Captain Semmes makes the following statement in his official report:
"Although we were now but 400 yards from each other, the enemy fired upon
me five times after my colours had been struck. It is charitable to
suppose that a ship of war of a Christian nation could not have done this
intentionally."
A very nice appeal after the massacre of Fort Pillow, especially when
coming from a man who has spent the previous two years of his life in
destroying unresisting merchantmen.
The Captain of the Kearsarge was never aware of the Alabama having struck
until a boat put off from her to his own vessel. Prisoners subsequently
stated that she had fired a lee-gun, but the fact was not known on board
the Federal ship, nor that the colours were hauled down in token of
surrender. A single fact will prove the humanity with which Captain
Winslow conducted the fight. At the close of the action, his deck was
found to be literally covered with grape and canister, ready for close
quarters; but he had never used a single charge of all this during the
contest, although within capital range for employing it.