The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter

Semmes, Raphael, 1809-1877Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.7
Word count
799K words
Chapters
80

Tags

English Originals Military Historical ReappraisalMilitary StrategyNaval WarfarePrivateersAdventure JourneyMilitary CommandersHeroismNaval WarfareSea JournalAmerican Civil War

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter by Raphael SemmesAuthor: Semmes, Raphael, 1809-1877,Language: English, Class: E456: History: America: Civil War period (1861-1865), Release Date: Aug 12, 2004

Editor's review

The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter, by Raphael Semmes (1809–1877), belongs to American history (E456, the Civil War period). Semmes served as captain of the Confederate cruisers Alabama and Sumter, and this book uses his cruises at sea as its thread, recording the course and observations of mid-nineteenth-century commerce raiding. As a first-person account, it preserves many details of voyages, encounters, and life aboard ship, and has documentary value for the study of naval operations in the American Civil War, nineteenth-century naval actions, and the sailing conditions of the time. The prose has the essayistic style of a nineteenth-century maritime memoir, narrated at an easy pace, with occasional expressions of viewpoint limited by its era; readers should read it with a critical eye toward historical sources. It is suitable for history enthusiasts to consult as primary material and for researchers of naval and Civil War history, but it is not recommended as popular adventure reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Learn the background of the naval blockade in the Civil War first; the main text will then be easier to follow.
  2. Mark routes, ship names, and dates while reading, and use a map for reference.
  3. Pay attention to the author's standpoint and the limitations of his era, and read with a critical awareness of historical sources.
  4. Read in sections by voyage stage, reviewing the key points after each section so that details do not overwhelm the main thread.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

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FAQ

What was the author's background? The author, Raphael Semmes (1809–1877), was a nineteenth-century American naval officer who commanded the Confederate cruisers Alabama and Sumter. This book is based on his own cruise experiences and is a historical source in the nature of a first-person memoir.
Is the book fiction or a historical record? This is a historical memoir recording the cruises of the Alabama and the Sumter, classified as history of the American Civil War period. It is not a fictional novel, and it should be read as primary material carrying the author's standpoint.
Can I read it without a naval background? You can, but the book involves ships, routes, and nautical terminology, and without background knowledge it is easy to lose track of details. It is advisable to first learn the basic background of the Civil War naval blockade and to use maps and notes on ship names while reading; understanding will then be much smoother.

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About the author

Semmes, Raphael, 1809-1877 Author · American · 1809–1877

Raphael Semmes (1809–1877) was an American naval officer who served as a Confederate naval commander during the American Civil War. Publicly available information on his early life and education is limited. The two works included here, The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter and Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States, recount his wartime service at sea: the first describes operations aboard the raiders Alabama and Sumter, while the second is a memoir of his naval service during the war. Both are maritime military narratives drawn largely from his own experience, with an emphasis on the course of events and life at sea, and they serve as firsthand references for understanding nineteenth-century commerce raiding and Confederate naval activity.