Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 2.djvu/174

156 structed by Ericsson. Admiral Buchanan was wounded at Hampton Roads. As soon as he again reported for duty, he was assigned to the command of Mobile harbor, with all the vessels and gunboats there. He defended his post with gallantry and skill the most distinguished, against the Federal fleet under Admiral Farragut, until he was wounded and taken prisoner in August, 1864.

Captain Raphael Semmes served in the United States navy with distinction during the Mexican war, and was aide to General Worth. In 1861 he resigned and was commissioned captain in the navy of the Confederate States. Assigned to command the Sumter he performed gallant and efficient service. In August, 1862, he took command of the Confederate man-of-war Alabama. He sunk the Hatteras off Galveston, January, 1863, after a brief action, and thereafter his achievements and exploits make a record for brilliancy and efficiency unequaled in the annals of war upon the high seas, in the history of the world. He captured and ransomed or burned eighty-nine merchant vessels bearing the United States flag, and literally obliterated the commerce of the United States from the high seas. He pervaded the Atlantic and the Indian oceans. He carried the Confederate battle-flag in the face of four continents, and surrendered it with a blaze of glory that will glow as long as chivalry shall nerve the hearts of men, or the story of gallant deeds stir the pulses of the human race.

Commodore George Nichols Hollins was born at Baltimore, September 20, 1799. He entered the navy of the United States as midshipman in 1814, served on the Erie in her attempt to break the British blockade of Chesapeake bay, and was subsequently transferred to the President, where he served under Stephen Decatur until captured at Bermuda, where he was held until peace was established. His career thus gallantly begun, continued