An Englishman's View of the Battle between the Ala

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AN ENGLISHMAN'S VIEW OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE ALABAMA AND THE KEARSARGE.

AN ACCOUNT OF

THE NAVAL ENGAGEMENT IN THE BRITISH CHANNEL, ON SUNDAY, JUNE 19TH, 1864. FROM INFORMATION PERSONALLY OBTAINED IN THE TOWN OF CHERBOURG, AS WELL AS FROM THE OFFICERS AND CREW OF THE UNITED STATES' SLOOP-OF-WAR KEARSARGE, AND THE WOUNDED AND PRISONERS OF THE CONFEDERATE PRIVATEER.

BY FREDERICK MILNES EDGE.

NEW YORK: ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, No. 770 BROADWAY. 1864.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, BY ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

EDWARD O. JENKINS, Printer and Stereotyper, 20 NORTH WILLIAM STREET.

This Record OF A MOST GLORIOUS VICTORY GAINED IN THE CAUSE OF JUSTICE AND HUMANITY, IS DEDICATED TO THAT NOBLE OFFSPRING OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

The Sanitary Commission of the United States,

BY THEIR OBEDIENT SERVANT, THE AUTHOR.

LONDON, _July 14, 1864_.

The writer of this pamphlet is an English gentleman of intelligence now residing in London, who has spent some time in this country, and is known and esteemed by many of our best citizens. He visited Cherbourg for the express purpose of making the inquiry and investigation, the results of which are embodied in the following pages, and generously devotes the pecuniary results of his copyright to the funds of the SANITARY COMMISSION.

The Alabama and the Kearsarge.

The importance of the engagement between the United States Sloop-of-war, Kearsarge, and the Confederate Privateer, Alabama, cannot be estimated by the size of the two vessels. The conflict off Cherbourg on Sunday, the 19th of June, was the first decisive engagement between shipping propelled by steam, and the first test of the merits of modern naval artillery. It was, moreover, a contest for superiority between the ordnance of Europe and America, whilst the result furnishes us with _data_ wherefrom to estimate the relative advantages of rifled and smooth-bore cannon at short range.

Perhaps no greater or more numerous misrepresentations were ever made in regard to an engagement than in reference to the one in question. The first news of the conflict came to us enveloped in a mass of statements, the greater part of which, not to use an unparliamentary expression, was diametrically opposed to the truth; and although several weeks have now elapsed since the Alabama followed her many defenceless victims to their watery grave, these misrepresentations obtain as much credence as ever. The victory of the Kearsarge was accounted for, and the defeat of the Alabama excused or palliated upon the following principal reasons:--

1. The superior size and speed of the Kearsarge.

2. The superiority of her armament.

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