APPLEBY-GEORGE

CONFEDERATE  NAVY  SAILOR  FROM  CANADA

George Appleby was reportedly born in 1804 in New Brunswick, Canada.  On August 24, 1862, he enlisted in the Confederate States Navy (CSN) at Liverpool, England, and became a crewmember of the CSS ALABAMA the day the vessel was commissioned.  ALABAMA was built in England for the CSN and as it was readied for sea an offer was made to entice recruits, to pay them double wages paid in gold and additional prize money for all Union ships destroyed.  It appears that Appleby was one of the original crew who accepted this offer.  Records reflect he was initially recruited as the ship’s Yeoman and that on May 21, 1863, he was reduced to the rank of Seaman for an unspecified reason.  He continued his service aboard ALABAMA until June 19, 1864, when the ship sank.

The CSS ALABAMA was constructed as a commerce raider and soon became the scourge of the North.  ALABAMA was reportedly at sea for 534 days out of 657, never visited a single Confederate port, boarded nearly 450 vessels, and captured or burned 65 Union merchant ships and took more than 2,000 prisoners without a single loss of life of either prisoners or her own crew.  During ALABAMA’s raiding ventures captured crews and passengers were never harmed, only detailed until they could be placed aboard a neutral ship or placed ashore in a friendly or neutral port.

On June 11, 1864, ALABAMA arrived at Cherbourg, France, for long overdue repairs.  Soon the Union sloop-of-war USS KEARSARGE took up station just outside the harbor to provide a blockade.  Having no desire to see his worn-out ship rot away at a French dock while quarantined by Union warships and given his instinctive aggressiveness, ALABAMA’s Commander chose to fight and through diplomatic channels issued a bold challenge to the KEARSARGE.

On the morning of June 19, ALABAMA sailed out to meet KEARSARGE and fired the first shots of their battle.  As the two ships steamed on opposite courses in spiraling circles the battle quickly turned against ALABAMA due to the superior gunnery displayed by KEARSARGE and the deteriorated state of ALABAMA’s contaminated powder and fuses.  In a little more than an hour ALABAMA was reduced to a sinking wreck forcing ALABAMA to strike its colors and to send one of the two surviving boats to KEARSARGE to ask for assistance. 

Unfortunately, George Appleby became a casualty of the battle.  He was buried in the Old Communal Cemetery on a hillside overlooking the port of Cherbourg, France.  This cemetery has the distinction of being the only Civil War historical site outside the U.S. and contains the remains of two other crewmen who were also killed during the ALABAMA-KEARSARGE battle.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)