CONFEDERATES DOWN UNDER

THE CSS SHENANDOAH

By Doc Lawrence

CSS SHENANDOAH  by Patrick O'Brien

Just north of Atlanta, the lovely city of Roswell is home to stately Bulloch Hall, once home of Theodore Roosevelt’s mother, Mittie Bulloch and his “Uncle Jimmie,” James Dunwoody Bulloch. Mr. Bulloch was in the news this week in Australia where the Seaworks Maritime Festival in Melbourne celebrated the 150th anniversary of the arrival of one of Bulloch’s masterpieces, the Confederate raider CSS Shenandoah.

Living in Liverpool during the Civil War, James Bulloch headed a blockade running industry sending war material into the South while producing warrior ships like the CSS Alabama, CSS Florida, CSS Atlanta and the CSS Shenandoah.. It was the Shenandoah that found its way into international naval history.

In January 1865, the CSS Shenandoah docked in Port Phillip, creating one of the greatest stories of early colonial Melbourne and Australia’s only significant link to the American Civil War. According to Maritime Festival officials, the fabled ship arrived unannounced in Hobsons Bay on its way to the North Pacific Ocean to destroy the Union whaling fleet. While resupplying in Melbourne, the Shenandoah recruited 42 British sailors as crewmen and went on to capture or sink 39 commercial ships flying the American flag s over the next six months. The captain of the Shenandoah was unaware that the Civil War had ended in April.

The 2015 Melbourne Festival

After the Civil War, James Dunwoody Bulloch remained in Liverpool and became a wealthy cotton broker. At the urging of his famous nephew, he wrote a memoir, The Secret Service of the Confederate States in Europe. President Roosevelt, speaking at Bulloch Hall, praised James Bulloch for his naval expertise and the high quality of his character.

Bulloch is buried in Liverpool's Toxeth Park Cemetery and his headstone bears the inscription: An American by birth, an Englishman by choice. His grave is a popular stop for tourists.