RAPHAEL SEMMES AND CSS SUMTER
Raphael Semmes. The Mariners' Museum P0005—UPP434
The CSS Sumter was fitted out as a cruiser by the CS Navy at New Orleans, Louisiana. Commander Raphael Semmes, a former US naval officer who had served with distinction during the Mexican War, had resigned his commission and joined the Confederate navy. Immediately, he sought an active command. He met with Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Russell Mallory seeking the command of a cruiser that could harass Union shipping. Consequently, Mallory gave Semmes command of a ship in the making, CSS Sumter. The Sumter's cruise launched the career of one of the greatest commerce raider commanders in history.
Raphael Semmes was born in Charles County, Maryland, on September 27, 1809. Orphaned at an early age, he was raised by his uncle, Raphael Semmes. The young Raphael was a cousin of Brigadier General Paul Semmes and Union Captain Alexander Alderman Semmes. He attended Charlotte Hall Military Academy and at age 17, thanks to the influence of another uncle, Benedict Semmes, he was appointed to the US Navy as a midshipman. He took a leave of absence to study law and was later admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1834. Continuing on shore duty he was able to expand his law practice. Semmes was promoted lieutenant in February 1837. During the same year he married Anne Elizabeth Spencer of Ohio. The happy union produced six children. [1] Read more
Author John V. QuarsteinTagsTags commerce raider, CSS Alabama, CSS Sumter, French Forrest, Gosport Navy Yard, Habana, Lighthouse Board, Mexican War, pirate ship, Raphael Semmes, Raritan, Stephen Russell Mallory, US Lighthouse Service, USS Brooklyn, USS Kearsarge, USS Somers, Winfield Scott
USS Hatteras: The First Warship Sunk by CSS Alabama
CSS Alabama, Confederate States Steam Auxiliary Sloop-of-War, 1862. Builder's Model. The Mariners' Museum 1985.0024.000001A
When President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of the entire southern coastline, the US Navy only had 93 warships, and almost half of these were outdated or unusable. So, the US Navy went on a buying spree purchasing every steamer that could mount cannons. One of these vessels was the St. Mary which was soon commissioned as USS Hatteras. In turn, the Confederacy did not have a navy and sought to obtain ships overseas to attack Northern merchant ships. The most successful of these commerce raiders was CSS Alabama. These two warships would have a fatal encounter on January 11, 1863, off Galveston, Texas, resulting in the sinking of USS Hatteras.
From the Steamer St. Mary to USS Hatteras Read more
Author John V. QuarsteinTagsTags African Americans Sailors in Civil War, Blockade Runners, Cedar Key FLA, Charles Wilkes, Cherbourge France, CSS Alabama, CSS Mobile, David G. Farragut, Enrica, Galveston TX, George Foster Emmons, Gershon Jacques Henry Van Brunt, Gulf Coast Squadron, Henry H. Bell, Homer Crane Blake, Hull No 290, John Bankhead Magruder, John Laird Sons & Co, Raphael Semmes, Sabine Pass, Savannah, South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, USS Brooklyn, USS Hatteras, USS Hunchback, USS Kearsarge, USS Monitor, West Coast Blockading Squadron
Capture of New Orleans: Farragut's Rise to Fame
Map depicting the delta of the Mississippi River and approaches to New Orleans. Printed by Government printing office in 1904 as part of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies.
New Orleans was the largest city in the Confederacy with more than 120,000 inhabitants. This cosmopolitan community was a leading shipping, shipbuilding, and industrial center. The city controlled the commerce of the entire Mississippi Valley and its tributaries, like the Ohio, Missouri, and Red rivers. While it was ever so critical for the Confederacy to maintain control of this city, events elsewhere, especially in Tennessee, resulted in New Orleans having inadequate defenses and naval support. The city's loss would have significant implications.
Confederate Naval Preparations
Much to the dismay of Major General Mansfield Lovell and Flag Officer George Hollins, New Orleans had been stripped of most of its soldiers, cannons, and warships. Many believed that the Federals would try to take New Orleans by way of Union forces coming down the Mississippi. Hollins argued, to a level of insubordination, that every effort possible be made to block the Union fleet access into the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico. He advocated that as the Union ships were lightened to cross the bar into the Southwest passage, the Federals were very vulnerable to attack, and Hollins wished to do so. He created such an uproar that he was reassigned to Richmond, Virginia. Read more
Author John V. QuarsteinTagsTags Battle of the Head of Passes, CSS Governor Moore, CSS Louisiana, CSS Manassas, CSS Mississippi, CSS Mosher, Dahlgren guns, David Dixon Porter, David G. Farragut, Fort Jackson, Fort Pitt Foundry, Fort St. Philip, George Dewey, George Hollins, Gideon Welles, Gulf of Mexico, John A. Stephenson, John Mitchell, Johnson Kelly Duncan, Mansfield Lovell, Melancton Smith, Mississippi River, mortar boats, New Orleans, S.F. DuPont, USS Brooklyn, USS Cayuga, USS colorado, USS Hartford, USS Mississippi, USS Pensacola, USS Varuna
The First Ironclad Emerges: Battle of the Head of Passes
Confederate 6.4-inch banded rifle, 1862. This is the weapon type used as the bow pivot gun on CSS Ivy. Note the 100-pound conical projectile at the right rear of the gun carriage. Courtesy of Library of Congress, CWPB 01053.
When the Civil War erupted, Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Russell Mallory knew that the South could only counter and defeat the larger US Navy if ironclads were employed. Mallory immediately ordered the construction of ironclads. The first project was the conversion of USS Merrimack into CSS Virginia at the Gosport Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia. Mallory then ordered two ironclads laid down in New Orleans, and another two built in Memphis, Tennessee. These vessels could not be built fast enough to stem the Union's advance against Confederate ports.
Ironclad Imagined
The urgent need for ironclads was recognized by New Orleans Commission Agent Captain John Stephenson who also served as secretary of the New Orleans Pilots' Benevolent Association. Stephenson went to meet with President Jefferson Davis in Montgomery, Alabama, to ask for the use of a heavy tug, altering it to make it "comparatively safe against the heaviest guns afloat, and by preparing … bow in a peculiar manner … rendered them capable of sinking by collision the heaviest vessels ever built." With Davis's approval, Stevenson returned to New Orleans to build an ironclad privateer, quickly raising more than $100,000 in subscriptions. Read more
Author John V. QuarsteinTagsTags Alexander Warley, Battle of the Head of Passes, CSS Ivy, CSS Manassas, CSS McRae, David Glasgow Farragut, Enoch Train, First Ironclad, George N. Hollins, Gosport Navy Yard, John Pope, John Stephenson, Joseph Toone, Mississippi River, mosquito fleet, New Orleans, Preble, Ram Fever, St. Nicholas, USS Brooklyn, USS Merrimack, USS Richmond, Vincennes, Water Witch, William W. McKean