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قراءة كتاب Cruise and Captures of the Alabama
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destruction.
CHAPTER IV.
SEMMES AND HIS OFFICERS.
Captain Raphael Semmes was a typical representative of Southern chivalry. He was an ardent admirer of the South and a firm believer in her peculiar “institution.” His memoirs, written after the war, breathe secession in every line. He was born in Charles county, Maryland, Sept. 27, 1809. At the age of seventeen he received an appointment as midshipman, but did not enter active service until six years later, meanwhile adding the study of law to his naval studies. In 1834, at the end of his first cruise, he was admitted to the bar. In 1837 he was made a lieutenant, and commanded the United States brig Somers, which assisted in blockading the Mexican coast during the war with that country. While in chase of another vessel a terrific gale arose. The Somers was foundered and most of her crew were drowned. A court martial acquitted Semmes of any fault in this matter, and in 1855 was promoted to the rank of commander. In February, 1861, he was a member of the Lighthouse Board, of which body he had been secretary for several years.
The provisional government of the Confederacy was not yet a fortnight old when he was summoned to Montgomery. Hastily resigning his Federal commission, he met Jefferson Davis in that city, and was soon speeding northward on an important mission. Mr. Davis had not yet fully made up his cabinet, had not even a private secretary apparently, for Semmes’ instructions were in Davis’ own handwriting. The funds for the trip were borrowed from a private banker. Semmes visited the arsenals at Richmond and Washington, and the principal workshops in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, in search of information and supplies. In New York he procured a large quantity of percussion caps, and shipped them to Montgomery. Thousands of pounds of gunpowder were also shipped southward by him before any hindrance was placed in the way of such operations.
Semmes entered the Confederate navy with the rank of commander, the same which he had held in the Federal service. He was promoted to captain about the time he took command of the Alabama, and near the close of the war was again promoted to rear admiral. April 18th, 1861, he was ordered to take command of the steamer Sumter, at New Orleans. More than a month was spent in converting the innocent packet steamer into a war vessel, and before he could get to sea the mouths of the Mississippi were blockaded by a Federal fleet. The propeller of the Sumter could not be raised, and when she was under sail alone, the propeller dragged through the water, greatly retarding her speed.
On the 30th of June Semmes succeeded in running the blockade, and within a week he had captured eight merchant vessels, six of which he took into the port of Cienfuegos, Cuba. The captain general of Cuba ordered the prizes to be detained until the subject of their disposition could be referred to the Spanish government. Ultimately most governments refused to permit war vessels with prizes of either the United States or the Confederate States to enter their ports. The vessels which were taken into Cienfuegos were turned over to their former owners.
As it was impossible to get into a Confederate port with his prizes, Captain Semmes was forced either to destroy or to release those which he took. After capturing ten more vessels, most of which were burned, the boilers of the Sumter gave out, and she was blockaded by Federal cruisers in the port of Gibraltar. In March, 1862, further efforts to utilize her as a war vessel were abandoned, and her officers made their way to England, where many of them were subsequently assigned to positions in the Alabama. Captain Semmes proceeded to Nassau, where he found a communication from Stephen R. Mallory, the Confederate secretary of the navy, directing him to assume command of the Alabama. In reply he wrote a letter, of which the following is an extract:
Upon my arrival in London I found that the Oreto had been dispatched some weeks before to this place; and Commander Bulloch having informed me that he had your order assigning him to the command of the second ship he was building [the Alabama]. I had no alternative but to return to the Confederate States for orders. It is due to Commander Bulloch to say, however, that he offered to place himself entirely under my instructions, and even to relinquish to me the command of the new ship; but I did not feel at liberty to interfere with your orders.
While in London I ascertained that a number of steamers were being prepared to run the blockade, with arms and other supplies for the Confederate States, and, instead of dispatching my officers at once for these states, I left them to take charge of the ships mentioned, as they should be gotten ready for sea, and run them in to their several destinations—deeming this the best service they could render the government, under the circumstances. I came hither myself, accompanied by my first lieutenant and surgeon—Kell and Gait—a passenger in the British steamer Melita, whose cargo of arms and supplies is also destined for the Confederate States. It is fortunate that I made this arrangement, as many of my officers still remain in London, and I shall return thither in time to take most of them with me to the Alabama.
In obedience to your order assigning me to the command of this ship, I will return by the first conveyance to England, where the joint efforts of Commander Bulloch and myself will be directed to the preparation of the ship for sea. I will take with me Lieutenant Kell, Surgeon Gait and First Lieutenant of Marines Howell—Mr. Howell and Lieutenant Stribling [Stribling had been second lieutenant of the Sumter] having reached Nassau a few days before me, in the British steamer Bahama, laden with arms, clothing and stores for the Confederacy. At the earnest entreaty of Lieutenant-Commanding Maffit, I have consented to permit Lieutenant Stribling to remain with him, as his first lieutenant on board the Oreto (Florida),—the officers detailed for that vessel not yet having arrived. Mr. Stribling’s place on board the Alabama will be supplied by Midshipman Armstrong, promoted, whom I will recall from Gibralter, where I left him in charge of the Sumter. It will, doubtless, be a matter of some delicacy and tact to get the Alabama safely out of British waters without suspicion, as Mr. Adams, the Northern envoy, and his numerous satellites in the shape of consuls and paid agents, are exceedingly vigilant in their espionage.
We cannot, of course, think of arming her in a British port, this must be done at some concerted rendezvous, to which her battery, and a large portion of her crew must be sent in a neutral merchant vessel. The Alabama will be a fine ship, quite equal to encounter any of the enemy’s steam sloops, of the class of the Iroquois, Tuscarora and Dakotah, and I shall feel much more independent in her upon the high seas than I did in the little Sumter.
I think well of your suggestion of the East Indies as a cruising ground, and I hope to be in the track of the enemy’s commerce in those seas as early as October or November next: when I shall, doubtless, be able to lay other rich “burnt offerings” upon the altar of our country’s liberties.
John McIntosh Kell, the first lieutenant of the Alabama, had occupied the same position in the Sumter. He had served twenty years in the United States navy, had been in the war with Mexico, and had seen a great deal of active service. The second