Combat· American Civil War
Battalion captured by CSS Alabama
A striking demonstration of the Confederate commerce raider's reach.
In December 1862 a battalion of Marines under Major Addison Garland was being carried as passengers aboard a lightly armed steamer bound for the Pacific by way of the isthmus, when off the Cuban coast the Confederate raider CSS Alabama, under Raphael Semmes, came up and fired a warning shot. The transport, carrying no bullion but full of Marines and civilian passengers, could not resist, and Semmes took her. Rather than burden himself with prisoners, he released the ship and her people after they pledged not to bear arms against the Confederacy until exchanged, and the Marines went on to their destination. No one was killed or wounded. The episode was one of the Alabama's notable captures, a reminder of how far the Confederate raiders ranged, and it put a whole Marine battalion briefly into enemy hands without a shot fired in anger.
Podcast episodes on American Civil War
Record no. 453