cus
tody under his present arrest, and that he be remitted to his
original written parole." Johnson endorsed on this, "The
recommendation of the Secretary of the Navy is approved, let
the prisoner be released from custody." — No. 7 of Vol. II,
"Executive Letters, April, June, 1866," Navy Dept. Archives.

344 EAPHAEL SEMMES
the uttermost bounds of the earth. His wondrous
adventures have been weighed and reraarked by the
erainent of the world, one of the most notable in
stances beiug the war lord of to-day, the Eraperor of
Germany, who observed to au American consul : "I
reverence the uame of Semmes. In my opinion he
was the greatest admfral of the nineteenth century.
At every conference with my admfrals, I counsel
them to closely read and study Semmes' ' Memofrs
of Service Afloat.' I rayself feel constant delight in
reading aud rereading the mighty career of the
wonderful Stormy Petrel." '
Seraraes wended his way again to Mobile, and was
soon elected probate judge of Mobile county, but
was not allowed by the Federal authorities to serve.
He was also cut off frora legal practice by the test
oath demanded of former military men. In the
autumn of 1866 came to him an appointment on the
academic staff of the Louisiana State Serainary, at
Alexandria, to teach raoral philosophy and English
literature, at a salary of $3,000 per annum.
Seven years before, the head of this institution,
which was afterward removed to Baton Eouge and
' " So. Hist. Soc. Papers," Vol. 38, p. 24, 1910. Uttered in
1894 to Frederick Opp who certifies as to correctness in private
letter ot Aug. 26, 1912.

LATEE LIFE AND DEATH 346
eventually there developed into the present State
University, was W. T. Sherman, who resigned to
go North and offer his services to the governraent of
the United States, and who flnally became the
famous general that captured Atlanta and marched
to the sea at Savannah.
There was such desire to obtain Semraes that the
superintendent offered to vacate his post and be
demoted, so that the admiral could be put iu con
trol, but the board in charge deeraed it best not to
do this.
With his knowledge of law and philosophy, with
his taste for literature, with his wide experience of
men and life, and with his trained intellect, it was a
matter of course that he would be well fltted for his
new duties, and that he should be successful in this
strange fleld. " His work at the seminary was with
the junior and senior classes," with the usual text
books of the time, in metaphysics, ethics, criticisra,
logic, rhetoric and Christian evidences. ' ' Not rauch
is known of his raethod of teaching, except that for
the raost part he lectured to the students, quizzing
but little. In daily life at the serainary and in his
intercourse with the faculty and students, he was
quiet and dignifled, of easy manners and rather re
tiring disposition. Of his unique naval career.

346 EAPHAEL SEMMES
about which all wished to hear, he would say but
little." He had left his family in Alabama, and
boarded with one of the professors.
But political storms were brewing. The throes
aud woes of reconstruction were upon the hapless
people. Denunciation poured forth upon a corps
of teachers consisting of "rebel officers just from
the Confederacy " aud a body of students raainly
"late Confederate soldiers and sons of rebel plant
ers." Semmes was too keen a judge not to scent
trouble ahead frora these radical assaults. Besides,
he felt a little out of place, as he was so much older
than his colleagues, none of whom was over thirty.
In addition he was offered the editorship of the
Memphis BuUetin. He got leave of absence in 1867,
went to Memphis, and in June of that year sent in
his resignation.'
In savage vindictiveness. President Johnson pur
sued him, and "caused a controUing interest [in
the paper] to be purchased by partisans who ousted
the adrairal from the position. " Semmes took up
lecturing on his thrilling career ou the Sumter and
Alabama, toured the South, and netted about a
thousand dollars per month, which, considering the
'The best sketch ot his last years is the article by Prof.
W. L. Fleming, in N. O. Picayune, May 14, 1911.

LATEE LIFE AND DEATH 347
circumstances of his audience, was princely com
pensation. Still he preferred the instructor's chair,
as " I would much rather be lecturing to a class of
young raen than to a promiscuous multitude." He
applied for the place of superintendent of the in
stitution he had withdrawn from upon misinforma
tion of the death of the incumbent, but he was only
too glad to drop his scheme on learning that his
frieud was yet alive. An effort was made to induce
him to become a teacher again, but the salary offered
was not enough to tempt him frora the path of lec
turing and law. He lived quietly in Mobile, prac
ticing his profession, writing his raemoirs, diversi
fying the routine of life by trips to Confederate
reunions and visits to friends.
A very delightful recreation of the sort was a
short time spent with his efficient executive officer,
Kell, in the horae of the latter on his farm in
Georgia. Kell had named his son "for the ad
miral, his dear narae being associated with my last
dream of glory," as Kell states it. The two officers
talked over the stirring life they had lived on the
ocean, and Kell records with deep gratitude that
Semraes declared that he (Kell) had been his right
hand. " That he should have beeu satisfled that I
had done my duty," Kell writes, "was very dear

348 EAPHAEL SEMMES
praise to me, and I record it not frora vainglorious
pride but frora the desire that my posterity raay
kuow that I did ray duty."
Serames' days moved on in tranquillity in his
home in Mobile until the end, on August 30, 1877.
His illness was brief and coraparatively pain
less. He died as he had Uved, devoutly in the faith
of the Catholic Church, and it was with her rites he
was buried in Mobile. Civic and mUitary honors
were paid to his meraory.
Nearly a quarter of a century afterward, on June
27, 1900, a bronze statue of hira was unveiled in
Mobile, one of those Gulf storms that he had so
often faced coraing on during the proceedings with
the same suddenness with which he used to burst
upon the unsuspecting merchantmen in that inland
sea. Nine years later, on the centennial of his birth,
the laud for which he had boldly skfrted the wave
for nearly four years, iu defiance of a great naval
nation, proudly recalled his daring services.

CHAPTEB XVI
THE "ALABAMA" CLAIMS— A SEQUEL
The Alabama ceased her destructiveness on
Juue 19, 1864 ; the results of her work were stiU in
course of legal dispute and settlement in Washing
ton at least a third of a century later. In the raean
time endless speeches and discussions had been
heard, volumes of reports, despatches, and decisions
had been published, and a great forward step had
been taken in international relations. The two
great branches of the English race had nearly come
to blows, and had theu set a fiue example to the
world of the peaceful solution of vexatious and
harassing questions by arbitration instead of by
war. Friction had arisen between England and Amer
ica over the meaning and interpretation of neutral
rights and duties. Both powers were thoroughly
committed by their own acts to the principles of
non-interference in contests between belligerents.
Before the end of the eighteenth century, in 1794,

.350 EAPHAEL SEMMES
this young republic, only half a decade old, had
signed a treaty with her raother to raake pecuniary
inderanity for failure to perforra her duties of neu
trality, and under this stipulation she had paid out
nearly one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.'
She had followed up this adherence to her doc
trines by passing an act not quite a quarter of a
century later prohibiting her citizens from giving
military aid to any country in a contest. England
had done the same through parliamentary measures.
It was upou the solid ground thus provided by both
that the United States took her stand in asking
compensation for the damages inflicted by the Ala
bama and other cruisers. Because of her preemi
nence iu the warfare on American coraraerce, and
because of the strong evidence against England in
her case, she has beeu made sponsor for all the
others, and her name has been given to the entire
raatter. All are spoken of as the ' ' Alabama cl airas. "
Another cruiser, the Florida, preceded the Ala
bama in escaping to the high seas, and almost
equaled her in the extent of the daraage she inflicted,
but English reraissness was not so flagrant, nor was
her career so extensive, so prolonged, and so world-
renowned. American feeling was excited by her
' J. B. Moore, "Digest of Int. Law," Vol. VI, p. 999.

THE "ALABAMA" CLAIMS— A SEQUEL 351
case ; it was inflamed by the Alabama coming close
upon the heels of it.
Both of them were sharp incitements to the rising
tide of indignation in the North against England for
the undoubted sympathy of her ruling class with the
South. The utterances of sorae public men, the
editorials in some papers, notably the Times, were
highly exasperating to American pride. But when
the Queen's proclamation of neutrality was issued,
on May 13, 1861, a virtual recognition of belliger
ency, bitter and angry words beat the air on the
other side of the ocean, and the seeds were sown that
were to ripen into the demand for reparation irarae
diately the home dissensions were stilled enough for
attention to be given to the matter. The founda
tions for this action, however, were laid at the time
firm and deep, by the vigilance and foresight of the
American rainister in London, the coldly intellectual
Charles Francis Adaras.
He it was who, after the tumult had subsided
in America, took up the negotiations for a day of
reckoning with the Briton. But both he and his
chief, W. H. Seward, were fairly obsessed with what
they thought the frightful wrong aud awful conse
quences of the Queen's proclamation of neutrality.
They asserted that this was premature and in defiance

352 EAPHAEL SEMMES
of international comity, an utterly indefensible posi
tion, as, of course, each nation must be its own
judge of the proper tirae for such a step.
Adams was superseded by Beverdy Johnson, who
simply ignored this preposterous contention and
succeeded in getting a treaty from England provid
ing for arbitration in the settlement of individual
claims for losses, but having nothing to do with the
foolish dispute over unfriendly haste in issuing the
proclamation, and nothing specific about the national
aspects of the operations of the cruisers that the
Confederates had got in England. Charles Sumner,
chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
Senate, in a speech as wrong as it was long, ag
absurd as it was grandiose, denounced the agreement
as near an insult to the dignity and rights of this
nation, and secured its rejection by a vote vfrtuaUy
unanimous. He was so fanatical as to attribute the
vastness and prolongation of the Civil War to that
piece of paper with the Queen's signature at the
bottom of it put before the public iu a foreign realm
three thousand miles away. To him that little
flourish of the pen was responsible not only for the
destruction of coraraerce ou the seas, but for at least
half of the huge expense of the entire conflict both
on land and water, and for staggering losses of the

THB '* ALABAMA" CLAIMS— A SEQUEL 353
growth in wealth we might have enjoyed otherwise.
He modestly put the money liability of England at
twenty-five hundred million dollars. Sumner's
figures became really humorous when a great Eng
lish leader adopting Sumner's method made out
England liable for over seventy -five hundred million
doUars — a reductio ad absurdum that effectually an
swered Sumner. But Sumner's address, although
bereft of reason and comraon sense, was given an
official endorsement through its publication by
special order of the Senate, such action being
necessary, since it was spoken in secret session.
Standing thus as the view of the government of the
United States, it blocked the path of diplomacy, as
no Englishman with an atom of self-respect, could
for a second entertain such propositions.
But trade between the two countries grew, inter
course between the peoples increased, sensitiveness
faded, and friendliness mounted higher, — above all,
America ignored Sumner's monstrous anglophobia,
dropped all foolish thought of indirect or conse
quential damages, and settled down to sensible
claims of compensation for the depredations of the
cruisers. On the other haud, England also lost something of
her lofty attitude. At first, during the war, Bug-

354 EAPHAEL SEMMES
lish official tone was aloof, then cool, then con
temptuous. The Foreign Secretary bluntly declared
that the clairas were not " founded ou any grouuds
of law or justice." But his successors were raore
open to arguraent. Two grave cfrcurastances helped
to hasten their change of heart ; the rapid success of
Germany in the war with Prance in 1870, and
President Grant's raessage in Deceraber of the sarae
year urging that the United States governraent it
self take over the private claims against England.
Germany dominating on the continent might shade
England's prestige, and humble her pride. In case
of conflict, England might need friends across the
Atlantic. Grant's veiled threat precluded all hope
of sympathy, unless a better understanding could be
reached. With both sides inclined to the same end,
a juncture was soon effected, aud the Treaty of Wash
ington was ratified iu the spring of 1871.
It provided for the arbitration of all the claims
growing out ofthe Civil War against England under
three rules of neutrality that were incorporated in
the docuraent. These three priuciples stipulated
that a neutral governraent raust not perrait cruising
operations to start from its limits against any power
with which it is at peace, that it must not allow any
of its territory to be used as a base of movements

THE "ALABAMA" CLAIMS— A SEQUEL 355
against either belligerent, and that it must "exer
cise due diligence" to discharge these "foregoing
obligations and duties. " '
A tribunal of arbitoatiou was enjoined in the first
article, which refers to " the Alabama and other ves
sels," mentioning by name the Alabama only.
Under the terras of the treaty the United States,
England, Italy, Switzerland, and Brazil appointed,
each, a raeraber of a court that met at Geneva with
every prospect that it would almost iraraediately dis
solve, and the whole scheme fail, over the vexatious
question of indirect claims. Happily, America had
wise men among her counselors, and they dropped
all notions of anything of the sort. The Tribunal
itself eliminated all the cruisers from consideration
except the Florida, Alabama, and Shenandoah,
exonerating England from any blame for the others,
The vote affirraing England's responsibUity was
unaniraous on the Alabama alone. In her case the
evidence was so clear and strong that even her own
representative, who all through the proceedings had
fought so persistently for his side of the case, de
clared that his govemraent was properly liable for
damages. The final decision of the Tribunal was
> Art. 6 of Treaty ot Washington, p. 550 of Vol. I of
Moore's " International Arbitration."

356 EAPHAEL SEMMES
that England should pay to the United States the
lump sum of 115,500,000.
The essentials of the testimony as to the Alabama
show :
"That the attention ofthe British Government
was called to the suspicious character of the vessel
on the 23d of June ; that her adaptation to warlike
use was admitted ; that her readiness for sea was
known ; that evidence was submitted on the 21st)
the 23d, aud finally on the 25th of July that put her
character beyond a doubt ; and that in spite of all
this, she was allowed to sail on the 29th."
These facts formed the real foundation of the case
against Great Britain.'
A part ofthe data subraitted by the American side
was an extract from a speech by Cobden in the
House of Comraons in 1864. He gave most striking
statistics of the ruinous effects of the cruises of the
Alabama and her sister ships on the American carry
ing trade. He declared that " in 1860 two-thirds of
the commerce of New York was carried on in
American bottoms ; in 1863 three-fourths was car
ried on in foreign bottoms." England profited
directly by this change as the ships were transferred
to the British fiag and to British capitalists. The
' Soley, " Blockade and Cruisers," p. 191.

THE "ALABAMA" CLAIMS— A SEQUEL 357
figures demonstrate that there were transferred to
England, in 1860, 41 vessels with a tonnage of
13,638 ; in 1861, 126 vessels, tonnage of 71,673 ; in
1862, 135 vessels, tonnage of 64,578 ; in 1863, 348
vessels, tonnage of 252,579 ; in 1864, 106 vessels,
tonnage of 92,052.'
Another speaker, the president ofthe Euglish
Board of Trade, about the same time, asserted that
British shipping had grown from a total tonnage of
about seven million to something like fourteen mil
lion. The American Government constituted a Claims
Court to apportion the award araong the various
applicants who were scattered the wide world over.
Commissions were sent to various points to take de
positions aud make examinations. The matter
dragged its tedious length for years, but nearly half
of the total indemnity, or alraost seven million dol
lars, was assigned to the sufferers from the Alabama,
a wonderful testimonial to the destructive skill and
energy of Eaphael Semmes.
' " Case of the United States," p. 474.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Raphael Semmes. Service Afloat and Ashore during the Mexi
can War. Cincinnati, 1851. H. H. Bancroft in his His
tory of Mexico, Vol. V, p. 551, says of this book: '• The
work met with so favorable a reception by the public that
within a year a second edition was issued." Later, in ab
sence of author it was abridged to The Campaign of
General Scott in the Valley of Mexico — in aid 01 Scott's
candidacy for the presidency.
Raphael Semmks. Service Afloat, or the remarkable career of
the Confederate cruisers Sumter and Alabama during the
War between the States. Kennedy and Sons, New York.
Official Record of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War
of the Rebellion.
The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter, from the Private
Journals and Other Papers of Commander R. Semmes,
C. S. N., and Other Officers. Two volumes in one.
New York, 1864 (a duplicate, except verbal changes,
of the two volume edition of Saunders, Otley & Co.,
London).
John McIntosh Kell. Recollections of a Naval Life. 1900.
Arthur Sinclair, Lieut. C. S. A. Two Years on the Alabama.
1895.
Frederick Milnes Edge. The Alabama and the Kearsarge.
London, 1864.
The Cruise of the .^/a^awa. By an Officer on Board. 1864.
The Cruise of the y^/aiawa. By One of the Crew. 1886.
Narrative of the Cruise of the Alabama and List of her Officers
and Men. By One of the Crew. London, 1864.
Albert M. Goodrich. Cruise and Captures of the Alabama.
1906.

BIBLIOGEAPHY 359
James D. Bullock. The Secret Service of the Confederate States
in Europe. 1884.
John M. Ellicott. The Life of John Ancrum Winslow. 1902.
J. Thomas Scharf. History of the Confederate States' Navy.
1887.
David D. Porter. The Naval History of the Civil War. 1886.
The Photographic History ofthe Civil War. 1911.
Reports of the Secretary of the Navy. December, 1861, 1862,
1865.
Gideon Welles. Diary. Three Vols. 1911.
James Russell Soley. The Blockade and the Cruisers. 1883,
1890.
Winthrop I. Marvin. The American Merchant Marine. 1902.
Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. 1884.
Frank M. Bennett. The Steam Navy of the United States.
1896.
Edward Stanton Maclay. A History of the United States
Navy. 1 90 1.
John R. Spears. The History ofour Navy. 1899.
James Ford Rhodes. History of the United States from the
Compromise of 1850.
Mrs. Clay OF Alabama. A Belle of the Fifties. 1904.
Park Benjamin. The United States Naval Academy. 1900.
Charles Oscar Paullin. Dueling in the Old Navy. 1909.
Sir William Butler. An Autobiography. London, 19 11.
Frederick Trevor Hill. Decisive Battles of the Law. 1907.
The Case of the United States to be laid before the Tribunal of
Arbitration at Geneva. Washington, 187 1.
Papers Relating to the Proceedings of the Tribunal of Arbitration
at Geneva. Two parts, London, 1873.
Newspapers, of appropriate dates : New York Times, Herald,
Tribune, R-veni-ng Post ; New Orleans Times-Democrat,
Picayune; Mobile Register; Montgomery Advertiser;
Richmond Inquirer ; London Times.

360 BIBLIOGEAPHY
Confederate Veteran, Monthly Magazine. Nashville, Tenn.
Our Living and Our Dead, Magazine. 1874-1876.
Southern Bivouac, Magazine. Louisville, Ky. About 1882.
Soldiers and Sailors. Historical Society of Rhode Island. Fifth
Series, No. 2, 1894.
New England Historical and General Register. Vol. 35.

INDEX

Abby Bradford, capture of, 137.
Adams, C. F., eftbrts to hold the
Alabama, 166-168; on Ala
bama claims, 351.
Admiralty Court, 193-194.
Agrippina, the, 203, 221.
Alabama, the, building and es
cape, 166-168 ; description
of, 173-176; crew of, 177-
178 ; officers of, 179 ; battle
with Hatteras, 205-209 ; dis
order on in Jamaica, 217 ;
repaired at Pulo Condore,
249-250 ; at anchor in Cher
bourg, 264 ; comparison of
with the Kearsarge, 267-
268 ; battle with Kearsarge,
274-278 ; casualties in Kear
sarge battle, 285 ; poem on,
3'6-3i7-
Alabama admiralty court, 193-
194.
Alabama claims, 349-357.
Alabama- Kearsarge battle, 274-
278 ; newspaper comment
on, 305-317.
Albert Adams, capture of, 1 32.
Alert, capture of, 186.
Altamaha, capture of, 187.
Amanda, capture of, 245.
Amazonian, capture of, 226,
337-
Angra Pequena, Semmes at,
233-234-
Anna F. Schmidt, capture of,
227.

Arbitration on Alabama case,
349-357-
Arcade, capture of, 153.
Areas, island, 201.
Argus, account of Alabama at
Cape Town, 230-232.
Ariel, capture of, 202.
Armstrong, Lieutenant, 179.
Azores, Semmes at, 171.
Bahia, Semmes at, 224.
Baldwin, Captain, 235.
Banks, General, 200.
Baron de Castine, capture of,
'9S-
Battle, Alabama and Hatteras,
205-209; Alabama and
Kearsarge, 274-278; papers
on. 305-3 '7-
Ben Dunning, capture of, 132.
Benjamin Tucker, capture of,
187.
Bethtah Thayer, capture of, 220.
Blanquilla, island, 199.
Boers, neutrality of, 229-230.
BoUes, J. A., prosecutor of
Semmes, 334-340.
Boyle, v. F., poem by on Ala
bama, 316-317.
Brazil, neutrality of, 221.
Brilliant, capture of, 190.
Brooklyn, I18-122.
Browne, Kearsarge surgeon,
276.
Bullock, J. D., Confederate
agent, 166, 178.

362

nfDEX

BuUock, Lieutenant, 179.
Cadiz, Semmes at, 154-157.
California " treasure ship,"
200-202.
Cape Town, Semmes at, 230-
233.
Castor, at Bahia, 225.
Causes for Southern secession,
97-99-
Cavalier in South, lol.
Cienfuegos, prizes in, 131-134.
Chain armor on the Alabama,
298-300.
Charies Hill, capture of, 220.
Chatelaine, capture of, 218.
Cherbourg, battle off harbor,
274-278.
Cipher adopted by Semmes, 115.
Comoro Islands, 257.
Confederate cruisers, effects of,
356-357-
Connemara, death of, 281.
Conner, Commodore, 70.
Conrad, capture of, 226.
Consort, 34.
Contest, capture of, 246-247.
Courser, capture of, 187.
" Covering cargoes," 193.
Crensha-w, capture of, 195.
Creole, 36.
Cuba, capture of, 131.
Cuban neutrality, 13 1- 1 34.
Cura?oa, Semmes in, 135.
Daniel Trowbridge, capture of,
141.
Davis, Jefferson, toast to, 202.
Deerhound, the, rescue work
of, 278-279 ; controversy
over, 300-305.
Diomede, 228.
Documenting property, 193-
194, 220.

Dominica, island of, 196.
Dorctis Prince, capture of, 224.
Dunkirk, capture of, 190.
Dutch West Indies, neutrality
of. i35-'37-
Eben Dodge, capture of, 154.
Electra, the, 84.
Elisha Dunbar, capture of,
187-189.
Emerson, R. W., on Texas an
nexation, 79.
Emily Farnum, captiire of,
190.
Emma Jane, capture of, 256.
Emperor of Germany on
Semmes, 344.
England, neutrality of, 157-
160; Tuscaloosa case, 261-
262.
English Channel, scenes in, 270.
English West Indies, neutral
ity of, 140.
Escape of the Sumter, II 6-
122, 151-153.
Express, capture of, 228.
Eytinge, Captain, 144.
Fanaticism, political, 81.
Farragut, Admiral, midshipman,
30-
Feeling between England and
United States, 349-351.
Fernando de Noronha, 221.
Feudal system in Mexico, 72.
Flirt, the, 84, 85.
Flores, island of, 181.
Florida, at Pernambuco, 225,
35°. 355-
Fort de France, Semmes in,
148, 196.
France, neutrality in Myers
case, 160-163 ; neutrality in

INDEX

363

East, 249 ; neutrality, at
Cherbourg, 264-265.
Freeman, Engineer, 179.
Friction between Scott and
Worth, 57.
Fugitive Slave Law, too.
Galt, Surgeon, 179.
Georgia, at Bahia, 225.
Gibraltar, the, 165.
Gildersleeve, capture of, 225.
Golden Eagle, capture of, 219.
Golden Rocket, destruction of,
128-131.
Golden Rule, capture of, 218.
Gowin, William, 284.
Grand Banks, 190.
Grant, President, on Alabama
case, 354.
Guianas, Semmes at, 140.
Gulf Stream, captures in, 190-
195-
Halls of the Montezumas, 49.
Hartford Convention, Semmes
on, 95-96.
Hatteras, the, battle with, 205-
210.
Highlander, capture of, 255.
Holland, neutrality of, 135-137.
Housatonic, the, 104.
Ino, the, 212.
Investigator, capture of, 157.
Iroquois, 143 ; at St. Pierre,
"49-I53-
Jabez Snow, capture of, 226.
Jalapa, 5 1 ; climate of, 62 ;
women of, 65.
Jamaica, Semmes at island of,
213-217.
Johanna, 257.

John Parks, capture of, 220.
Johnson, President, and
Semmes, 334, 340-343-
Johnson, Reverdy, 352.
Joseph Maxwell, capture of,
139-140.
Justina, capture of, 225.
Kate Cory, capture of, 223.
Kearney, Captain, 56.
Kearsarge, pursuit of Alabama,
212; arrival at Cherbourg,
264 ; comparison of with the
Alabama, 267-268 ; battle
with Alabama, 274-278;
conduct of crew in battle,
283 ; chain armor on, 298-
299 ; wreck of, 286-287.
Kell, J. M., midshipman, 123;
on Alabama, 1 79; in battle
with Kearsarge, 274-278 ;
views of Alabama battle,
296 ; visit of Semmes to,
347-348-
Kingfisher, capture of, 220.
Kingston, 209.
Krakatoa, 245.
Lafayette, capture of, 195 ; cap
ture of at Fernando de No
ronha, 223.
Laird, John, Alabama builder,
172.
Lairds, Alabama builders, 169.
Lancaster, John, neutrality of,
301-305.
Lauretta, capture of, 195.
Lee, R. E., Semmes on, 59.
Levi Starbuck, capture of, I95.
Lincoln, President, proclama
tion on privateering, 124-
125; toast to, 202.
Llewellyn, Surgeon, 179 ; death
of, 280.

364

INDEX

London Times, on Alabama-
Kearsarge battle, 305-307.
Louisa Hatch, capture of, 221.
Louisa Kilham, capture of,
'32-
Low, Lieutenant, 179.
Machias, capture of, 131.
Maffitt, J. W., 35.
Mahan, A. T., 143.
Mallory, S. R., 109.
Manchester, capture of, 190.
Maranham, Semmes at, 140.
Mars, Michael, rescue by, 258-
259 ; heroism of, 282.
Martaban, capture of, 252.
Martha Wenzel, release of, 233.
Martinique, Semmes at, 142.
Maury, Commodore, 27.
Memphis Bulletin, 346.
Merrimac, the, 104.
Mexico, industries of, 67 ;
lower class of, 67-68 ; social
classes in, 73-75 ; two races
in, 75.
Midshipmen, regulations for, 15 ;
quarters for, 16; discipline of,
18-19 ; duelingamong, 20-22;
education of, 22—28 ; numbers,
29.
Mohican, the, 212.
Montmorenci, capture of, 153.
Monument to Semmes, 348.
Moore, E. W., 69.
Moors, Myers captured by, 160-
163.
Morning Star, capture of, 220.
Morocco, neutrality of, 160-
'63.
Myers, Paymaster, capture of,
160-163.
Naiad, capture of, 132.
Nassau, Semmes at, 170.

Naval strength of North and
South, 105.
Navy promotions, 69.
Neapolitan, capture of, 157.
Neutrality, Cuba, 131 ; Spanish
West Indies, 133 ; Dutch
West Indies, 135 ; British
West Indies, 140; French
West Indies, 148 ; Spanish,
154-157; English at Gi
braltar, 157-160 ; Morocco
(Myers case), 160-163 ; Eng
lish on captured property,
191 ; Brazilian, 221 ; Tusca
loosa case at Cape Town,
261-262.
New York, Semmes' neamess
to, 195-
New York Evening Post, on
Alabama-Kearsarge battle,
3«i-3'3-
New York Herald,on Alabama-
Kearsarge battle, 309-3 10.
New York limes, on Alabama-
Kearsarge battle, 309.
New York Tribune, on Ala
bama-Kearsarge battle, 310^
3"-
Nora, capture of, 220.
Northers, 62.
Nye, capture of, 224.
Ocean Raver, capture of, 1 82.
Ocmulgee, capture of, 180.
Olive Jane, capture of, 219.
Onward, the, 212.
Orizaba, 61
Palmer, Captain, pursuit of
Sumter, 144 ; at St. Pierre,
'49-153-
Palmetto, capture of, 219.
Parker Cooke, capture of, 201.
Peons compared with slaves, 68.

INDEX

365

Pernambuco, 225.
Perry, M. C, 45, 49, 50.
Piracy, charge of, 125-127,335.
Polk, President, protest to
Mexico, 49.
Porpoise, the, 34, 85.
Porter, Admiral, midshipman,
30; on Semmes, 111-112;
on Semmes' trail, 145-146.
Port Royal, 213.
Portuguese, neutrality at Azores,
171-172.
Priesthood in Mexico, 73.
Prisoners released at Flores,
183-185.
Privateering, in Mexican War,
70 ; in Civil War, 7 1 ; Lin
coln's proclamation on, 124-
125 ; Soley on, 125-127.
Puebla, scene of, 64.
Pulo Condore, island of, 248.
Punjaub, capture of, 220.
Puritan in North, loi.
Pursuit of the Sumter, 142-
146; Alabama, 21 1-2 1 3.
Quitman, General, 59.
Release of captives at Flores,
183-185.
Richmond Enquirer, on Ala
bama-Kearsarge battle, 313—
315-
Riot on Alabama, 197.
Rockingham, capture of, 264.
Rogers, Passed Midshipman, 49.
Sabine, the, 212.
St. Domingo, Semraes at, 218.
St. Louis, the, 212.
St. Paul, islet of, 243.
St. Peter, islet of, 243.
St. Pierre, 148.
Saldanha Bay, 228.

San Jacinto, the, 198-199,212.
Scott, General W., at Vera
Cruz, 45 ; despatch to Santa
Anna, 54, 56; Semmes on,
58.
Sea Bride, capture of, 230 ; on
west coast, 233 ; loss of,
234-
Sea Lark, capture of, 224.
Secession, justification of, 87-
100 ; Lodge on, 102.
Secretary of the Navy of United
States on Semmes, 124-125.
Semmes, Raphael, early life,
12-14; midshipman, 14-31 ;
marriage, 33 ; appointed lieu
tenant, 34 ; first visit to Mex
ico, 34 ; loss of the Somers,
39-45 ; with army invading
Mexico, 49-57 ; character
izations of officers, 58-59 ;
description of Mexican
women, 65-66 ; on navy
promotions, 69 ; on privateer
ing, 70 ; on future of Mexico,
76 ; expansionist, 76-83 ;
justification of secession, 87-
100 ; resignation from United
States service, 106 ; special
mission to North, 108 ; choos
ing the Sumter, 1 10 ; char
acterization of, III-II2; es
cape on Sumter, 116- 1 22;
at Cienfuegos, 131-134; at
Cura?oa, 135-137; in
Venezuela, 137-139; escape
at St. Pierre, 149-153; at
Cadiz, 154-157 ; at Gibraltar,
157-160; takes command of
Alabama, 172-176 ; speech
to Alabama crew at Azores,
177; in Gulf Stream, 190;
destruction of Hatteras, 205-
210; in Jamaica, 213-217;

366

INDEX

at Saldanha Bay, 228-230 ;
at Singapore, 250-252 ; in
Comoro Islands, 258 ; de
spondency of, 263-264 ; par
allelism with Winslow, 269;
speech to Alabama crew, 27 1-
272 ; in battle with the Kear
sarge, 274-278; report of
Kearsarge battle, 289-292 ;
return home, 318-321 ; made
rear-admiral, 322 ; last mili
tary service, 323-325 ; im
prisonment of, 325-344 ; ca
reer after war, 344-348.
Seward, W. H., on Alabama
case, 351.
Shenandoah, the, 355.
Shipyards, Southern, 103.
Simon's Town, Semmes at, 233,
235, 260.
Sinclair, testimony of on Ala
bama battle, 296, 298.
Sinclair, Lieutenant, 179.
Singapore, Semmes at, 250-
252.
Soley, J. R., on privateering,
125-127.
Solferino, the, 337.
Somers, the, 35 ; loss of, 39-45.
Sonora, capture of, 255.
South, grief over loss of Ala
bama, 313-315.
Spencer, Anne E., 33.
State rights, Semmes on, 87-
100.
Sumner, Charles, 352.
Sumter, commissioned, 115;
officers of, 123-124; sale of,
165.
T. B. Wales, capture of, 195.
Talisman, capture of, 226.
Tangier, 160.
TatnaU, Commodore, 27-28.

Texan Star, capture of, 252.
Tonawanda, capture of, 190.
Trade winds and fair weather,
257.
Treaty of Washington, 354.
Trinidad, Serames at, 140.
Tuscaloosa, commissioning of,
227 ; near Cape Town, 230 ;
on west coast, 233 ; at Cape
Town, 260, 261.
Tuscarora, the, 1 69-2 1 2.
Tuspapan, 48.
Twiggs, General, 59.
" 290," the, 167-168.
Tycoon, capture of, 264.
Union, capture of, 201.
Union Jack, capture of, 224.
Vanderbilt, pursuit of Alabama,
235. 241-
Venezuela, neutrality of, 137-
139-
Vera Cruz, bombardment of,
45-47-
Vigilant, capture of, 153.
Virginia, capture of, 187.
Warren, the, 34.
Washington, capture of, 219.
Wave Crest, capture of, 190.
Weatherguage, capture of, 186.
Webster, D., Semmes on, 90-
91-
Wells, Gideon, epithets applied
to Semmes, 124-125 ; report
on Semmes, 307-308 ; diary
of on Semmes, 332-333.
West Wind, capture of, 132.
Wilson, Lieutenant, 179.
Winged Racer, capture of, 246.
Winslow, John A., reception of

INDEX

367

Semmes' challenge, 266 ;
parallelism with Semraes,
269 ; speech to men, 269 ;
report of Alabama battle,
292-295 ; witness against
Semmes, 326, 339.
Women of Mexico, 65-66.
Work of Confederate cruisers,
356-357-

Worth, General W. J., 57 ; on
Semmes, 60; his slave, 68.
Wyoming, in Strait of Sunda,
245.
"Yankee" seamanship, 193.
Yellow fever, Semmes on, 62—
63-
Yucatan, American rule in, 77.

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