Existing comment:
These stars were on the gangway
boards of the US steam screw
sloop of war "Hartford",
flag ship of Rear Admiral
David G. Farragut, USN, in the
passage of Forts Jackson &
St. Philips on the Mississippi in 1862
and Battle of Mobile Bay 1863.
Presented to the US Naval Academy
by Chief Naval Constructor
Theodore G. Wilson, USN
in 1967
Raiders:
The Confederacy lacked the means to build and support a large navy. Instead, it relied on the traditional naval strategy of commerce raiding. A few privateers were licensed at the beginning of the war, but as a private enterprise, privateering was not as profitable as blockade running.
The South did commission warships as commerce raiders. Three in particular -- Florida, Shenandoah, and Alabama -- cruised the world's oceans, capturing more than 300 Union merchant ships and nearly destroying its whaling industry.
James I. Waddell (1824-1886)
Waddell resigned his commission in the United States navy in the fall of 1861 and received a commission as a lieutenant in the Confederate States Navy in March 1862.
He was assigned to shore artillery during the early part of the war, seeing duty at Drury's Bluff, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina. During much of 1863 and 1864, he was in England awaiting a sea-going billet, which came in October 1864 when he took command of Shenandoah. He later worked for the State of Maryland and died in Annapolis.
John N. Maffitt (1819-1886):
Born on the Atlantic Ocean as his parents emigrated from Ireland to the United States, Maffitt was fated for a life at sea. He entered the Navy as a midshipman in 1832 and [was] promoted to lieutenant eleven years later. Just before the Civil War, he commanded a steamer off Cuba, helping to protect American merchant ships from harassment and to capture slavers sailing under the flag of the United States.
With the outbreak of the war, he was appointed to command of the raider Florida. After a lengthy, exhausting cruise he requested relief from command. He later commanded the ram Albermarle.
CSS Shenandoah:
Shenandoah was launched in Glasgow, Scotland. After supposedly getting under way for a cruise to India, the ship received armament and a crew, including Cmdr James I. Waddell. The cruiser sailed through the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. As she headed for the North Pacific, unknown to Waddell, the Civil War ended.
Between June 22 and 26, 1865, Shenandoah captured and destroyed more than twenty whaling ships. She then headed for San Francisco. En route, she met the British merchant vessel Baracouta and learned that the war was over. During her cruise, she had captured 38 ships.
CSS Alabama:
Alabama, a screw steamer, was built in Liverpool, England, and commissioned into the Confederate States Navy in 1862. In nearly two years of cruising, the raider captured almost seventy vessels, destroying most of them.
In June 1864, urgently in need of repairs, Alabama entered Cherbourg, France. Three days later, the USS Kearsarge arrived. Alabama's commander, Raphael Semmes, knew he had to fight. In the ensuing battle, the fearsome Confederate raider was sunk.
Ralph Semmes (1809-1877):
Semmes entered the Navy in 1826, and found time in his early career to study law. He commanded the brig Somers during the Mexican War and then took extended leave to practice law in Mobile, Alabama. By the Civil War he was back in the Navy, having been promoted to commander in 1855.
When war started, he became commander in the Confederate States Navy. His command of Alabama followed a successful cruise in the Sumter. After the loss of Alabama, Semmes returned to the South. He was briefly imprisoned after the war, and then practiced law in Mobile until his death.
USS Kearsarge:
As Alabama steamed toward Kearsarge, the Union ship turned and headed directly for the Confederate ship. At about a mile distance, Alabama opened fire. At half a mile, Kearsarge turned to port and opened fire with her starboard battery. In an hour, after seven circles, Alabama has lost power and was sinking. Her surviving crew abandoned ship.
John A. Winslow (1811-1873):
Although Winslow was born in North Carolina, he remained with the Federal navy during the Civil War. He was executive officer of the Western Gunboat Flotilla and wounded in action on board the Benton. Upon recovery, he returned to the Mississippi, but soon received orders to command the sloop-of-war Kearsarge.
He spent a year and a half in Kearsarge, looking for Confederate raiders and keeping his crew ready for action. After the battle with Alabama, Winslow was promoted to commodore, and then rear admiral. |