Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/315

 SEMMES

SEMPLE

1853; was promoted master, Aug. 11, 1855, and lieutenant, Sept. 15, 1855; was attached to the MassacJiiisetts of the Pacific squadron, 1855-57, and in November, 1856, commanded a force of saliors and marines in a successful attack upon an encampment of Alaskan Indians in Puget Sound. He served on the Poif/ia^ax, East India squadron, 1859-60: and the Rhode Island, Atlan- tic coast blockade, 1861; commanded the Wam- sutta, South Atlantic blockading squadron, 1862- 63, and engaged Confederate forts and batteries on the coasts of Georgia and Florida, besides capturing several blockade runners. He com- manded the Tahonia, East Gulf blockading squadron, 1863-64, attacking the Confederate batteries of Tampa. Fla., in April and October, 1863, and later destroying an English blockade- running steamer and the warehouse containing her cargo at Bayport, Fla. As commander of the monitor Lehigh, South Atlantic blockading squadron, 1864-65, he took part in the bombard- ment of Fort Pringle, July 7-10, 1864, and in the various attacks on the forts and Charleston harbor, 1864-65. He engaged the Hewlett house batteries on James river, 1865, and was present at the evacuation of Richmond. He was pro- moted commander, July 25, 1866; served on ordnance duty in Piiiladelphia, 1866-68; com- manded the Portsmouth, South Atlantic squadron, 1869-71; the navy yard at Pensacola, Fla., 1872- 74, and was promoted captain, Aug. 24, 1873. He commanded the Alaska on the European station, 1875-76; was president of the naval board of inspection in 1880; commanded the navy yard at Washington, D.C., 1881-85, and was promoted commodore, March 10, 1882. He died in Hamil- ton, Va., Sept. 22, 1885.

SEMMES, Raphael, naval officer, was born in Cliarles county, Md., Sept. 27, 1809. He was warranted midshipman in the U.S. navy in 1826; engaged in preparatory study, 1826-32; made his first cruise, 1832-34, and was admitted to the bar in 1834. In 1837»he was promoted lieutenant, and upon the outbreak of the war with Mexico he was promoted flag-lieutenant under Commodore Conner of the Gulf squadron, and commanded a shore battery at the siege of Vera Cruz. He com- manded the U.S. brig Somers, of the Mexican blockading squadron, and during a severe gale the brig foundered, with great loss of life. He was lighthouse inspector on the gulf; was pro- moted commander in 1855. and was secretary of the lighthouse board at Washington, 1858-61. He resigned his commission. Feb. 15, 1861, and joined the Confederate service, being appointed by President Davis to secure skilled mechanics for the manufacture of ordnance for the Confed- erate army. He made a tour of New York, Con- necticut and Massachusetts, examining the work-

shops, hiring men, collecting military stores and shipping great quantities of powder to the south. He was commissioned commander in the Con- federate States navy, and had charge of the lighthouse bureau. He fitted out the steamer Sumter at New Orleans, the first vessel of the Confederate navy; captured eighteen U.S. mer- chantmen and was finallj' blockaded at the port of Gibraltar by the U.S. vessels Tuscarora and Kearsarge. He thereupon sold the Sumter and went to England. He was promoted captain, and in August, 1862, completed and assumed com- mand of the new steamer Alabama at the Azores, and while at sea captured over sixty U.S. mer- chantmen. On Jan. 8, 1863, he sunk the U.S. steamer Hatteras after a fifteen-minute fight off Mobile. On June 14, 1864. while waiting in the port of Cherbourg. France, for permission to go into dock for repairs, the U.S. steamer Kearsarge entered the port, for the purpose of taking on board the prisoners landed from the Alabama. This proceeding was objected to by Captain Semmes, on the ground that the Kearsarge was adding to her crew in a neutral port. The French authorities conceded this objection, and the Kearsarge did not anchor. On June 19, 1864, the Alabavia attacked the Kearsarge off Cherbourg, and after a fight of one hour the Alabama struck her colors, and sunk forty minutes later. In 1864 Captain Semmes was promoted rear-admiral, and was ordered to guard the water approaches to Richmond. He surrendered with General Johnston's army at Durliam, N.C., May 1, 1865, and returned to Mobile, where he oiiened a law- office. He was arrested by order of Secretary Welles, and was confined until the third of the President's amnesty proclamations released him. He was elected judge of the probate court of Mobile county, but was forbidden by President Johnson to take the bench. He edited a daily newspaper in Mobile: was professor in the Louisiana Military institute, and later resumed his law practice. He is the author of; Service Afloat and Ashore during the Mexican War (1851); Tlie Campaign of General Scott in the Valley of Mexico (1852); The Cruise of the Alabama and Sumter and Memoirs of Service Afloat during the War u-ith the States (1869). He died in Mobile, Ala.. Aug..30, 1877.

SEMPLE, James, senator, was born in Green county, Ky., Jan. 5, 1798. He was graduated at the law school in Louisville, Ky., and began prac- tice in Clinton county, removing to Edwardsville, 111., in 1827, where he continued to practise. He was a representative in the Illinois legislature, 1828-33; was speaker four years: brigadier-general of militia during the Black Hawk war, and was attorney-general of Illinois, 1833. He was charge d'affaires at New Granada with headquarters at