Confederate Raider: Semmes (H)

This is an easy and enjoyable read, chronicling the life of Raphael Semmes, the South's preeminent commerce raider.Rising from the obscurity of Washington, D.C.'s bureaucracy, Raphael Semmes's goes to sea the age 54 and never returns home until his ship, the CSS Alabama is sunk by the USS Kearsarge off Cherbourg, France toward the end of the Civil War. Along the way he assembles a list of victories that would make any successful naval commander blush.But is that good enough for Semmes? After his defeat, he returns from France to the Confederacy. Avoiding the Union blockade by entering Matamoros, Mexico, he makes his way overland to Richmond where he not only is in charge of the Confederate Navy presence during the fall of Richmond, but he also subsequently is responsible for protecting the Confederacy's Treasury during the Presidential escape from Richmond.Raphael Semmes is a true Confederate hero who again out foxes his Union counterparts in the final days of the war.

In contrast to many Civil War army generals, little has been written about Admiral Raphael Semmes. John M. Taylor corrects this with his excellent biography of Raphael Semmes. The book opens narrating Semmes running the blockade from New Orleans with the C.S.S. Sumter, followed by three chapters on his pre-Civil War life. His first command, the C.S.S. Sumter is covered next. Overshadowed by the Alabama, history often overlooks the Sumter. However, the Sumter was important! John Kell, Semmes' First Lieutenant, is quoted after the war "I have always felt that the little Sumter never had full justice done her. . . .No ship of her size, her frailness, and her armament ever played such havoc on a powerful foe". It was on the Sumter that Semmes developed the commerce raiding strategies/ tactics he used so successfully on the Alabama. Leaving the Sumter at Gibraltar, Semmes and his officers traveled to Britain. Taylor's account of the Confederate agent in Britain, James Bulloch contracting for, equipping and arming the Alabama is fascinating and reads like a Cold War espionage novel including a mole in the Prime Minister's office. Semmes commissioned and took command of the Alabama in the Azores then set sail and captured the whaling ship, Ocmulgee, on 5 Sept. 1862. By the end of October 1862 the Alabama had ravaged the New England whaling fleet plus dealt a blow to the grain trade between New York and Britain. The author notes that at this time, Semmes conceived a bold plan to take the Alabama into New York harbor and fire the ships there. It is interesting to speculate on possible responses to a raid on New York harbor as 9 months later the city experienced draft riots which had ethnic, racial overtones in a northern city with some southern sympathies. The plan was canceled after the hurricane of October 16,1862.The book narrates in chronological order the capture of each ship by the Alabama and narrates her activities including a cruise to Asian waters. However, after 22 months at sea, the Alabama badly needed shipyard maintenance and refitting. Semmes put into the French port of Cherbourg . While France hesitated to allow the critical shipyard work, the U.S.S. Kearsarge arrived and took station in international water off Cherbourg. Semmes formally challenged the Kearsarge to battle and in an engagement on Sunday morning June 19, 1864 the Alabama was sunk. Semmes escaped to Britain aboard an English yacht. The book has an excellent discussion of the possible reasons for Semmes' decision to fight noting that by 1864 Confederate commerce raiding was no longer profitable. A chance for a positive international reaction to defeating a Federal warship was one consideration for making it worth putting the Alabama at risk in fighting the Kearsarge because the Alabama's days were numbered without an overhaul. After losing his ship Semmes returned to Richmond, was promoted to rear admiral and