Dixie Raider

Dixie Raider: The Saga of the C.S.S. Shenandoah. By Murray Morgan. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1948.

In the fall of 1864, the Shenandoah, sailing under the alias of Sea King and captained by James Waddell, set sail from England under a cloud of secrecy and suspense. Then, under a calm night sky, the Confederate Navy secretly and cleverly orchestrated the sale of a British ship for their war purposes. Several days later, off the coast of Portugal, another ship, the Laurel, rendezvoused with the Shenandoah to transfer men, supplies and ammunition. Their mission: destroy Union commercial vessels on the high seas. In a riveting rendition of this strange and perhaps unnecessary operation, Murray Morgan articulately presents a thorough, witty narrative of Shenandoah’s voyage at sea. Attempting to follow in the shadow of the formidable cruiser, the Alabama, the Shenandoah sought the destruction of Union commerce with aims to severely cripple their shipping industry, force the Union Navy on the open seas to curtail their blockade efforts, and ultimately, turn the tide of the Civil War in favor of the Confederacy. While the Shenandoah never witnessed any naval battles, it successfully brought more destruction (around one million dollars), in the least amount of time, upon Union whaling ships than any other Confederate vessel during the entire Civil War. Unbeknownst to the Confederates abroad the Shenandoah, the cruiser continued to wreck havoc on the open seas following General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House

Essentially, Morgan traces the Shenandoah’s cruise after leaving England to its final raid in the Pacific Ocean. Paying equal attention to all aspects of Shenandoah’s time at sea, the author details most of the raids that the ship precipitated, provides descriptions of the crew and captives along with their thoughts and experiences, and responses to the cruiser’s actions in the United States. Throughout his study, the author remains uncritical concerning the Shenandoah’s unlawful acts, particularly the cruiser’s insufficient direction, manpower and ammunition. He does, however, present Captain Waddell in a favorable light as he details the captain’s concerns regarding various passengers and disdain for sinking ships. He also explains, in varying degrees of detail, the difficulties facing Captain Waddell as he determined the cruiser and crewmember’s fate after learning of the Confederacy’s surrender by the Barracouta. Oddly enough, Morgan descriptions of the Shenandoah’s difficult decision concerning surrender and fears regarding their fate as potential pirates, is quite gloomy. Nonetheless, Morgan examines the options presented to this vigilante crew, and reveals their decision to sail back to England with intentions of surrendering the ship and seeking refuge in Europe. The author concludes the work with Shenandoah’s voyage to Liverpool and closes with an epilogue describing the whereabouts of the ships officers. Perhaps the most important element of this work is Morgan’s use of sources. He relies heavily on the diaries and memoirs of Captain Waddell, and the various crewmembers and captives. At times, he uses extremely long quotations that fail to clarify his point but successfully allow the reader insight into the actual events and emotions taking place on the ship.

Published in 1948, Morgan’s work offers one of the first studies on the Shenandoah’s impact and legacy. The author’s work is certainly thorough and exhaustive, however, an updated version that analyzes the affects of the cruiser upon Union shipping might prove useful. Yet, despite its age, this narrative remains quite exceptional. Not only does Morgan provide a biographical sketch of the cruiser, its military goals and surrender, he also successfully weaves in a complete narrative that offers a detailed account of the crew and captive’s experiences on board and geographical and historical contexts for the various islands that the cruiser visited. Overall, Morgan presents both scholarly and general audiences with a very interesting read that will surely expand their previous knowledge of the Civil War.

Amber Surmiller Texas Christian University

Dixie Raider: The Saga of the C.S.S. Shenandoah. By Murray Morgan. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc, 1948.

Murray Morgan chronicles the life of the Confederate raider the C.S.S. Shenandoah in Dixie Raider: The Saga of the C.S.S. Shenandoah. Here he begins with the secrecy involved in purchasing the originally British ship and details the eventful life of the Confederate ship until its eventual surrender to British authorities after the war ended. Morgan details the crews’ successes and the capture of some thirty eight American ships as well as the problems that the vessel encountered along the voyage.

The Confederate States of America purchased the Sea King in the fall of 1864. Though they made the deal on land, the exchange of the ships papers did not take place until the ship had set sail and met up with the ship Laurel which carried the Confederate crew as well as the supplies for the newly purchased ship. Before the Sea King set sail, only three men knew of the vessel’s true destination. The two ships rendezvoused off the coast of northwest Africa. To the disappointment of the Confederates only five seamen from the Laurel crew and four from the Sea King, along with ten men who had come as passengers, elected to serve on the new C.S.S. Shenandoah. This left only forty three crew members to man a ship which required one hundred fifty to sail and fight. Thus the Shenandoah began its problems before the voyage had even begun.

The C.S.S. Shenandoah then set out on its task of commerce raiding. Morgan argues that the greatest damage inflicted on the Union Merchant Marine by the Confederate commerce raiders came from the sales of American ships to foreign owners in order to spare the vessels. Still, he contends that the selling of ships was unwarranted. The Confederate raiders only destroyed fifty ships out of 29,000 voyages made to foreign ports by U.S. vessels during the war. The raiders’ loot from Northern shipping equaled no more than the typical annual loss to storm and ice, only one half of one percent. Yet, with such incidents making the headlines, insurance companies substantially raised their rates.

Seven weeks into their voyage they discovered “a crack entirely across the brass band on the coupling of the propeller shaft.” (97) They could make temporary repairs but traveling under steam presented too much of a risk. This left James Waddell with two choices for his ship. He could take it to Cape Town, the nearest port, for repairs, but he felt sure by this time that a Yankee man of war must be on his trail. His second alternative was to make it to Melbourne but he would have to rely on sailpower for the remaining six thousand miles. He made the decision to cross the Indian Ocean under sail and hoped to have luck on his side. The vessel arrived at Port Phillip on January 25, 1865.

After the repairs were made the Pacific lay open before the Shenandoah, with the only American warship in the Western Pacific in dock at Shanghai for repairs. The vessel remained a Confederate merchant raider even after, unknown to them, the war ended that April. Within one week in June the Shenandoah captured twenty three whaling ships whose crews told them of the Confederate surrender, but the crew of the Shenandoah could not believe it. Then they boarded an English ship just thirteen days out of San Francisco that had papers to prove the war had ended and informed the Shenandoah that every navy in the world was after them. After only ten months their raid was over and the hunter had become the hunted. The ship set sail for the English port of Liverpool, Waddell knew the responsibility of continuing the raid after the end of the war lay with him, but he hoped to save his crew. When they reached the port they lowered the last flag of the Confederacy, the ship was once again in British hands.

The Crown Law officers decided to release the crew, except for British subjects who had violated the Foreign Enlistment Act, because the ship had been a cruiser she had the right to raid and “as a Confederate vessel the ship should be turned over to the American authorities . . . If the American Minister believed that acts of piracy had been committed, he would have to bring charges in a British court.” (306-307)

Morgan has written a captivating book detailing the events of the C.S.S. Shenandoah. Although the book reads greatly as a narrative he does explain the impact, or lack thereof, that such a Confederate raider had on Northern merchant shipping.