The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-10-27
rHE CONFEDERATE NAVY


A small but interesting group among
the survivors of the Confederacy in
attendance on the reunion which be-
gan Monday In Chattanooga were the
naval contingent, and no body of vet
Grams at the gathering are more de-
serving of the cheers of Dixieland than
those representatives of men who
sailed the seven seas with Semmes.
with Maffitt and Waddell. served the
guns aboard the Merrimac. the Ar
kansas, and the Tennessee: cut out
the enemy's ships under John Taylor
Woods leadership or led by Hunter
Davidson. blew the enemy up.
The Confederate army in size and in
accomplishments completely overshad-
owed the little naval establishment.
and the feats Of the seamen have re-
ceived tardy recognition at home and
elsewhere, except perhaps at the hands
of the Geneva Tribunal. which award
ed damages OF $15,500.000 against Great
Britain in connection with the depre-
dations Of Confederate cruisers upon
United States commerce.
A former superintendent of the U. S.
Naval Records has given the Confed-
crate navy credit for developing and
fighting ironclads. creating the IRON
clad ram, creating the best and most
efficient gun of the war. the. Brooke
rifle, creating and extending the tor
pedo service, and operating the first
successful submarine torpedo boat. It
was an army officer, George z. Dixon
of the 21st Alabama, though that COM
manded the historic little submarine.
when she finally achieved her iHfated
victory by sinking the u. S. S. Housa-
tonic and going to water grave be-
side her.
Shut off from home ports by a vigil
liant blockade. without adequate means
Of communication with Richmond. and
thrown constantly on their own re-
the officers of the Confeder.
ate navy upon the high seas, were the |
knight Grants of the war, and worthy
Of the Academy. which |
claimed as its first head Franklin |
Buchanan, the fighting Admiral of the
Raphael Semmes, who received the |
rank Of rear admiral in the Confeder- |
ate navy il recognition of his services
aboard the Alabama. captured sixty |
odd United States vessels and sank |
one. the Hatteras, in action, in the |
course of his cruising on the Alabama. |
and captured eighteen others while |
the Sumter, a converted |
packet boat. Though commonly re-
ferred to about Washington in the |
Sixties as pirate" he has come to |
be recognized as one of the most ex- I
act opponents of law that the seas has
ever known. He had the most ex-
tensive practice in conducting naval
warfare that has ever fallen to the
lot OF any navigator" and IN the lam
guage Of a recent assistant attorney /
general OF the United States (FYtts
1879 was the most accurate of all
seamen IN the application of the law
10 the facts"
He never. even In the bitterest time
Of the civil war. sank a ship without /
providing for the safety of its passen-
gers the late Theodore Roosevelt
said in 1918 in a speech at st. Paul
uncle. Commander James
D. Bulloch. c. S. N. by the way, was
q highly interested witness at the
OF the Alabama off the
Azores.
But Semmes was more by a good
deal than sea lawyer" He was an
seaman. eluding capt T
lre by the countless United States
vessels sent in search Of him for three
years. twice escaping from the island +
y Martinique. once In the Sumter and
ater IN the Alabama while superior
9. s. vessels lay outside prepared to
sink him when he came out He was
also a wonderful commander. From
he day he hotsted the flag OF the sum
.er TO the breezes of the Gulf. June
10. 1851. tin the flag OF the sinking 4
Alabama was hauled down of Cher
oourg. June 10, 1854. he never lost a
nan from disease on either ship
The only Confederate nag to receive
he salute OF a foreign power was the
lag OF the Confederate cruiser F1ori-
la, salute from English guns at St.
Seorge Bermuda Islands. July 18th
1868. The career OF the Florida was
,frsi,reSnua OnA of he ,raSt sarsvo