On September 21, 1861, Raphael Semmes, commander of the Confederate commerce raider CSS Sumter, sat down with his journal to make note of a personal milestone. Semmes, who spent over 30 years as an officer in the U.S. Navy before resigning his commission shortly after the outbreak of the war, turned 52 that day. “[S]o the years roll on, one by one, and I am getting to be an old man!” he wrote. While he may have been feeling his years, Semmes’ passion for the Confederate cause burned bright. “Thank God, that I am still able to render service to my country in her glorious struggle for the right of self-government, and in defence of her institutions, her property, and everything a people hold sacred. We have thus far beaten the Vandal hordes that have invaded and desecrated our soil; and we shall continue to beat them to the end.”
The following summer, Semmes received the appointment that would define his Civil War service. Recently promoted to the rank of captain, Semmes was put in command of CSS Alabama, the newly launched Confederate raider built in secret in England. Between August 1862 and June 1864, Semmes and the Alabama navigated the high seas in search of merchant vessels to take as prizes, dodging U.S. military ships determined to capture or destroy them along the way. As William Marvel shows in this issue’s cover story, “Rebel Menace” (page 24), the story of the Alabama is as interesting as its career was impressive. By the time Alabama met its end at the Battle of Cherbourg, the raider had destroyed or ransomed over 60 merchant ships.
Finally, I’m excited to note the appearance in this issue of a new recurring column, “Crossroads” by Andrew S. Bledsoe. In each installment, Drew, an assistant professor of history at Lee University, will look at a specific battlefield decision—good or bad, big or small—that had an outsized, unintended, or otherwise significant impact on the engagement’s outcome. His first essay looks at the consequences of a decision made by a young Union officer during the Battle of Shiloh.
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