Built at Birkenhead, England, the CSS Alabama is a 1050-ton screw steam sloop of war that was placed in commission of the Confederate Navy on August 24, 1862. Early in 1863 the Alabama sunk the USS Hatteras near Galveston, Texas, then spent the remainder of the year chasing down U.S. merchantmen, seizing some 40, of…
The Battle of Cold Harbor, now full-fledged trench warfare, continues in Virginia near Richmond. Battle clashes have been replaced with occasional shots from sharpshooters and the whine and explosion of lobbed artillery shells. Heat, dust and a lack of water, food and medical care in the trenches bodes ill for the soldiers in this new…
The Battle of Cold Harbor is now fully engaged along a seven-mile front. At one juncture, Union forces fiercely attack Confederate defenders, nearly breaking their lines. Elsewhere along the battle front, two small offensive attempts by the Confederates to feel out the enemy fizzle. While the rebels hold their own overall, federal troops end the…