Roger Brothers
Captain Semmes
Sun Apr 22 19:59:16 2001


Sean,

The main purpose of the CSS Alabama was to attack the enemy’s commerce not to engage in battle with his war ships. Capt. Semmes was very adept at hitting the enemy's commerce at their most vulnerable points while staying one step ahead of the numerous yankee cruisers who were hunting him. The Alabama, under his command, captured and sank more enemy merchantmen than any surface ship in history before or since. After having captured and burned 40 or 50 (I forget the exact numbers) yankee merchantmen and engaging and sinking a yankee man o war in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and North and South Atlantic he was looking for new "hunting grounds" in the Indian Ocean.