The Washington herald., 1915-01-03
HOMECOMING SEA ROVER
HAS SAD TIME In MOBILE.
January 2.
January z.

49,
! Fifty years ago today Raphael Sem
mes, who had commanded the Con-
federate commerce destroyer Alabama.
and who. having lost his ship in action
off Cherbourg. France, on June 10. 1854.
had now returned to the Confsderaey.
via Havana and Texas. left Mobile, his
home, for Richmond. to report for
further duty.
The great sea rover, the most pictur-
esque figure afioat in the civil war.
was passing through a strange home
coming. Mobile-where in later years
he was to practice law. and where after
his death a statue was to be erected in
his memory-had given him cordial
reception, as had various other places
| In which he had halted on his overland
Journey of a thousand miles from the
lower tip of Texas; but the welcome
was extended by men who already had
given up the fight for Southern inde-
pendence.
The labors of semmes in the Ala
bama. that had carried him into many
seas, halfway round the world and back
and had cost the United States its mer-
chant marine. had been in vain.
Nobody saw this more clearly than
Capt. Semmes on his homeward jour
ney. Men generally seemed to have
given up the cause as lost" he wrote
in his journal at this time, and to
have set themselves at work. like
wreckers. to save as much as possible
from the sinking ship. The civilians
had betaken themselves to speculation
and money-Eetting. and the soldiers to
drinking and debauchery" He might
have added. also to desertion.
Few writers have given a more con-
else or a clearer account of the desola-
tion and Generalization of the Confed-
eracy in its last few months Of exist.
ence than Capt. Semmes. Coming fresh
from other scenes. he saw the ruin
more clearly than those who had been
a part of it.
Travel with a Clergyman.
The homecoming journey of Capt.
Semmes was in itself an interesting
illustration of the tight grip the Fed
erals had secured upon the South. He
could not enter any Confederate port.
and had been obliged to land on the
Mexican side OF the Rio Grande before
he could safely set foot in Southern
Texas.
This roundabout journey had been
undertaken only after a period of re-
cuperation. After the loss of the Ala
bama, in her battle with the Rearsage.
Capt. Semmes had been taken on board
an English yacht. and, being safe on
this neutral ship, had been taken to
England.
There he had been received with
popular demonstrations of admiration.
to which he was in no mood to respond.
His health was well-night shattered by
almost two years of continuous cruis-
ing. with the constant wear of care and
the excitement of chasing prizes and
eluding the feet of scout ships with
which the United States had sought
him.
Resting for a few weeks in the home
of a friend. an English clergyman,
Rev. +. w. Tremlett, OF Belsize Park,
London, Capt Semmes decided to ae-
cept the suggestion of the clergyman
that they travel together for a time on
the Continent.
In spite of the dissimilarity of their
callings. the two men were thoroughly
congeniaL Capt Semmes was a student.
fond of the beauties of nature and of
the study of natural phenomena. The
odor of a violet or the color of a rose
appealed to him as much as did the
grandeur of mountains or the laws OF
storms.
He was a reader, a thinker, a fluent
writer and a charming talker. In the
COMPANY VI MS NACt anu
a few other congenial travellers Capt
Semmes was able to shake off the de-
pressing effects OF his last service at
sea.
Across Texas by Coach.
Crossing the channel to Ostend. the
travellers went up the Rhine into Swift
Geneva. Thence they travelled to va
rious resorts in the Swiss Alps. spend
ing about six weeks on their journey.
Returning to London in late Septem-
Der. Capt. Semmes sailed for home on
October 3, on the steamer Tasmanian,
for the West Indies. At st. Thomas he
took another ship. the Solent.- in which
he proceeded to Havana. where he
hoped to find ship for Matamoras.
Mexico.
The only craft bound that way
proved to be "a small Yankee schooner
still redolent of Goldfish. though wear
ing the English flag; to which she had
recently been transferred" which took
him, in a passage for a week, to the
mouth of the Rio Grande.
Landing here at a beach village
called Bagdad. that owed its life to the
last remnants of blockade running.
Capt. Semmes proceeded by land thirty
miles to Matamoras. Here he crossed
the Rio Grande in a skin. to Browns
VILE, Tex. which had been held by the
Federals for some months. but was now
In Confederate hands.
From this point he set out in a coach.
with a small cavalry escort, to traverse
Texas. Travelling via San Patricio. Con
Eales. Houston, Huntsville. Rusk. Hem
derson and Marshall. he reached
Shreveport. La. in fourteen days, after
a journey OF about 500 miles.
Everywhere he was greeted with
cheers and sslutes OF artillery, and
further honors were offered him that
ne could not tarry to accept At Shreve-
port he found the Confederate govern
ment OF Louisiana sitting.
over the sIississippi.
Capt. Semmes' object in visiting that
section of Louisiana was TO see his son.
Maj. o. J. Semmes, who had served with
honor In the artillery. in that part OF
the Confederacy. He was now with Gen.
Simon Bolivar Buckner's command.
stationed at Alexandria, further down
the Red River. Here the father and son
met. for the first time in four years.
From Alexandria. Capt. Semmes. ac-
companying a small party OF mail car
riers, rode eastward. by bride paths
through the swamps along the Red
River, TO reach the MississippL II was
often necessary to Bwfm q bayou that
crossed the road.
Arriving at the big river toward
nightfaIl, the party concealed them
selves to wait for dark. Federal gun
boats patrolIed the stream. and the
travellers could see two from their hid
H. WNN~