SEMMES, RAPHAEL (1809-1877) , American naval officer, was born in Charles county, Md., on Sept. 27, 1809. He was appointed midshipman in the navy in 1826, and while waiting. for orders studied law and in 1834 was admitted to the bar. Semmes served in the war with Mexico ; was active in superin tending the landing of Gen. Scott's troops at Vera Cruz in March, 1847, and later, as volunteer aid to Gen. Worth, took an active part in the battles of the Valley of Mexico. These experiences are interestingly told in his books Service Afloat and Ashore During the Mexican War (1851) and Campaign of Gen. Scott in the Valley of Mexico (1852). In 1855 he was promoted to commander and afterwards was made naval secretary of the Lighthouse Board at Washington, in which service he was when the Civil War broke out. When Alabama, his adopted State, seceded, he resigned his commission and received an appointment of the same rank in the Confederate navy. He fitted out the packet "Sumter," in which he captured as many as 17 Northern merchant vessels, chiefly along the South American coast. Later
he commanded the more famous "Alabama," a 1,016 ton ship built in England for the Confederacy, with which he made a series of daring and successful cruises lasting two years. Finally, he met the Northern ship "Kearsarge" in the English channel, and after a long seven-hour battle was forced to surrender. Twenty minutes later the "Alabama" sank and Semmes was rescued by an English yacht. When he returned home he was commissioned rear-admiral and assigned to the Confederate fleet in the James river. When Richmond was captured he blew up his ships and, with his men, joined the army of Gen. Johnston. When Johnston surrendered Semmes returned to his home in Mobile and opened a law office, to which practice he devoted the greater part of the rest of his life. He died on Aug. 3o, 1877.