Australian Confederates

[struggle4progress]

September 27, 2015 - 12:15AM
Ross Southernwood

Most people are familiar with the American Civil War, waged between the eventually victorious northern Union states and the breakaway southern Confederate states from 1861 to 1865: a conflict largely triggered by the South's refusal to abolish slavery ...

... when the Shenandoah, captained by "quintessential Southern gentleman" Lieutenant Commander James Waddell, hove to off Melbourne for supplies and repairs, it ignited a popular sensation.

Melburnians were agog at this exotic arrival and flocked to visit the sail-and-steam-powered ship, while the Confederates were provided with courtesy city rail passes to allow easy access to the city's delights ...

One thing the Shenandoah had lacked from the outset of its mission in 1864 specifically to target the Yankee whaling fleet, was a full complement of crew. This was partly remedied in Melbourne by the 42 new recruits, who surreptitiously boarded the ship and sailed with it in February 1865 ...

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/australian-confederates-by-terry-smyth-our-rebels-in-the-american-civil-war-20150919-gjozpa.html

[BlueJazz]

1. I had no idea the Australians helped the Confederacy. It was a small group but still somewhat..

...troubling to me. Thanks for posting.

[struggle4progress]

2. I didn't know about it until I posted.

But the CSS Shenandoah continued to attack the US whaling fleet for about two months after everyone else had stopped fighting

[lastlib]

3. Guess they didn't get the e-mail from Appomattox........

(dial-up in those days was probably atrocious......!)

[struggle4progress]

4. That's actually what the war was about: the shizzy email service

[lastlib]

5. yeah, you can't blame the South for seceding over lousy connection speed--

I dumped Earthlink for the exact same reason.