June 11, 1864: CSS Alabama Arrives in Cherbourg, France Prior To Her Battle With USS Kearsarge-- Part 1

JUNE 11TH, 1864:  CSS Alabama, Captain Semmes, badly in need of repairs, arrived at Cherbourg, France.  Lieutenant Arthur Sinclair, CSN, an officer on board the Confederate raider, later recorded his impressions upon entering this, her last port:

"We have cruised from the day of commission, August 24, 1862, to June 11, 1864, and during this time have visited two-thirds of the globe, experiencing all vicissitudes of climate and hardships attending constant cruising.

"We have had from the first to last two hundred and thirteen officers and men on the payroll, and have lost not one by disease, and but one by accidental death."

Of interest, besides the CSS Alabama-USS Kearsarge battle, Cherbourg was also a port visited by the RMS Titanic and was important in D-Day and the Normandy Campaign which I have been writing about in all my blogs to commemorate the 75th anniversary of it.

--Old B-Runner