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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the CONFEDERATE STATES --
CSS Sumter (1861-1862)
CSS Sumter, a 437-ton bark-rigged screw steam cruiser,
was built at Philadelphia as the merchant steamship Habana.
Purchased by the Confederate Government at New Orleans in April
1861, she was converted to a cruiser and placed under the command
of Raphael Semmes.
Renamed Sumter, she was commissioned in early June 1861
and broke through the Federal blockade of the Mississippi river
mouths late in the month.
Early in July, the pioneering Confederate Navy commerce raider
captured eight U.S. flag merchant ships in waters near Cuba, then
moved to the South American coast where she took another pair.
Two more merchantman fell to Sumter in September and October
1861. While coaling at Martinique in mid-November, she was blockaded
by the Federal sloop of war Iroquois, but was able to escape
to sea and resume her activities. Sumter captured another
six ships from late November into January 1862, while cruising
from the western hemisphere to European waters.
Sumter then took refuge at Gibraltar. Unable to obtain
needed repairs, she was laid up in April and remained inactive,
watched through the year by a succession of U.S. Navy warships,
among them the sloop of war Kearsarge
and gunboat Chippewa.
Semmes and many of her officers were reemployed in the new cruiser
Alabama. CSS Sumter
was sold to private owners in December 1862. Renamed Gibraltar,
she worked as a blockade runner in 1863. The ship was reportedly
lost in an English Channel storm in about 1867.
This page features views of the Confederate Navy cruiser Sumter
and her officers and provides links to pictures of her activities.
For images of CSS Sumter's activities, see: CSS Sumter -- Actions and Activities
For views of CSS Sumter as a commerical ship, see:
Steamship Habana
For pictures of individual officers of CSS Sumter,
see:
Commander Raphael
Semmes, Commanding Officer;
First Lieutenant John
McIntosh Kell, Executive Officer;
Midshipman Richard
F. Armstrong;
First Lieutenant Beckett
K. Howell, Lieutenant of Marines;
Surgeon Francis
L. Galt, Surgeon and Acting Paymaster;
First Assistant Engineer Miles
J. Freeman, Chief Engineer;
Third Assistant Engineer Matthew
O'Brien, Assistant Engineer;
Third Assistant Engineer John
W. Pundt, Assistant Engineer.
Click on the small photograph to prompt
a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 59564
"The pirate 'Sumter"
Line engraving after a drawing by Theodore R. Davis, published
in "Harper's Weekly", 16 August 1862, depicting the
Confederate Cruiser Sumter at sea.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 165KB; 610 x 675 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 98
CSS Sumter (Confederate Cruiser, 1861-1862)
Contemporary photograph of an artwork by Clary Ray, 1894.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 83KB; 740 x 390 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 42383
CSS Sumter (1861-1862)
Ship's officers on deck.
They are Seated, left to right:
First Lieutenant William E. Evans;
Commander Raphael Semmes, Commanding Officer; and
First Assistant Engineer Miles J. Freeman.
Standing, left to right:
Surgeon Francis L. Galt;
Lieutenant John M. Stribling;
First Lieutenant John M. Kell, Executive Officer;
Lieutenant Robert T. Chapman; and
First Lieutenant Becket K. Howell (Marine Corps).
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 134KB; 740 x 590 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 57264
Confederate States Navy Officers,
who served with Raphael Semmes
Line engraving by H.B. Hall, Jr., New York, featuring portraits
of seven officers who served with Semmes in CSS Sumter.
In center is First Lieutenant John McIntosh Kell.
The others are (clockwise from top):
First Lieutenant Robert T. Chapman;
First Assistant Engineer Miles J. Freeman;
Paymaster Henry Myers;
Lieutenant John M. Stribling;
Surgeon Francis L. Galt; and
First Lieutenant William E. Evans.
Kell, Freeman and Galt also served with Semmes in CSS Alabama
and were present during her engagement with USS Kearsarge.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 122KB; 545 x 765 pixels |
 |
For images of CSS Sumter's activities, see: CSS Sumter -- Actions and Activities
For views of CSS Sumter as a commerical ship, see:
Steamship Habana
For pictures of individual officers of CSS Sumter,
see:
Commander Raphael
Semmes, Commanding Officer;
First Lieutenant John
McIntosh Kell, Executive Officer;
Midshipman Richard
F. Armstrong;
First Lieutenant Beckett
K. Howell, Lieutenant of Marines;
Surgeon Francis
L. Galt, Surgeon and Acting Paymaster;
First Assistant Engineer Miles
J. Freeman, Chief Engineer;
Third Assistant Engineer Matthew
O'Brien, Assistant Engineer;
Third Assistant Engineer John
W. Pundt, Assistant Engineer.
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Historical Center home page.
Page made 10 February 2001
Coding updated 5 May 2001