American Civil War & Liverpool

Liverpool & The American Civil War

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Liverpool, the Wirral, Lancashire and most of the surrounding area, had strong political, emotional and financial connections and sympathies with the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Indeed, so strong were these connections that it has been quoted that at one time "more Confederate flags fluttered above Liverpool than over Richmond" (the Confederate capital in Virginia).

One of the main reasons for the link was economical, based on the importance of cotton, upon which both the Southern States and the Lancashire mills depended. However, the ties were much deeper and emotional than purely economical ones, and the history of this relationship is still able to raise controversy and argument even today.

The outbreak of hostilities in 1861 found the Southern States in the worst position with the North having more manufacturing, arms production and industrial power. The South, because of its lack of resources, was forced to look to Europe. The already strong links from the cotton trade, made Liverpool the obvious choice for organising supplies and aid for the Confederacy. It was also important to keep open the supply line for cotton upon which the South and the Lancashire cotton mills depended. A fleet of Confederate blockade-runners and naval cruisers were built on Merseyside to keep this vital supply line open.

James Dunwoody Bulloch, a Confederate naval officer, arrived in Liverpool on 4 June 1861 with orders to buy or have constructed 6 steam vessels suitable for use as commerce destroyers against the Union, to be delivered, unarmed, under the British flag at any Southern port. In addition, he was to purchase and blockade run arms for the cruisers. He was assisted by Fraser, Trenholm & Co., foreign bankers to the Confederacy.

His first contract was with Fawcett & Preston Engineers (see below) and W.C. Miller & Son, Ship Builders, to build a steam sloop, CSS Florida, which was delivered in 1861. The second contract was signed in July 1861 with Laird Brothers, for number 290 (known as Enrica) which, on 29 July 1862, went to sea supposedly for trials with various dignitaries on board, and after putting them off by a tug, quietly sailed off for the Azores to take on armaments and ammunition from the Agrippina, and to begin life as the CSS Alabama.

Captain Raphael Semmes took command of the Alabama on the 13 August, and from that time until June 1864, she captured and burned 55 Union merchantmen worth $4,500,000 and bonded ten others to the value of $562,000.² On the 19 August, the Alabama met the USS Kearsage off Cherbourg, France, and after a spectacular battle watched by thousands on the French coast, the Alabama was sunk. Fortunately the steam yacht Deerhound (also built at Laird's) and owned by Englishman John Lancaster, saved a number of crew, including Captain Semmes and a number of officers, who were given a hero's welcome at Southampton.

Bulloch ordered several more ships from Laird's including the "Laird's Rams" (Nos. 294 & 295) which were impounded by the Government and later sold to the Royal Navy. The rams took their name from the iron piercer, which protruded six to seven feet from the prow and was used for striking opposing vessels below the waterline.

After the end of the war, Bulloch remained in Liverpool, and died in 1901. He is buried in Smithdown Road Cemetery, Toxteth. In 1873, the United States Government's demand that the British Government should pay compensation for the damage caused by the Confederate ships was settled. Known as the "Alabama Claim", because she had caused the most damage, and together with the Florida and Shenandoah, had accounted for half of the total number of Union vessels captured.

It resulted in the British Government paying £3,000,000 compensation for allowing the Confederate Government to purchase the ships in England and allowing them to use British ports.

Read about The Trent Affair and the Confederate Officers in Liverpool.

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