Program Information

On Sunday morning June 19, 1864, Captain Raphael Semmes, sailed the pride of the Confederate Navy, CSS Alabama, out of Cherbourg, France, for her last battle.

A Moment in Time is a brief, exciting and compelling journey into the past. Created to excite and enlighten the public about the past, its relevance to the present and its impact on the future, A Moment In Time is a captivating historical narrative that is currently broadcast worldwide.

Transcript

Content: On Sunday morning June 19, 1864, Captain Raphael Semmes, sailed the pride of the Confederate Navy, CSS Alabama, out of Cherbourg, France, for her last battle.

Semmes, a United States Naval officer, was born in Maryland but had settled in Alabama. He offered his services to the Confederacy in 1861 and commanded two ships; but on Alabama he made his reputation. Alabama had just been around the world on a voyage of destruction about which US naval solicitor, John A. Bolles later remarked, "Never in naval history has there been so striking an example of the tremendous power of mischief exacted by a single cruiser as Alabama under Raphael Semmes."

The path of destruction led from Galveston, Texas through the Atlantic, around the Cape of Good Hope, into the Indian Ocean. Before it was over, Alabama had captured and destroyed 62 Union ships.

Semmes sailed out of Cherbourg that morning to meet USS Kearsarge, whose Captain had draped chains over the sides of the ship - and Semmes was fighting an ironclad in disguise. The battle lasted 1 hour and 10 minutes, and soon Alabama was dying. Semmes recognized that to continue would be fruitless; he hauled down the ship's colors to prevent further loss of life and with his crew abandoned ship. Rescued by an English yacht, he was returned to Virginia and commanded Confederate gunboats on the James River until the fall of Richmond.

At the University of Richmond, I’m Dan Roberts.

Virginia Standards