Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-10-29

We had swept them clean of United States
| merchantmen it seems to me that the idea
OF sending out some of their many war
| vessels in search of US would have occur
red to the Federal authorities. They
| certainly would have had no diff
Guilty in finding us. Old Commodore
| Vanderbilt, at his own expense, equipped a
fast and powerful war ship, which was sent
| out for the special purpose of DESTROYING
| the Alabama. 1t was called the Vander-
bllt, and its commander boosted that he
would run us down and sink us without
firing gun. We played hide and seek
with him for some days at the Cape of Good
| Hope, and one night ran out safely to sea
right under his nose. That was the only
| ship ever sent out for the express purpose
OF destroying the Alabama"
Why did not the success of the Ala
oama induce the Confederate authorities to
III out other cruisers of the same kind?"
Several other cruisers We're equipped
Ior our service in English ports, but after
the Alabama became SO destructive n great
ciamor was raised about Englands alleged
violation of the neutrality laws. This
caused all the neutral Powers to maintain
the closest watch at all their ports. After
the Alabama had been out eighteen months
another Confederate cruiser was hardly
needed on the commercial highways of the
sea. Prizes had become scarce; the most
adventurous merchantmen lay in port; in
surance had gone up to enormous rates,
and Yankee commerce had about disap
peared from the high seas"
Did the Alabama have any fights except
with the Hatteras aud the Kearsarge?'
None. We met the Hatteras in carry
| ing out the boldest of all the bold schemes
of Admiral Semmes. Having learned
from some captured papers that General
Banks was moving on Galveston, he re-
solved to attack the entire convoy. His
plan was to wait until the fleet anchored,
when the provision ships and the men-of-
war which escorted them would be care
lessly left together in fancied safety. In
| the night he intended to steam ut full speed
through the feet, pouring fire from both
broadsides, sinking and burning as he
went. Semmes was confident that he
| could do this, and escape before the men
of-war could recover from their surprise
and get up steam for a successful pursuit
When he approached Galveston, Banks
had gone up the Mississippi, and squad
ron OF Federal men-of-war lay just outside
the harbor. watching the movements of
Magruder, who had retaken the city.
The Hatteras sighted us as soon as we
sighted her. We drew her out far enough
to escape the pursuit of the other men-of
war, and sunk her in a sharp fight, which
lasted only thirteen minutes. Though
that was at night, we saved every one Of
her men," AS TO the fight with
the Kearsarge. Captain Kell says that
it was neither the result of reckless over
confidence nor mistake Of Judgment on
the part OF Admiral Semmes. AS we knew
nothing OF the Kearsarge's chain armor, it
was deliberate choice of the most hopeful
alternative in desperate situation. The
Alabama had seen hard service continu-
ously for nearly two months, and was badly
in need Of repairs. The copper had so
rolled on her bottom as to seriously i'm
pede her movements and to render any,
thing like her former speed impossible. To
Cherbourg she Went to apply for permission
to go into dock. The Kearsarge steamed
into the harbor the third day after the Ala
bama arrived. The Alabama was unfit for
cruising until she could receive repairs,
which would require month. BY that
time she would have been hemmed in by
Northern men-of-war. The one Federal
ship before her had only slight advan-
tage in size and was apparently about her
equal in strength. Admiral Semmes,
knowing nothing of the concealed chain
armor of his adversary, determined that
the best thing he could do was to force a
fight at once. The duel was arranged by
the Confederate agent and the Federal Con-
sui at Cherbourg.
The officers Of the Alabama realized
that hard and doubtful conflict awaited
them. The story related by Surgeon
Browne of the KearSaroa that fhav
boasted at dinner in Cherbourg that they
would whip the Kearsarge, like the sur
geon's other historical statements, is mere
hearsay. It has not the slightest founda-
ton in fact. Before the battle Captain
Kell wrote his wife letter, telling her that
| it might be his last.
! The gallant young English surgeon,
Llewellyn, made his will and sent mes
| sage to the loved ones he was never to see
again.
1t was, perhaps, the most dramatic sea
fight in history. 1t was witnessed by 49,
600 people on the housetops and heights of
| Cherbourg, and it ended the career of the
most famous cruiser that ever ploughed the
sea. Despite the fearful odds against her,
| the Alabama would have sunk the Hear
sarge had the 1OO-p pound shell that pene-
trated the stern-post of the latter explo-
! debut it did not explode! It is now ex-
hibited with section of the shattered
! timber at the naval museum in Washing
ton.
Incidents of Soldier Life.
In the winter of '64 and IS, as mem
Der Of the Fourth Indiana, I saw events
which show the terrible influences of civil
war. Some of these events and circum-
I-So s.,1. 1,,.k