'Memoirs of service afloat during the war between the States' by Raphael Semmes

DX/2637

Information

'Memoirs of service afloat during the war between the States' by Raphael Semmes, master of Confederate raider Alabama and active in the American Civil War. First published in 1869. Stuck to the inside front cover is a discharge certificate for Joseph Pearson for service on Alabama, signed by Semmes in Cherbourg, 1863. Pearson was a seafarer from Liverpool and served variously as an able seaman, wardroom cook and coal trimmer. He was captured during the final action of Alabama by USS Kearsage and parolled.