THE CRUISE OF THE ALABAMA AND THE SUMTER / FROM THE PRIVATE JOURNALS AND OTHER PAPERS OF R. SEMMES

First London Edition: 2 volumes; 410 & 426 pages, tinted lithographic frontispiece in each volume – both lightly foxed, 5 plates, attractively bound in half blue leather, top edges gilt, others uncut, bookplate on the front paste-down endpapers, a very good copy.

Raphael Semmes (1809–1877) was an officer in the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. He had served as an officer in the United States Navy from 1826 to 1860.

During the American Civil War, Semmes was captain of the cruiser CSS Alabama, the most successful commerce raider in maritime history, taking 65 prizes. Late in the war, he was promoted to rear admiral. He also acted as a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army from April 5 to April 26, 1865, although this appointment was never submitted to or officially confirmed by the Confederate Senate.

The connection with Cape Town: CSS Alabama's South African expeditionary raid commenced shortly after the Confederate States Navy sloop CSS Alabama left Brazil and the South Atlantic Ocean and patrolled southward of the African continent near the Cape of Good Hope. The raid lasted from about the beginning of August 1863 to the end of September 1863.

'The activities of the Alabama caused considerable interest in Cape Town and the local press. "The inhabitants", wrote Murray (the editor of The Argus) "rich and poor, halt, maimed, lame and blind - not only old men and maidens, young men and children, but all women 'dragons and all deep' went off to see the Alabama, her Captain and her officers...", It was Victorian reporting at its most extreme....But on the whole the colony abandoned itself to an orgy of hero-worship which even Captain Semmes found a trifle startling.” He was more puzzled than flattered by the reception he had met with at the Cape, which was more enthusiastic than any he had had before. 'Do you know', said he, pointing to the bouquet of flowers and other little tokens left or sent on board, 'that my own countrymen would not have done as much for me, or anybody else. They are not fond of hero-worship. You English are a strange people'..... The adulation, the excitement, the heartaches, and the disappointments are forgotten; all that remains are the words of the folk-song that originated in the Malay quarter of Cape Town, as a perpetual reminder of 'Alabama Fever'." Daar Kom die Alabama. Bradlow (E.& F.) Here Comes the Alabama, (A.A. Balkema, 1958, pages 69/70).