A shell from the Alabama lodged in the USS Kearsarge's sternpost during epic duel. It failed to explode and cripple the ship. You can see artifact at a Navy museum

Sinking of Alabama, Kearsarge sternpost, Capt. Ralphael Semmes (NHHC)

For about an hour on June 19, 1864, artillery crews on the USS Kearsarge and commerce raider CSS Alabama plugged away at each other, their shells flying wide or impacting just about every conceivable spot on their opponent’s vessel.

The Union warship, protected by heavy chains, had an advantage in the epic duel off Cherbourg, France -- one that was not of its own making: The Rebel ordnance was old and at times unreliable, meaning a shell might not explode. Still, the Alabama brought its fierce reputation to the fight, having captured or burned dozens of vessels on the high seas.

About 30 minutes in, a shell struck the vital sternpost of the USS Kearsarge (photo of encased artifact in 1980, NHHC). It should have been game, set, match in favor of Capt. Raphael Semmes and his sailors. Instead, the round was mostly a dud, failing to explode. The fighting continued and before long, it was game, set and match for the Federals, who sent the CSS Alabama to the bottom.

Today, the shattered sternpost and the intact artillery shell are on display in the “Securing the Seas for Union Victory” exhibit at the National Museum of the U.S. Navy in Washington, D.C. Visitors currently can see the items from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

I turned to Andy Hall, an author, blogger and Civil War naval expert, to explain the importance of a ship’s sternpost, which is a component at the rear (stern).

“It generally consists of a vertical (more or less), heavy component of timber, iron, or steel. It needs to be especially strong because it is the principal structural component to which many other parts of the stern are attached,” Hall wrote in an email. “Usually, the sternpost is also the attachment point for the rudder that swings left and right to steer the ship as it moves through the water.”

Example of sternpost on CSS Jackson at National Civil War Naval Museum (Picket photo)

"Damage to the sternpost is especially serious, because it is one of the critical elements that gives strength to the hull of the vessel.”

While the speedy Alabama’s shot on the Kearsarge sternpost did impede operations, the crew was able to steer with extra hands at the helm, according to an Encyclopedia of Alabama article.

Hall says if the shell had exploded, it likely would have ended the battle immediately and quite possibly led to the sinking of the Kearsarge, which was commanded by Capt. John Winslow. He theorizes the ordnance hit the Kearsarge around its waterline.

The red box at left shows the location of the Kearsarge's sternpost; click to enlarge

Semmes wrote in his memoir of his bad luck with the 56-pound shell’s percussion cap.

"I lodged a rifled percussion shell near her stern post – where there were no chains -- which failed to explode because of the defect of the cap. If the cap had performed its duty, and exploded the shell, I should have been called upon to save Captain Winslow’s crew from drowning, instead of his being called upon to save mine. On so slight an incident the defect of a percussion cap did the battle hinge.”

Semmes crowed that the sternpost was the only Alabama trophy taken. While that may have been true in 1864, the Naval History and Heritage Command and a team of experts recovered artifacts – including the Alabama’s bell -- from the site in 2002. Semmes was rescued by a British vessel.

Hall, writer of the Dead Confederates blog and author of "Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast," summarized the importance of the duel last year when Case Auctions sold items pertaining to Winslow and the Kearsarge. Among the items sold was a picture frame made from pieces of the sternpost (right, Case Auctions)

“It’s hard for most Americans to appreciate now how momentous this battle was viewed at the time,” Hall told the Picket. “Alabama had roamed the globe unmolested for almost two years, destroying American merchant shipping at will. Dozens of civilian ships were seized or destroyed by Capt. Semmes, causing insurance rates to skyrocket and wreaking financial havoc on ships and ports never within a thousand miles of the Confederate raider.”

While a formidable captain, Winslow thanked “the mercy of God” for his vessel’s fortune.

Legend held that the post was sent upon request to President Abraham Lincoln, but Grant Walker, a curator for the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Md., said he has been unable to find any mention of Lincoln associated with the sternpost.

“The earliest correspondence we have concerns its transfer in 1924 from the Bureau of Ordnance Museum to the Naval Academy Museum,” says Walker. “It was part of a large transfer of ordnance from Washington to Annapolis that took place in July 1924. I could find no records re: how, when, and from whom the Bureau of Ordnance acquired it.”

One of the documents relating to the sternpost lists it as being among "trophies" kept at the Washington Navy Yard.

Various documents listing Kearsarge sternpost; click to enlarge (U.S. Naval Academy Museum)

Tracie Logan, senior curator at the USNA Museum, said the sternpost has been on loan from the academy to the National Museum of the U.S. Navy for decades.

The National Museum is undergoing an extensive renovation and movement of artifacts, so while the sternpost is still on display and the “Securing the Seas” exhibit exists, access to Building 76 is limited to Saturdays only.

Most of the objects from Alabama that were considered underwater archaeological recovery pieces have been removed from display, says Wesley Schwenk, registrar for the museum in Washington. They are retained in storage for preservation purposes. 

Capt. John Winslow, front right, with Kearsarge crew

Schwenk is involved with an exciting acquisition pertaining to orderly Sgt. Charles T. Young, a Marine who served on two other vessels and the Kearsarge during the Civil War. A native of Massachusetts, Young spent 16 years at sea before being assigned to the Kearsarge.

“Described by his fellow sailors as a garrulous sailor, he kept the crew entertained with his humorous and fantastical tales of past voyages when all other forms of amusement no longer brought pleasure to the rest of the crew,” says Schwenk. “Upon the ship's famed meeting with CSS Alabama at the Battle of Cherbourg on 19 June 1864, he and other Marines of the crew provided cover and assault fire from the ship’s topgallant forecastle.”

For his bravery and protection of his fellow crew members, the Marine Corps commended Young, says the registrar. (Seventeen members of the crew received the Medal of Honor for their valor during the battle with Alabama.) Young was in his mid-50s, an old man by the standard of the armed forces.

Schwenk says the museum received two diaries, not yet transcribed, a cudgel (it is unknown whether Young actually carried it aboard), discharge papers, a service record, letters and a muster roll. There is no known photograph of Young.

Broadside, with detail below, includes Young's name at top right, click to enlarge (George Costopulos Auctioneers)

A 2014 auction of items that belonged to Kearsarge Pvt. John J. McAleer included a fascinating hand-inscribed and decorated broadside listing the officers and crew of the famous warship. Young is listed among three Marine guards.

A Boston Journal newspaper article posted on Findagrave.com indicates Young died in 1872, age 62, in Portsmouth, N.H. He is reportedly buried at Walnut Street Cemetery in Brookline, near his native Boston. I asked Lisa Golden with the city for a photograph of his grave, but she has been unsuccessful thus far in locating it or obtaining more information about Young.