Raynors HCA 2015-08
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/27/2015
SEMMES, Raphael (1809-1877) United States Navy 1837-1860. Confederate States Navy 1861-1865. As Commander of the Confederate ship "Alabama" he executed the mission to inflict the greatest injury to the enemy's commerce in the shortest time. Just over a month after South Carolina seceded from the United States, Charleston was being made unsafe to all Northern vessels. Issued by then-U.S. Navy Commander Raphael Semmes as secretary of the Office of the Light House Board of the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., this broadside, measuring 7-1/2" x 10", January 26, 1861, gives "Notice to Mariners" that "Information has been received at this office that the light-vessel at Rattlesnake Shoals has been withdrawn; that the lights on Morris Island, and at the entrance into the port of Charleston, S.C., have been discontinued; the buoys removed and the main ship channel so obstructed as to be unsafe for navigation." Less than three weeks after issuing this broadside, Commander Semmes, himself a native of Maryland, resigned from the U.S. Navy after he was offered a commission as a commander in the Confederate Navy. He was promoted to captain and given command of the commerce raider, Alabama. It was in this capacity that he places his signature, reading, "R. Semmes / Captain C.S. Navy," upon this 6.75" x 9.5" sheet of paper. Removed from an autograph album, the sheet shows light staining at the lower right corner.
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