One of the Confederate cruisers whose depredations led to the make — up of what are popularly known as the “
Alabama claims” against
Great Britain.
the
Sumter was a regularly commissioned war-vessel, which before the
beginning of the
Civil War was the Havana packet-steamer
Marquis de Habana.
She was commanded by
Capt. Raphael Semmes, had a crew of sixty-five armed men and twenty-five marines, and was heavily armed.
Her cruising area was among the
West India Islands and along the
Spanish coast, and she captured many American merchantmen.
At the close of 1861 she was forced to seek shelter under British guns at
Gibraltar, where she was watched so closely by the
United States steamer
Tuscarora that escape was impossible, and early in 1862 she was sold and withdrawn from the
Confederate service.
See
Alabama claims, the;
Confederate privateers.
