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BY TOM FREEMAN click on the image for a larger view and more information

In June of 1864 ALABAMA entered the port of Cherbourg, France, to obtain major repairs to both hull and machinery. Her powder was deteriorating and unpredictable as to firing characteristics. France had not granted her access to repair facilities as the emperor was not in Paris. At that point, the cruiser USS KEARSARGE, Captain John A. Winslow, USN, commanding, entered the breakwater, and Semmes, realized that other federal ships would soon join the blockade. He then sent a note to Mr. Bonfils, the confederate agent in France, requesting him to inform Captain Winslow, KEARSARGE, through the United States consul, that if Winslow would wait until the ALABAMA was coaled, Semmes would come out and give him battle.

On Sunday June 19, 1864, ALABAMA sailed through the breakwater and made for the KEARSARGE, then about seven miles off the breakwater. In the first half-hour of the engagement the ALABAMA lodged a 100 pound shell near the sternpost of the KEARSARGE, a sure coupe de grace…but the shell failed to explode. After one hour and ten minutes of intense battle at distances as close as 500 yards the KEARSARGE delivered a mortal blow and the ALABAMA began to sink. Seeing the carnage on deck and the futility of further loss of life, Semmes struck his colors and fired a lee gun. The KEARSARGE fired five more times, and Semmes launched his only two surviving boats to the KEARSARGE with wounded and those who could not swim. Semmes was pulled from the water by the english yacht deerhound and taken to England.

While in England Semmes received two gifts that he specified remain in the family to remind his descendants that, in the words of Patrick Henry, "I have done my utmost to preserve their liberty."

One gift was a flag sown by an english lady. The other was a handsome sword with the following inscription:

"Presented to Captain Raphael Semmes, CSN, by Officers of the Royal Navy and other friends in England as a testimonial of their admiration of the gallantry with which he maintained the honour of his country's flag and the fame of the ALABAMA in the engagement off Cherbourg with a chain-plated ship of superior power, armament, and crew, June 19th, 1864."

Click here to read Captain Semmes' own account of the engagement.