Raphael Semmes was an American Confederate naval commander. He was born in 1809 and died in 1877. He served for many years in the American navy, including during the Mexican War, and in 1861 joined the Southern side. In the period just before the commencement of hostilities, he was very active in procuring supplies for the naval department of the new Confederacy. As commander of the Sumter he captured many American merchantmen until he was blockaded at Tangier. He then sold the Sumter, and in 1863 assumed charge of the Alabama. In this privateer he made sixty-two captures, but the Alabama's career was ended off Cherbourg, on June the 19th, 1864, by the Kearsage. Semmes escaped in a British vessel, made his way to the South, and was appointed rear-admiral. He was arrested in 1865 after the close of the war, but was released. Research Raphael Semmes
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