C.S.S. SHENANDOAH

by James D. Horan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 10, 1960

In this factual book the prolific author of The Great American West, etc., writes of the exploits of the last Confederate cruiser, Shenandoah, who fired the last shot in the Civil War off Siberia seven months after the war ended; included also in the book is the account of the voyage by her captain, Lieutenant Commander James Waddell, here published in complete form for the first time. Shenandoah, formerly the Sea King, a beautiful British merchantman, was purchased in England in the fall of 1864 by Captain James D. Bulloch, the Northerner who built the Confederate Navy, who renamed and re-outfitted her and sent her to sea over bitter protests from the American ambassador, Adams. Captained by Waddell, a competent but stern man, she ranged the seas, destroying Yankee shipping. Welcomed warmly in Australia, she sailed again, this time for the Arctic, where she routed the New Bedford whaling fleet, in one week capturing 24 of 58 whalers and sinking 20 more -- and firing the last shot in the Civil War. Waddell, on the American West Coast, was planning a raid on San Francisco when word of Lee's surrender reached him, in August, 1865; spiking his guns, he sailed to Liverpool, where in November he hauled down the Confederate flag. Shenandoah captured 38 ships, burned 32, took 1,053 prisoners, and inflicted $1,361,983 in damage on unarmed Yankee shipping; some years later England settled the Shenandoah claims for $15,000,000. Waddell's account of his voyage is disappointingly dull and there is little of sea adventure in the rest of the book; it is, however, a valuable addition to the sea-records of the Civil War and will appeal to nautical historians and sea-going Civil War devotees. Average readers will find it on the dull side.

Pub Date: Nov. 10, 1960

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1960

Categories: NONFICTION