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[Illustration: CONFEDERATE STATES STEAMER ALABAMA.]
CRUISE AND CAPTURES
OF THE ALABAMA
BY ALBERT M. GOODRICH
MINNEAPOLIS
THE H. W. WILSON CO.
1906
_Copyright 1906, by Albert M. Goodrich._
LUMBER EXCHANGE PRINTING CO.
PREFACE.
The publication of the naval records of the Rebellion, both Union and
Confederate, makes it possible to take a comprehensive view of the career
of the famous cruiser. In addition to these, Captain Semmes kept a diary,
which after the close of the war he expanded into a very full memoir.
Various officers of the vessel also kept diaries, and wrote accounts of
their adventures, The long report of the Geneva Tribunal of Arbitration,
and various consular reports contain a great deal of information in regard
to the Alabama's inception and operations. All this voluminous material
has been gone over with care in the preparation of this volume, and the
facts are set forth in a trustworthy, and it is hoped also, in a readable
form.
CRUISE AND CAPTURES OF THE ALABAMA.
CHAPTER I.
ENGLAND AND THE BLOCKADE.
In the decade preceding the Civil War in America the carrying trade of the
United States had grown into a vast industry. The hardy seamen of New
England had flung out the stars and stripes to every breeze, and cast
anchor in the most remote regions where a paying cargo might be found. Up
to October, 1862, they hardly felt that they had more at stake in the war
of the Rebellion than any other loyal citizens. But in that month the news
swept along the seaboard that the Alabama lay within a few days' sail of
their harbors, dealing out swift vengeance upon all Northern vessels
which came in her way.
Whether or not the decline of American shipping is principally due to
unwise legislation, certain it is that its downfall dates from the
appearance in the mid-Atlantic of this awful scourge of the seas. Northern
newspapers called the craft a pirate, and no other word seemed to the New
England sea captains adequate to describe the ruthless destroyer. Although
regularly commissioned by the Confederate government, she never entered a
Confederate port from the time she left the stocks until she tried
conclusions with the Kearsarge off the coast of France; and this, together
with the further fact that her crew was chiefly of European
origin--largely English--was used as an argument that she could not be
considered as a legitimate vessel of war. None of the great nations of the
world adopted this view, however, and she was everywhere accorded the same
treatment that was extended to war vessels of the United States.
Early in 1861 there sprang up in England a thriving trade in arms and
munitions of war. While the cotton spinners of Lancashire were suffering
from the loss of their usual supply of raw material, owing to the blockade
of the ports of the Confederacy, the merchants of Liverpool were turning
their attention to supplying the belligerants with the equipment necessary
for the continuance of the conflict. Sales were made directly or
indirectly to the Federal government, but the higher prices offered in the
South tempted many to engage in the more hazardous traffic with the
government at Richmond.
As the blockade gradually became more efficient, insurance companies
refused longer to take the risk of loss on Southern commerce. But it still
went on. The owners of a blockade runner were certain of enormous profits
if they could succeed in getting through the lines, but, if captured, both
vessel and cargo were confiscated by the Federal prize courts. The sleepy
little village of Nassau in the Bahama islands awoke to find itself a
great commercial emporium, and immense quantities of goods were soon
collected there, awaiting transshipment within the Confederate lines.
According to the law of nations, vessels of neutral countries were not
subject to seizure, unless actually attempting to run the blockade.
Consequently, ocean steamers could land their cargoes at the English port
of Nassau without danger, while smaller vessels, having less draught than
the Federal war ships, could make the short run to the coast with better
chances of escape. Liverpool was the principal European depot for this
traffic, as Nassau was its principal depot on this side of the Atlantic.
In the spring of 1862 Confederate agents in England were still talking
about the "paper blockade," but English merchants whose goods were piled
up at Nassau found the blockade much more real than it had been
represented to be. Their anxiety was somewhat lessened by the circulation
of rumors that the blockade was shortly to be raised. Confederate vessels
of war were to make an opening in the encircling fleets, and the blockade
was to become so lax that it would no longer be recognized by European
governments. Eventually these prophecies became tangible enough to connect
themselves with a certain mysterious vessel which was at that very time
lying in the Mersey awaiting her masts and rigging.
Charles Francis Adams was the United States minister to England, residing
at London. The suspected character of the vessel was communicated to him
by Thomas H. Dudley, the United States consul at Liverpool, and a strict
watch was kept upon her.
Any avowed agent of the United States government had great difficulty in
acquiring information of a compromising character. Public opinion in
England among the wealthy and influential was strongly in favor of the
South. For this there were two reasons--one political, the other
commercial. People of rank and those of considerable worldly possessions
saw with growing apprehension the rising tide of democracy, not only in
England but throughout the world. The feeling of disdain with which the
idle rich had so long looked upon those who were "in trade" was beginning
to lose its sting, and something like an answering scorn of those who
never contributed anything toward the struggle for human subsistence
began to be felt. The existence side by side of vast wealth and degrading
poverty were more often referred to, and the innate perfection of
institutions hoary with antiquity was more often called in question. The
dread of an uprising of the "lower classes," peaceful or otherwise, was
strong. The success of Napoleon III. in overturning the second republic of
France was greeted with delight and construed to mean the triumph of the
privileged classes.
And at last had come that long-deferred failure of republican
institutions, which aristocracy and aristocracy's ancestors had been so
confidently predicting--the breaking up of the American republic. The
refusal of President Lincoln and the people of the North to acquiesce in
the dismemberment of the Union was received at first with surprise and
then with indignation. British commerce was seriously interfered with by
the blockade. Spindles were idle all through the manufacturing districts
in the west of England. And all because a blind and headstrong people
persisted in an utterly hopeless war of conquest.
Abhorrence of chattel slavery was well nigh universal among the English
people of all classes. Indeed, the existence of that institution in
America was one of the principal indictments which aristocracy had been
fond of bringing against her. The assertion that the North was waging a
war for the extinguishment of slavery was laughed to scorn. Aristocracy
pointed to the assertion of Lincoln in his inaugural address, that he had
no intention or lawful right to interfere with slavery where it already
existed and to similar statements of Republican leaders. The general
opinion among the well-to-do classes was that the war was being fought on
the part of the North for territory--for empire--or from motives of pride.
On the other hand, the mechanics and artizans were inclined to believe
that the war was really a war against slavery, and that in the cause of
the North was somehow bound up the cause of the poor and downtrodden
generally. So it came about that associations of working men passed
resolutions of sympathy with President Lincoln, and the craftsmen of
Lancashire, who were the principal sufferers from the cotton famine, kept
as their representative in parliament the free trade champion, Richard
Cobden, an outspoken friend of the North.