![Plan of the circle battle between the U.S. ship "Keasarge," Capt. Winslow, and the Confederate cruiser "Alabama," Capt. Raphael Semmes, off the harbor [of] Cherbourg, France : forenoon of Sunday June 19th 1864.](https://cache.getarchive.net/Prod/thumb/cdn4/L3Bob3RvLzE4NjQvMDEvMDEvcGxhbi1vZi10aGUtY2lyY2xlLWJhdHRsZS1iZXR3ZWVuLXRoZS11cy1zaGlwLWtlYXNhcmdlLWNhcHQtd2luc2xvdy1hbmQtdGhlLTEwMjQuanBn/320/266/jpg "Plan of the circle battle between the U.S. ship \"Keasarge,\" Capt. Winslow, and the Confederate cruiser \"Alabama,\" Capt. Raphael Semmes, off the harbor [of] Cherbourg, France : forenoon of Sunday June 19th 1864.")
![Battle of Spottsylvania [sic] Courthouse, May 8-21, 1864 between Lee (50,000) and Grant (110,000) immediately following Wilderness Battle /](https://cache.getarchive.net/Prod/thumb/cdn4/L3Bob3RvLzE4NjQvMDEvMDEvYmF0dGxlLW9mLXNwb3R0c3lsdmFuaWEtc2ljLWNvdXJ0aG91c2UtbWF5LTgtMjEtMTg2NC1iZXR3ZWVuLWxlZS01MDAwMC1hbmQtMS02NDAuanBn/40/29/webp "Battle of Spottsylvania [sic] Courthouse, May 8-21, 1864 between Lee (50,000) and Grant (110,000) immediately following Wilderness Battle /")
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![[Map of the defeat of the Confederate ship Alabama by the U.S. steamer Kearsarge on June 19, 1864, off Cherbourg, France].](https://cache.getarchive.net/Prod/thumb/cdn4/L3Bob3RvLzIwMTkvMDkvMjYvbWFwLW9mLXRoZS1kZWZlYXQtb2YtdGhlLWNvbmZlZGVyYXRlLXNoaXAtYWxhYmFtYS1ieS10aGUtdXMtc3RlYW1lci1rZWFyc2FyZ2UtYTcwZTk1LTY0MC5qcGc%3D/40/24/webp "[Map of the defeat of the Confederate ship Alabama by the U.S. steamer Kearsarge on June 19, 1864, off Cherbourg, France].")
Plan of the circle battle between the U.S. ship "Keasarge," Capt. Winslow, and the Confederate cruiser "Alabama," Capt. Raphael Semmes, off the harbor [of] Cherbourg, France : forenoon of Sunday June 19th 1864.
Summary
The map shows the course of the two ships in Cherbourg Harbor and in the English Channel. Made by the British for the Confederacy and captained by Raphael Semmes, the "Alabama" was a successful blockade runner until her sinking by the "Kearsage."
"15,000 spectators witnessed the battle from Cherbourg. The battery of the "Kearsarge" was 7 guns viz 2 eleven inch pivot guns smooth bore, one 30 pdr rifle gun and four light 32 pdr guns. Crew numbered 163 men and officers. The battery of the "Alabama" 8 guns one 68 pounder pivot gun, one 100 pdr pivot rifle gun and six heavy 32 pdrs. 5 guns were fought by the "Kearsarge," and 7 by the "Alabama" each with the starboard battery. Loss on the "Kearsarge" 3 wounded by shell, Loss "Alabama" 9 killed, 21 wounded, 10 drowned = 40. Crew jumped overboard and were picked up by boats of Kearsarge and yacht Deerhand including Semmes"--Page caption.
NOTE: Researchers will be served a color photocopy of this scrapbook image.
This item is from the collections of the Virginia Historical Society; please contact the institution for more information.
Available also through the Library of Congress web site as a raster image.
In the Robert Knox Sneden Scrapbook (Mss5:7 Sn237:1 p. 451).
Manuscripts
In the early years of the war many civilian ships were confiscated for military use, while both sides built new ships. The most popular ships were tinclads—mobile, small ships that actually contained no tin. These ships were former merchant ships, generally about 150 feet in length, with about two to six feet of draft, and about 200 tons. Shipbuilders would remove the deck and add an armored pilothouse as well as sheets of iron around the forward part of the casemate and the engines. Most of the tinclads had six guns: two or three twelve-pounder or twenty-four-pounder howitzers on each broadside, with two heavier guns, often thirty-two-pounder smoothbores or thirty-pounder rifles, in the bow. These ships proved faster than ironclads and, with such a shallow draft, worked well on the tributaries of the Mississippi.
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