Cape Palmas
In December 1875, "Alaska" was ordered by Ulysses S. Grant to Cape Palmas in Maryland County, Liberia, for a show of force to stop the Grebo-Liberian War. The "Alaska" arrived at Cape Palmas on 3 February 1876. Liberia was in practice an American colony, and U.S. envoy James Milton Turner, the first African-American ambassador, requested a warship to protect American property in Liberia. Turner, bolstered by U.S. naval presence in harbor and the support of the USS "Alaska"s captain, negotiated the incorporation of Grebo people into Liberian society and the ousting of foreign traders from Liberia.