CSS Alabama Crew List Sources.

Crew List Sources.

by Terry Foenander.

As an example of the actual sources for data on the crew members of the CSS Alabama, as listed in William Marvel's volume, let us take the first ten names from the roster in that volume, and examine closely, the sources from which data was obtained. [These source checks were done only through the sources available to this author, and more data was obviously obtained, by Marvel, from the numerous other sources available to him.] All sources indicated are part of those listed in the bibliography, and the source notes, in the volume. It is fairly obvious to any lay person that the vast majority of these sources, and quite possibly the rest, as well, are all accessible within the continental United States, and almost certainly William Marvel would have used these resources to obtain the data. To assume that these sources are not available in the United States is to be almost ignorant of the extent of resources there. Data which has obviously been provided by the claimant is listed in red. All other sources are listed in blue, and a guide to these sources is shown at the end of this page.

James Adams, [Sinclair] ordinary seaman; [ORN 1, 2, 763] shipped at Kingston, Jamaica, January 25, 1863; [Sinclair; MR] discharged by court martial August 30, 1863, Angra Pequena, coast of Africa. [Sinclair; ORN 1, 2, 763; MR; Summersell 143.]

John Adams, [Sinclair] ordinary seaman; [Summersell 139] shipped at Cape Town August 15, 1863; [Sinclair; Summersell 139] reduced to landsman February 16, 1864; [MR] missing June 19, 1864.

Nicholas Adams, [Sinclair; ORN 1, 3, 72] landsman; [ORN 1, 3, 72] shipped at Cape Town March 25, 1864; [Sinclair; Summersell 181] captured by Kearsarge and paroled [ORN 1, 3, 72] .

George Addison, [Sinclair] armorer; [MR; Alabama Claims 3, 470] Liverpool; [Alabama Claims 3, 518 & 519] missing June 19, 1864.

Henry W. Allcot, [Sinclair; ORN 1, 3, 654] sailmaker; [Sinclair; ORN 1, 3, 654; Alabama Claims 3, 470] 24; Liverpool; rescued by pilot boat; [ORN 1, 3, 653] later Sailmaker, [Sinclair] CSS Shenandoah; [Sinclair; ORN 1, 3, 757 & 785] died March 3, 1891, Liverpool.

John Allen, [Sinclair] seaman; [MR] shipped from prize October 3, 1862; [Sinclair; MR] deserted December 24, 1863, Singapore. [Sinclair; MR; Summersell 166]

Thomas J. Allman, [Sinclair] ordinary seaman; shipped from prize Conrad June 21, 1863; [Sinclair; registry papers of the Conrad, "captured by the Alabama" held at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.] transferred to Tuscaloosa same day. [Sinclair; Alabama Claims 1, 592.]

Edward Maffitt Anderson, [Sinclair; ORN 1, 3, 654] midshipman; [Sinclair; ORN 1, 3, 654] Savannah, Georgia; [Sinclair] rescued by Deerhound; [Sinclair; Alabama Claims 1, 638] died January 28, 1923, Savannah, Georgia. [although William Marvel provides the source of the data on Anderson's death as being from the Confederate Veteran, volume 31, page 27, it should also be noted that this data is also available within the Chatham County, Georgia, Confederate Pension file of Edward Maffitt Anderson, copies of which are in the author's own collections.]

Henry Angel, [Sinclair] ordinary seaman; [Summersell 146] shipped at Cape Town, September 25, 1863; [Sinclair; Summersell 146] rescued by Deerhound. [Alabama Claims 1, 638.]

George Appleby, [Sinclair] yeoman; [Sinclair; Alabama Claims 3, 471] 32; New Brunswick (resided in Liverpool); [Alabama Claims 3, 519] reduced to seaman May 21, 1863; [MR] killed June 19, 1864. [Sinclair; William Marvel's own data, obtained from his visit to the Archives Municipales de Cherbourg, France, in 1993.]

William Marvel's bibliography also cites numerous newspapers, and some of these, both in the United Kingdom and in the United States (as I have noted on at least one occasion), would have included the eventual disposition of the crew members, immediately after the sinking of the CSS Alabama, off Cherbourg. To assume that Marvel did not check any of these newspapers for such data is to assume the mantle of complete ignorance. Even I was able, some years ago, to obtain some of these listings from a couple of English newspapers, and at least one from a U.S. newspaper, and this was long before I was forced into serious research on the Alabama.

Of the 213 names listed in the roster included in Marvel's volume, some additional data was provided by the claimant for only a dozen or less of these personnel. Such data provided included dates and places of death, and some other personal information shown within the narrative text of the volume itself, and even then, some of the data provided by the claimant was quite incorrect (witness the data on Michael Mars and Clarence Randolph Yonge). It is clear for everyone to see that the claimant did not have a major part in the compilation of the information on the CSS Alabama crew, as he often claims.

Thus, with the overwhelming majority of the data shown to have come directly from the sources as listed by William Marvel, and not the claimant, it is fairly obvious that Marvel had indeed correctly given credit to the proper sources, even citing the claimant's name in the preface of the volume. For the claimant to constantly harp on about how he was the source of the data on the crew, is to show how desperate he was, and still is, to see his name up in lights. Somewhat of a Custer - a glory seeker in the sense of the word. I was certainly correct in being suspicious of his claims, from the very start. Unfortunately, there have been so many others who have been fooled by his ranting and raving, and tended to believe his claims, without checking further.

Sources [indicated as being used by William Marvel, in his bibliography]:

Alabama Claims - Information from the volumes of "The Case of Great Britain as Laid Before the Tribunal of Arbitration, convened at Geneva; The Provisions of the Treaty between the United States of America and Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, concluded at Washington, May 8, 1871, transmitted to Congress by the President of the United States, April 24, 1872," in three volumes, published at the Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1872. Citation includes volume and page numbers.

MR - CSS Alabama Muster Roll, dated July 7, 1863, in the collections of the National Archives, Washington, D.C. Although this roll is dated July 7, 1863, the addition of several names and details dated after that date, indicate that the roll was added to, at a much later date.

ORN - "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion," originally published 1895-; reprinted 1987, by the National Historical Society, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Citation includes series, volume and page numbers.

Sinclair - "Two Years on the Alabama," by Arthur Sinclair, lieutenant, CSN; originally published 1895; reprinted 1989, by the Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland.

Summersell - "The Journal of George Townley Fullam: Boarding Officer of the Confederate Sea Raider Alabama," edited and annotated by Charles G. Summersell; published 1973 by the University of Alabama Press.

August, 2004.