146 years later...

     One of the cannons from the CSS Alabama has made its way to Mobile....the first time the weapon has ever been in Alabama, despite the ship's name. The restored cannon has been delivered to The Museum of Mobile 146 years, almost to the day, after the ship was sunk in a Civil War battle off the coast of Cherbourge France.

     The wreckage was located in the 1980's, and the cannon is one of the parts raised from the floor of the channel.
      It will replace a reproduction that's been on display for some years.
     The Alabama was built for the Confederate Government in England, a fact that later resulted in Britain paying compensation to the U.S. Government for violating their pledge of neutrality.

    The ship never made port in the South or the North. It roamed the seas, taking and mostly burning Northern ships of commerce.
     The Alabama Department of Archives and History has Captain Raphael Semmes CSS Alabama journal in its collection, and has just recently digitized it and made it available online here.
[Note: the journal is a big file and takes a while to load. Be patient!]